Why is Our Oil Under their Sand?

You all remember the Dick Cheney Oil task force that came into being shortly after the criminal regime came to power? Well, now the oil bill that came about because of those meetings is set to be pushed through the Iraqi Parliament.

Randy Rhodes had Antonia Juhasz, "an analyst with Oil Change International, a watchdog group, is the author of "The Bush Agenda: Invading the World, One Economy at a Time."

Of course the oilmen and women who now make up the large part of our government are set to do right by their constituency: Exxon Mobile, Texaco, Chevron, BP, etc.

Antonia Juhasz has written in the New York Times an Op-Ed contribution, the link is below about how the oilmen have been waiting with baited breath:

Iraq’s oil reserves — thought to be the second largest in the world — have always been high on the corporate wish list. In 1998, Kenneth Derr, then chief executive of Chevron, told a San Francisco audience, "Iraq possesses huge reserves of oil and gas — reserves I’d love Chevron to have access to."

LINKAGE

A new oil law set to go before the Iraqi Parliament this month would, if passed, go a long way toward helping the oil companies achieve their goal. The Iraq hydrocarbon law would take the majority of Iraq’s oil out of the exclusive hands of the Iraqi government and open it to international oil companies for a generation or more.

The key paragraphs tell the story of why Iraq will be different from other regional oil powers:

The Iraq National Oil Company would have exclusive control of just 17 of Iraq’s 80 known oil fields, leaving two-thirds of known — and all of its as yet undiscovered — fields open to foreign control.

The foreign companies would not have to invest their earnings in the Iraqi economy, partner with Iraqi companies, hire Iraqi workers or share new technologies. They could even ride out Iraq’s current "instability" by signing contracts now, while the Iraqi government is at its weakest, and then wait at least two years before even setting foot in the country. The vast majority of Iraq’s oil would then be left underground for at least two years rather than being used for the country’s economic development. (My emphasis)

I'm amazed we let them have 17%! Gosh are we generous?!

The saddest part of all of this is that the Iraqi people don't know about this coming law. They haven't been told until like, today when the Kurds had the information on the internet. The Shiites and Sunnis haven't been privy to the text of the 40 page document. We're stealing from them and they have no idea!

I know you and I know this, but it's nice to have a number to put on it: we get 80%, they get 17%. That's the lion's share, I'd say.