Iraqi Labor Leaders Spotlight. Protest US Consulting Firm Hired to Write New Iraq Oil Law

[babylonsister]

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/22862

Iraqi Labor Leaders Spotlight US Consulting Firm Hired to Write New Iraq Oil Law
Submitted by Chip on Thu, 2007-05-24 05:21. Activism

As the sorry, sad, sick "joke" goes, we didn't go into Iraq for the oil, but we aren't leaving without it.

Two visiting Iraqi labor leaders will lead a protest at the consulting firm responsible for drafting the new Iraq oil law, Bearing Point, on Tuesday, June 5, at 5 PM. At 5:30 PM, a march will start (about 3/4 mile) to the Capitol for a picket line.

Bush and the US Congress are putting tremendous pressure on the "Iraqi Parliament" to pass a new oil law that would transfer control of most of the Iraqi oil reserves to foreign corporations. This is not a new development. As early as December 2002, the US State Department devised a plan to open Iraq to international oil companies "as quickly as possible after the war." In March 2003, the Heritage Foundation called for full privatization of Iraqi oil. The Iraq Study Group calls for the reorganization of the Iraqi oil industry into a commercial enterprise with " US assistance.”

To further this end, the Iraqi constitution must be amended and a new oil law passed. In July 2003, BearingPoint, the reincarnation of a division of KMPG LLP, an accounting firm brought down during the Enron scandal of 2002, received a contract from USAID to re-write Iraqi economic laws. It was commissioned to write the new oil law and lobby for its passage. This intrusion is illegal under both Iraqi and US law.

Iraq’s five trade union federations, representing hundreds of thousands of workers, released a statement opposing the law, rejecting “the handing of control over oil to foreign companies which would undermine the sovereignty of the state and the dignity of the Iraqi people."

Together we will expose the "Oil Law" for what it is, the bitter fruit of Invasion, Occupation, and Plunder.

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[ck4829]

1. K&R

[acmavm]

2. This is what happens when you tell people with a 5,000 year

history that they're not to be in control of their country, its assets, and their fate.

Too bad the arrogant f**ks in Washington D.C. are too ignorant to get it.

[blm]

3. Facists ARE arrogant focks by nature.

In fact, it's a desired trait in fascists.