Congress to Iraq: Privatize Your Oil, Or Else! Another Bonanza for Cheney's Halliburton!

May 26 (LPAC)--The so-called benchmarks in the war supplemental spending bill that President Bush signed on Friday, really do nothing but blackmail Iraq into privatizing its oil reserves, writes Ann Wright, a retired U.S. Army colonel who is active in the anti-Iraq war movement, in a column on truthout.org. "Supporting our troops has nothing to do with this bill," Wright observes, "other than keeping them there for another 30 years (the length of the long term oil contracts) to protect US oil interests."

She's right! The bill demands Iraq pass oil legislation which would open up development of most of Iraq's oil fields to foreign companies. In practical terms, that means American companies, since the privatization provision was written by American oil consultants.

On May 23, just a couple of days before Wright penned her column, Reuters reported that Iraq is preparing to auction off 15 fields and blocks of oil assets as soon as the new law is passed, which Fayadh Hassan Nima, director-general of Iraq's oil ministry, said would be finalized within two to three months.