Sadr bloc joins Sunnis in rejecting Iraq oil law

Under sustained US pressure, Iraqi cabinet sends oil law to parliament

James Cogan, WSWS

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki went before the media on Tuesday to announce that his cabinet had "unanimously" approved US-backed draft legislation covering the future development of Iraq’s vast oil resources. The parliament, he declared, would begin debating the oil law the following day. He trumpetted his achievement as a key step towards finalising the "most important law in Iraq". The legislation embodies the criminal aims and objectives of the US invasion of Iraq more than four years ago. Behind the false claims about Iraqi "weapons of mass destruction" and links to terrorism were the ambitions of American energy conglomerates to access the country’s huge reserves—estimated at between 115 and 215 billion barrels of oil...

continua / continued

GUARDING THEIR OIL FROM GEORGIE AND HIS ROGUE GOVERNMENT

AFP/File Photo: AFP/File - Thu Jul 5, 8:25 AM ET
Iraqi security officers stand alert at an oil refinery near Najaf in 2006. Followers of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have joined a growing chorus of Sunni Arab, Kurdish and Shiite opposition to a draft oil law backed by Washingtonby Joseph Krauss
Thu Jul 5, 8:25 AM ET
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Followers of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Thursday joined a growing chorus of Sunni Arab, Kurdish and Shiite opposition to a draft oil law backed by Washington.
His opposition, apparently motivated by anger at the idea of US and British oil firms snapping up contracts after their countries invaded Iraq, promises to feed a fierce debate but will not necessarily derail the legislation.
"You cannot have both the Kurds and the Sadrists on the outside," said Joost Hiltermann, Iraq analyst at the International Crisis Group. Nevertheless, "the oil law is one of the benchmarks that has a chance of success. It may not require the agreement of the Sadrists if there is agreement between the Supreme Council, the Dawa Party, and the Kurds."
"This is the same coalition that has essentially ruled Iraq since January 2005," Hiltermann added, referring to the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, a powerful Shiite party, and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Dawa party.
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Sadr Bloc Joins Sunnis in Rejecting Iraq Oil Law