Surprise! (not) It's about oil

From Guardian Unlimited:

"Iraq poised to hand control of oil fields to foreign firms"

Anybody wanna guess to which countries "foreign" refers? Here's a little clue:

"Baghdad is under pressure from Britain and the US to pass an oil law which would hand long-term control of Iraq's energy assets to foreign multinationals, according to campaigners."

Wait a minnit! I thought this was about WMD. Or was it democracy for Iraq? No, wait, weren't there a dozen other reasons? No one ever mentioned oil. How could this be?

And how do the "independent" Iraqis feel about this?

"Iraqi trades unions have called for the country's oil reserves - the second-largest in the world - to be kept in public hands. "

Makes sense doesn't it. "Freely elected" government and all that. But wait:

"But a leaked draft of the oil law, seen by The Observer, would see the government sign away the right to exploit its untapped fields in so-called exploration contracts, which could then be extended for more than 30 years.

Foreign Office minister Kim Howells has admitted that the government has discussed the wording of the Iraqi law with Britain's oil giants."

More here. Prepare to read it, shake your head and think "I knew this all along."


R.