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Thu 5 Apr, 2007 10:38 am
The Great Iraq Oil Robbery
The cabinet of the new Iraqi government--under pressure from the U.S. occupiers who put them in power--approved a law that would undo Iraq's nationalized system and give Western oil giants unparalleled access to the country's vast reserves.
The oil companies would be guaranteed super-profits--on a scale unknown anywhere else in the Middle East--for a period of 20 to 35 years from oil pumped out of two-thirds or more of Iraq's oilfields. Meanwhile, Iraqis would continue to endure poverty and the devastation of war while sitting atop what is estimated to be the third-largest supply of the world's most sought-after resource.
4 years and not a single super tanker of that free Iraqi crude has reached our shores. WTF?! Where's my free oil?
Who said it was free?
Cycloptichorn
Naturally, government control of oil resources has proven to be a tremendous force for economic growth in other Middle Eastern nations and has brought levels of wealth to their populaces otherwise unknown among developing countries!
Except, of course, that it hasn't. Those ninety percent shares to government are wholly captured by corrupt officials of those states' governments - or rather, the lifestyles of the governing class in those nations are entirely predicated on oil revenue, to the detriment of the people.
If what you're looking for is some kind of Alaska Fund-style payment to individuals, I don't think it's a bad idea, and there have been some moves in that direction. But that level of oil wealth is an incredible distorting factor on the behavior of oil-rich countries' governments, so don't pretend that their expenditures are somehow morally superior to corporate exploitation of the same resource. REALLY don't pretend that somehow the US is tightening its grip over Iraqi oil reserves is detrimental to our interests. What, it's better if OPEC's in charge?
And, as the original article noted (over and over), a lot of these revenues are illusory - nobody wants to build lots of infrastructure to move a fairly explosive product through areas of, heh, high unrest. If Iraq settles down, there's always time to revisit this kind of issue - and if it doesn't, it's not like the present government's oil policies will be worth the paper they're written on anyway, right?
Quote:
If what you're looking for is some kind of Alaska Fund-style payment to individuals, I don't think it's a bad idea, and there have been some moves in that direction. But that level of oil wealth is an incredible distorting factor on the behavior of oil-rich countries' governments, so don't pretend that their expenditures are somehow morally superior to corporate exploitation of the same resource. REALLY don't pretend that somehow the US is tightening its grip over Iraqi oil reserves is detrimental to our interests. What, it's better if OPEC's in charge?
Well hell, at least if the government is in control, the people have some say in how things are ran - presumably we are installing a
democracy over there. The way the proposed oil law is set up, it isn't the Iraqi people who call the shots one bit.
Here's a light-hearted look at the situation:
http://hightowerdownload.com/node/36
Cycloptichorn
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