The workers in Iraq do not want Iraq's oil privatized.
http://www.time.com/...
Petro Showdown -Thursday, Sep. 06, 2007 By VIVIENNE WALT
...Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani promised U.S. officials that the law would be in place by the end of May. But months later, that confidence--and the deadline--has evaporated. Fierce arguments have raged over how much control Baghdad and the Iraq National Oil Co. should have over production. Oil workers' unions argue that the law gives Big Oil huge profits while potentially undercutting the interests of Iraqis. The major union staged a demonstration in July in Basra, calling for the law to be killed. Union leaders will convene a conference in Basra in early September to draft alternatives to privatizing the industry.
What do the democratic candidates say? Great article by Kevin Gosztola, OpEdNews, August 31, 2007 :
http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/...
...I find little in the way of a response to this matter, privatization of Iraqi oil, on your candidates' website.
On Obama's, I could not find any mention on his campaign site. And in fact, I went to his Senate website and typed in "privatize" "Iraq" "oil" and I got three results. None of them referred to the privatization of Iraqi oil at all.
On Clinton's, apparently, she does not want people snooping around in her records. She does not want people to know what she has said in the Senate because there is no search bar on her Senate website. Or on her campaign site for that matter. However, she does have places to click to read her stances on Iraq on both sites. Sadly, both sites fail to mention the privatization of Iraqi oil.
On Edwards', he does not have a Senate site. But he does have a campaign site. And, finally, I get something that looks like it might mention the privatization of Iraqi oil. You see, what made me write this was that I was reading a response to the GAO report where the "hydrocarbon law" was mentioned. And on Edwards' website, you can go to press releases and read Edwards' statement on it. However, if you do read through it, you will find that he fails to mention the privatization of Iraqi oil or the hydrocarbon law.
On Richardson's, his campaign website does not have a press release on the GAO report. I clicked on his "Iraq" section under the Issues tab. And what I found was his 7 Point plan. I think he may be missing a few steps but anyways, bottom line is that nowhere in this section does he mention the privatization of Iraqi's oil or the "hydrocarbon law".
On Biden's, I found a place where I could "search" so I typed in "privatize" "iraq" "oil" and what I got was nothing. Zero results. And then, I checked out his press releases. No press releases for August 30th. I went to a section under his Issues tab that said "War in Iraq". Nothing. There's a small blurb praising Biden. On his campaign site, no press releases exist on the GAO Report. Alas, I went to "Iraq: A Way Forward" on his website to find out about the privatization of Iraqi's oil. Thankfully, his policy proposal for handling Iraq mentions oil. It even goes as far as to mention oil revenues. But it doesn't mention the privatization of Iraqi oil by U.S. companies. Here, you read: The plan would bind the Sunnis - who have no oil -- by guaranteeing them a proportionate share of oil revenues. It would convene an international conference to secure support for the power sharing arrangement and produce a regional nonaggression pact, overseen by a Contact Group of major powers. It would call on the U.S. military to withdraw most U.S. troops from Iraq by the summer of 2008, with a residual force to keep Iraqis and their neighbors honest. It would increase economic aid but tie it to the protection of minority rights and the creation of a jobs program and seek funding from the oil-rich Gulf Arab states.
Biden supporters, help me out. I have no clue what he is talking about. Of course, his plan is weird in the first place. I think he supports dividing Iraq into three states---one Kurd, one Sunni, one Shiite. If you scroll down, you can see how step 2 in his plan involves oil.
- Share Oil Revenues
- Gain agreement for the federal solution from the Sunni Arabs by guaranteeing them 20 percent of all present and future oil revenues -- an amount roughly proportional to their size -- which would make their region economically viable * Empower the central government to set national oil policy and distribute the revenues, which would attract needed foreign investment and reinforce each community's interest in keeping Iraq intact and protecting the oil infrastructure
Again, Biden supporters, help me out. However, at least his plan references oil. The rest of these plans seem to ignore the fact that this resource is a major source of wealth for Iraqis. (I wonder why that could be? Hmm?) Oh, and there is no mention of the GAO report on Biden's website either.
On Dodd's site, his press release for the day ignores the GAO report and details how we should consider foreign investments impact on national security. In the "search" bar, I typed "privatize" "iraq" "oil" and found nothing. On his campaign website, well...to cut back on the amount of redundance in this article, I will just tell you flat out there is nothing here on the privatization of Iraqi oil.
However...
Dennis Kucinich's House of Representatives website has a statement in a press release in reference to the GAO report. A portion of that statement reads:
The report states the Iraqi government is making unsatisfactory progress toward enacting and implementing a ‘hydrocarbon law.’ This ‘hydrocarbon law’ is in reality a law that would privatize Iraq’s own oil. There has been a broad deception about the content of the hydrocarbon law, a deception which has taken in Members of Congress and the media," Kucinich said.
lets hear what Kucinich said in May, 2007:
At at noon press conference, on May 24, 2007, at the Cannon Terrace, on Capitol Hill, Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH), ripped into the Bush-Cheney Gang's legislative scheme to privatize the oil of Occupied Iraq. He charged: "Privatizing Iraq's oil is theft." He also called the Iraq Supplemental Bill: "a moment of truth for the Democratic Party."
Savage did a detailed diary on the Hydrocarbon Law in July, but he didnt mention Kucinich.
http://www.dailykos.com/...