US Presence in Iraq Driven by Oil Interesthttp://www.menafn.com/images/inc_images/img_trnsp.gifhttp://www.menafn.com/images/inc_images/img_trnsp.gif
Arab News - 15/06/2007 (MENAFN - Arab News) Syed Rashid Husain
History was in the making in the oil-rich Iraq last week, though not much of it was reported in the international media.
The 26,000-strong, much respected Federation of Oil Unions called off its strike when the union leaders reached an agreement, interestingly not with the Ministry of Oil, which the union accuses of failing to honor previous agreements, rather with the Ministry of State for Parliamentary Affairs. What this ministry has to do with oil issues, mind boggling indeed, but not really so, if one looks at it closely.
Foremost among the union's long list of demands has been on consultation with the workers union before the proposed oil law, awaiting approval, is endorsed in Baghdad. The draft is currently with the Iraqi parliament for ratification. The workers union seems bitterly opposed to this draft law. They are unhappy over the controversial law, which they believe would cede too much control of the country's reserves to foreign oil companies. Ratification of the law has also been complicated by the Kurdish government, which does not want to let the central parliament run the whole industry and its huge revenues.
Opposition to the proposed oil draft law, which has by now gained bipartisan support from both the Republicans as well as Democrats in the US, has been growing within Iraq. As the pressure on Maliki grows to get the draft approved, the opposition to it is also becoming loud, vociferous and ominous. Many, including oil experts and parliamentarians, are now calling for the law to be put on hold. Negotiators haven't been able to agree yet on the best means of revenue distribution — whether central or regional governments will have more power in the oil sector, or how much access foreign investors will have.
On the other hand, the Democrats in the US Congress have joined President Bush in making passage of the oil draft by Iraqi parliament, the top benchmark to show success of the government in Baghdad. Both Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Gates have been to the region in recent months, so as to urge an early passage of the draft.
But de****e all this, the Iraqi parliament is not acting. The draft was submitted to the parliament by the government on February 26. The parliament in Baghdad seems resisting and delaying the passage of the bill. And in the midst of all this, the strike from the oil workers union has added another dimension to the entire debate.
The Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions fears the proposed law being hurried in the parliament would allow foreign oil companies too much access to Iraq's oil. They had presented a 17-demand list to the government, from improving the working conditions to preventing the passage of the oil bill.
In order to press for the acceptance of their demands, the striking union members had earlier threatened to restrict oil exports from Basra, home to much of Iraq's 115 billion barrels of oil — the third-largest reserves in the world — and Iraq's main port.
In reaction, the incumbent Maliki government also issued arrest warrants for leaders of the union on charge of "sabotaging the economy." The warrant specifically named Hassan Juma'a Awad, the leader of the 26,000-strong Federation of Oil Unions, and three other leaders of the federation. On the third day of the oil strike in southern Iraq, the Iraqi military surrounded oil workers. Prime Minister Maliki warned of using "iron fist" against those who stopped the flow of oil.
However, sanity prevailed and things were prevented from getting bad to worse.
In the meantime, in order to gain backing to their stance, Iraqi oil workers union have also been on a PR mission to the US "to inform the American public of the real reasons behind the draft Iraqi oil law."
Hosted by the US Labor Against the War, two Iraqi oil worker leaders are currently in the US until the end of the month. During a visit to Capitol Hill, the Iraqi Electrical Utility Workers Union President Hashmeya Muhsin Hussein insisted that the civil war in Iraq began only after the occupation, and not before as commonly believed by lawmakers in the US and that violence would be reduced if the US withdraws from Iraq. When a reporter asked Hashmeya why the US was still in Iraq, she cited oil, other resources, and the creation of large military bases as the prime reason for the US continued stay, and the interest in Iraq.
Many now feel that the recent comment that the US presence in Iraq was likely to be long term, similar to the US presence in South Korea — which has lasted 50 years — is relevant to the proposed oil law.
The US oil companies are currently seeking 30-year contracts in Iraq, they point out. Thus, having a strong US military presence in Iraq would help ensure enforcement of those contracts, critics of the oil draft are openly arguing. This is vital for the American energy interests in the medium term, they claim.
Many in the region have been skeptical from the very beginning of the real US motives behind operations Iraq. They have been arguing, for years now, that oil was central to the occupation of Iraq.
The "coming out" of oil as the central goal behind the invasion of Iraq is going to make occupation still more difficult, providing in the process enough ammunition to the ongoing resistance in Iraq, many now feel. This is giving a new fillip to the ongoing resistance movement.
The chant, mocked at the beginning of the invasion by many, "no war for oil" is now becoming to be seen for what it is — the truth. And increasingly now, virtually all over the world, the war against Iraq is being perceived in this very light. What a bitter truth to swallow indeed!
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