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Senators Clinton, Ensign ask Bush to consider Iraq Oil Trust
Raw Story
In a commentary published in Monday’s Wall Street Journal, Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and John Ensign (R-NV) ask the Bush Administration to set up an Iraq Oil Trust, so that revenues can be distributed to the country’s “ordinary” citizens and to further demonstrate that the United States is not in Iraq just for the sake of oil.
“For the sake of our soldiers and for the future of Iraq, it is time we place greater rights and responsibilities of citizenship in the hands of the Iraqi people,” the two Senators write. “This includes a stake in oil revenues, which are central to political reconciliation and an end to the sectarian violence.”
Excerpts from commentary:
We have urged for three years that the Bush administration pursue an Iraq Oil Trust, modeled on the Alaskan Permanent Fund, guaranteeing that every individual Iraqi would share in the country’s oil wealth. Oil revenues would accrue to the national government and a significant percentage of oil revenues would be divided equally among ordinary Iraqis, giving every citizen a stake in the nation’s recovery and political reconciliation and instilling a sense of hope for the promise of democratic values.
The implications would be vast.
• The future of Iraq’s oil reserves remains at the heart of the political crisis in Iraq, as the regional and sectarian divides in Iraq play out over the division of resources and revenues. As the Iraq Study Group writes, “The politics of oil has the potential to further damage the country’s already fragile efforts to create a unified central government.” An Iraq Oil Trust would chart an equitable path forward for dividing oil revenues in a way that transcends the divide among Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis.
• As report after report indicates, one of the challenges to building Iraq’s oil revenues has been insurgent attacks against oil infrastructure. A distribution of revenues to all Iraqis would mean they would have a greater incentive to keep the oil flowing, help the economy grow, reject the insurgency, and commit to the future of their nation.
• While demonstrating that the U.S. is not in Iraq for oil, an Iraq Oil Trust would also inhibit corruption and the concentration of oil wealth in the hands of a privileged few.
• Finally, an Iraq Oil Trust would demonstrate the values at the heart of democratic governance: Individuals would have the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Indeed, the study group reports, “Iraqis have not been convinced that they must take responsibility for their own future.” By trusting ordinary Iraqis, ordinary Iraqis would in turn gain greater trust in the national government while seeing something positive about the future at a time when positive signs have been few and far between.
(18 Dec 2006)
Wall Street Journal essay by Clinton and Ensign (registration required): An Oil Trust for Iraq
Analysis: Iraq oil law stuck on contracts
Ben Lando, UPI
The completion of Iraqi oil law negotiations now hinge on whether the central or regional government has final say on oil contracts, a roadblock negotiators don’t seem willing to give on.
There has been some advancement on creating a federal oil law, necessary for development of and investment in the world’s third-largest crude reserves, though a top Kurdish official warns compromises his side has made have not been finalized yet.
(13 Dec 2006)
Analysis: Iraq’s oil smuggling — Part 1
Ben Lando, UPI
Iraq faces increasing security problems and a growing petroleum smuggling racket that is draining chances of rebuilding after nearly four years of war.
Meanwhile Iraq’s electricity and oil infrastructure — which also depend on each other — need at least $80 billion to fix, U.S. and Iraqi officials said last week in Washington at the New-Fields 6th Rebuilding Iraq Conference & Expo.
(14 Dec 2006)
Also posted: Part 2 iin the series.
U.S. troops should leave country, but how will America then keep control of oil fields
Linda McQuaig, Toronto Star
…One senses the impatience inside the White House and the Iraq Study Group. For heaven’s sake, it’s almost four years since the invasion! How long does it take to get a competent puppet government and army up and running?
The report sets out a vision for extending U.S. control over Iraq. U.S. officials will be embedded everywhere: U.S. soldiers inside the Iraqi army, American trainers inside the Iraqi police, FBI agents inside the interior ministry, CIA agents inside intelligence operations.
The report even specifies that Iraqi consumers must pay more for oil, and that the Iraqi Central Bank must raise interest rates to 20 per cent – before the end of this month.
(17 Dec 2006)
