In the News

10/25/2007
Is It Game Over for U.S. Control of Iraqi Oil?
Jack Miles – Tomdispatch.com

9/5/2007
Big Oil in Iraq: "World Class Racketeering"
Charlie Cray – HuffingtonPost.com

9/4/2007
Analysis: Iraq Oil Law (Still) Coming Soon
Ben Lando – UPI

7/14/2007
Benchmark Boogie: A Guide to the Struggle or Iraq's Oil
Antonia Juhasz – AlterNet

7/14/2007
Opposition to American Oil Grab is Unifying Iraqis
Ben Lando – UPI

7/6/2007
Oil Law Author Now Opposes It
Earth Times

7/5/2007
Followers of Al-Sadr Join Opposition to Oil Law
Forbes.com

6/20/2007
Nobel Laureates Condemn Iraq Oil Law
UPI

6/12/2007
U.S. Commander Orders al-Maliki to Pass Oil Law
Michael Gordon – Boston Globe

6/7/2007
Army Surrounds Striking Oil Workers; Arrest Warrants Issue for Union Leaders
General Union of Oil Employees in Basra

5/31/2007
At Odds with U.S. Over Iraqi Oil
Ben Lando – UPI Energy Watch

5/25/2007
Rep. Kucinich's Speech to Congress
ZNet

5/22/2007
Code Pink Confronts Pelosi About Oil Benchmark
San Francisco IndyMedia

5/8/2007
Hard to Deny: Iraq Is All About the Oil
Michael Schwartz – TomDispatch

5/5/2007
Oil Law Author Now a Critic
Ben Lando – UPI

5/3/2007
Iraqi Blocs Opposed to Oil Law
Edward Wong and Sheryl Gay Stolberg – New York Times

4/29/2007
Kurds to "Block" Iraq Oil Law
Al Jazeera

4/27/2007
Fight Rages Over Iraq Oil Law
Ben Lando – UPI

4/26/2007
Abboud and "Toxic Bob": Bush Cronies Wait for New Oil Law
Nick Mottern – ConsumersforPeace.org

4/25/2007
Our Man in Iraq: What's Ronald Jonkers Up To?
Daphne Eviatar – The American Lawyer

4/23/2007
A Slippery Business
A.G. Noorani – Hindustan Times

4/19/2007
Oil Execs Party at San Francisco Gas Station
SF IndyMedia

4/18/2007
Time to Do the Math in Iraq
Ted Nace – CommonDreams.org

4/5/2007
Congressional Complicity
Richard W. Behan – Counterpunch

3/27/2007
Some Democrats Speak Out Against Oil Law
Ryan Grim – The Politico

3/24/2007
Hydrocarbon Law for Dummies
Anwaar Hussain - uruknet

3/22/2007
Iraq's Kurds to Go It Alone on Oil Deals
Financial Times

3/22/2007
Democrats Vow to Bring the Oil Back Home
Harper's Magazine

3/15/2007
An Iraqi Analysis of the Oil Law
Munir Chalabi – Z Net

3/14/2007
Kucinich seeks to strip Iraq oil law benchmark from supplemental
Huffington Post

3/13/2007
Whose Oil Is It Anyway?
Antonia Juhasz – NY Times editorial

3/09/2007
History Will Not Forgive Those Who Play Recklessly With Our Wealth
Speech by Hasan Juma`a Awad, head of Iraq's Federation of Oil Unions

Was the Iraq War for Oil?

"I'm saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: The Iraq war is largely about oil." – Alan Greenspan

According to the Bush Administration, the notion that the occupation of Iraq was a means to gain control over that country’s vast oil reserves is “nonsense” and “a myth.” However, in February, 2007, the proposed draft of a new law to structure Iraq’s oil industry was leaked, and it is now being considered by the Iraqi parliament. Several key features of the law would:

  • Allow two-thirds of Iraq’s oil fields to be developed by private oil corporations. In contrast, the oil industry has been nationalized in every other major Middle Eastern producer for over 30 years.
  • Place governing decisions over oil in a new body known as the Iraqi Federal Oil and Gas Council, which may include foreign oil companies;
  • Open the door for foreign oil companies to lock up decades-long deals now, when the Iraqi government is at its weakest.

Overall, the law would secure the agenda of ExxonMobil, Chevon, and the other majors, robbing the Iraqi people of their most basic source of wealth. Much is at stake. With 115 billion barrels of proven reserves ($7 trillion worth at $64 per barrel) and another 215 billion possible or likely ($14 trillion), there’s nearly a million dollars of oil for every Iraqi citizen. It’s a vast and precious national resource—but only if Iraqis are allowed to control it themselves.