Here's good news - the game in Iraq is almost over!

[Bill]

The Iraqi government very recently approved the draft of their new oil law.

All they have to do now is vote on it and make it law.

Then the multinationals will have the oil, and our soldiers can be forted up and many of them brought home.

We won't have to do anything but maintain our permanent bases there, so if the Iraqis make any dumb moves like passing another law to strike down the oil law we can liberate them again.

It soon will be "Mission Accomplished" - then we can stop watching the daily bombings and get those annoying shots of dead torture victims off the TV.

It's gonna be nothing but American Idol and happy driving on cheap Iraqi oil from now on boys!

[stefan segal]

Bill...I'm curious...why should anyone get cheap oil? There is no competition domestically, and the design is that all the savings float to the top refiners and suppliers.

I think you are dreaming to think that we would catch a break in the non election years.

Stefan

[Bill]

I was using "cheap oil" as a kind of metaphor.

In the sense that it's what americans expect.

Americans won't think about the fact that it cost them the prices that the multinationals will charge them, PLUS the cot of the war, which they will be paying off, their children will be paying off, their childrens children will be paying off, down to the ninths generation.

Americans supported this war because they wanted the oil. Now they will get it. To their minds, it's "cheap".

I tend to wax poetic.

[exarmyranger]

Bill...I'm curious...why should anyone get cheap oil? There is no competition domestically, and the design is that all the savings float to the top refiners and suppliers.

I think you are dreaming to think that we would catch a break in the non election years.

StefanPardon me for the intrusion...Yo Stefan,sometime's our dream(s)of the future come true...sadly,it's mostly the bad dream's that do.:ohno: Mass Transit,Bicycle's,walking to and from work,none of that our fault,we're just governed by jerk's...Some people saw this was coming and cried,Stop Waisting Gas,on those sunday drive's.Now it's too late...we can't save what is gone,we swear that we did'nt do anything wrong.The only solution I can think of right now,is start breeding mules to pull you and your plow.:D t/c ex

[Bill]

Here's two new articles commenting a bit on the new Iraq Oil Law draft...

The first one, from thechristian science monitor, is titled "Why Iraq's new oil law won't last - It faces strong opposition, companies reluctant to get involved, and corruption – and may be contested as invalid.".

After the oil law draft is made law, we will probably pull most of the soldier back to those huge military bases we paid haliburton to build, and then all we have to do is sit back for a while. As long as our puppet government doesn't try to change the oil law, Iraq can burn.

Then we can attack Iran - if they sign the oil law in may, bombing Iran right afterwards would be a logical step.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0305/p17s01-cogn.html

"Iraq's government hopes the nation's 275-member parliament will approve the draft before the end of May.

The legislation will be extremely controversial. Opposition is expected from the powerful Oil Workers Union of Basra. It staged strikes in 2005 objecting to America's plan to privatize Iraq's oil industry. A reviving Communist Party will oppose it. Much of the Iraqi press also objects to aspects of the law.

One sensitive provision allows "production sharing agreements" (PSAs) with foreign oil firms. In theory, Iraq would retain ownership and ultimate control of the oil in such a deal. A PSA would merely grant the firm or consortium the right to explore, develop, and sell the oil, while getting a share of the oil extracted. History, however, is full of "unequal" PSAs highly favorable to oil companies and less favorable to oil nations.

Zainy says that details of an oil contract are more important than whether it is called a PSA, a "production and development contract," or a service contract. He fears "corruption, presently rampant in Iraq" could affect contracts, wasting much of the nation's main resource.

During the 20th century, oil became the fulcrum of politics in the Middle East, with countries nationalizing their oil resources and winning better oil deals. The draft law "reverses everything that has happened in the Middle East since 1901," charges Rashid Khalidi, director of the Middle East Institute at Columbia University in New York. Implying that American occupiers have had much influence on the measure, Mr. Khalidi asks: "Does [Vice President] Cheney think he can stand against history?"

Khalidi's latest book, "Resurrecting Empire," spells out the history of foreign exploitation of Iraqi oil, noting that resentment over "insufficient benefits" to Iraqis led to the popularity of the Baath government and nationalization of the oil industry in 1975.

Khalidi doubts the draft law will pass parliament. "It is so manifestly against the interests of Iraq," he says. If it does, though, he doesn't expect the law to last. Presumably, an Iraq no longer occupied would seek better terms for any deal reached under the proposed law. "

http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=42120

"An Iraqi oil expert familiar with the details of the draft law said the Iraqi National Oil Company, yet to be established, would control all the oil fields listed in these first two appendices. It can either develop the fallow fields itself or can negotiate with foreign companies to bring them on stream. "