Dennis Kuchinich has maintained all along that the war has been about oil and that the U.S. should not be a party to any attempt, by multinational oil companies, to take over Iraq’s oil resources.
To further his stand, Kucinich, in May, invoked a rarely used House rule of personal privilege to gain one hour of Congressional time to discuss in detail the Congressional and White House efforts to privatize Iraqi oil. Kucinich began his comments by asking his Democratic colleagues if they had read the Iraqi funding bill that, at the request of President George W. Bush, included privatizing Iraqi oil. Many admitted they had not read much of the bill, which prompted Kucinich to remark, “Just like the Patriot Act.”
Kucinich then proceeded to tell them that the legislation would lead to the privatization of Iraq’s oil making it very difficult for us to end the war any time in the near future. Amongst his concerns were several benchmarks set up by the current U.S. administration for the Iraqi government; one of which required passage of a hydrocarbon law that our current administration has chosen to hide within the bill. By hidden I do not mean that it was given little space because in actuality it is the majority of the bill with only three pages being given to the topic of the “fair distribution” of oil revenues. Kuchinich further emphasized that while many in the Beltway are contemplating linking funding for the war in Iraq to the completion of these benchmarks, insistence on the passage of any legislation that included insistence on the passage of a hydrocarbon act placed the U.S. in a position of promoting the privatization of Iraq’s oil.
In honor of his convictions Kuchinich, who is against the Iraq War, added: “The war in Iraq is a stain on American history. Let us not further besmirch our nation by participating in an outrageous exploitation of a nation which is in shambles due to the U.S. intervention.” In other words, while the proposed legislation does not protect the Iraqi people from exploitation it ensures that “chief executives of important related petroleum companies” be represented on a Federal Oil and Gas Council, which approves oil and gas contracts.
Kuchinich states that “this is akin to allowing foreign oil companies to approve their own contracts.” It further ensures that the “Iraqi National Oil Company, which is the oil company of the people of Iraq, has no exclusive rights for the exploration, development, production, transportation, and marketing of oil and that they must compete against foreign oil companies with rules that benefit the foreign oil companies. According to Kuchinich, the legislation does give the Iraq National Oil Company temporary control of the oil pipelines and export terminals, but then it directs the Federal Oil and Gas Council, which is controlled by foreign oil companies, to turn these assets over to any entity with no further instructions.
In a further effort to ensure that big oil companies gain control of Iraqi oil this legislation provides for 35 years of exclusive control over oil fields for foreign oil companies. These companies are further protected by a provision that guarantees Iraqis preference for jobs and services only as long as they do not place extra costs or inconveniences on the foreign oil companies. Any disputes regarding any matter between the State of Iraq and any foreign investors have to be submitted for arbitration to an international court and will not be decided upon by an Iraqi court.
The threat of this bill is obvious to former Iraqi Oil Minister, Issam Al Chalabi, who stated that “the actual law has nothing to do with sharing oil revenue, but aims to set a framework for investment by outside oil companies, including favorable production-sharing agreements that are typically used to reward companies for taking on risk.” He then continues by saying: “We know the oil is there. Geological studies have been made for decades on these oil fields; so why would we let them, the international oil companies, “have a share of the oil?” “Iraqis will say this is solid proof that Americans have staged the war… because of this law.”
The intelligent thing to do according to Kuchinich is what has been done in Iraq’s neighboring countries. “Iraq’s neighbors Iran, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia maintain nationalized oil systems and have outlawed foreign control over oil development. They all hire international oil companies as contractors to provide specific services, as needed, for a limited duration and without giving the foreign company any direct interest in the oil produced”.
Kuchinich adds, “Iraqis may very well choose to use the expertise and experience of international oil companies. They are most likely to do so in a manner that best serves their needs if they are freed from the tremendous external pressure being exercised by the administration, the oil corporations, and the presence of 140,000 members of the American military.”
So given all of this material, it is obvious that Kuchinich has a good foundation for his belief that the Iraq War was based on oil greed. It is further obvious that our young men and women are being sacrificed on the altar of this greed. Given this one area of his platform I would find him a viable candidate for the Democratic ticket.
[tags]Dennis Kucinich, Democratic Presidential candidates, Iraq War. Privatization of Iraq Oil, Iraqi Funding Bill, Hydrocarbon Act, Federal Gas and Oil Council, Fair distribution of oil revenues, blood for oil, Bush’s hidden agenda, Exploitation of Iraq[/tags]