Now that all factions that were previously boycotting the Iraqi parliament have returned to "business", it is time for us to question exactly who's "business" they are doing -- the Iraqi people's or US interests (read: Dick Cheney). Of course, no one ought to be surprised that there is virtually no coverage of this controversy among the "mainstream" media. It is up to us to monitor every alternative media or internet source to find out as much information as possible and keep a watch out for the scheduling of hearings on the bill that, if passed, would "regulate" the production and rights to Iraq's oil reserves.
Virtually all of Iraq's major political parties and blocs want to put the brakes on this bill. They are all united across sectarian lines... even the Kurds don't like it the way it is now. I doubt most readers of Daily Kos would be surprised who it is that would love for the bill to be passed in the dead of night without discussion and debate. Of course... the multinational oil corporations.
Among other things, the bill's provisions --
Allow two-thirds of Iraq’s oil fields to be developed by private oil corporations. In contrast, the oil industry has been nationalized in every other major Middle Eastern producer for over 30 years.
Place governing decisions over oil in a new body known as the Iraqi Federal Oil and Gas Council, which may include foreign oil companies
Open the door for foreign oil companies to lock up decades-long deals now, when the Iraqi government is at its weakest.
Remember that the forces pushing this law are the same forces responsible for us being at war in Iraq in the first place! It's no surprise then, that over the objections of a majority of Americans (no matter what the polls said at any given time, I don't believe half of Americans ever supported the invasion... they might have gotten 48% or so when Fox was going on about "mushroom clouds", but I still don't believe that enough people ever backed it, even if they were afraid to admit their opposition to a pollster for fear that the pollster would then doubt their patriotism; remember what those times were like), we were plunged into this quagmire. Those pushing this bill were the forces behind Cheney's "secret energy meetings" and funding the astro-turfed neocon think tanks like Committee for the Liberation of Iraq (which included -- surprise -- Lieberman as an "honorary co-chair").
We may not have been able to stop the invasion from taking place to start with. But right now, it's crucial that we provide support to the Iraqi lawmakers that are fighting to kill this bill. If we can push the Congress to bring our troops home, and continue to frustrate ExxonMobil and the other greedy oil companies, then at least on one front, we've defeated those that prove that the phrase "no blood for oil" wasn't the cry of "conspiracy theorists" after all...