Noticed in a Tim F takedown of the “new” strategy (a must read in itself) a link to a story that should make anyone not employed with an oil company puke.  Some excerpts:

As the number of US soldiers killed since the invasion rises past the 3,000 mark, and President George Bush gambles on sending in up to 30,000 more troops, The Independent on Sunday has learnt that the Iraqi government is about to push through a law giving Western oil companies the right to exploit the country’s massive oil reserves. […]

[T]he new oil law has quietly been going through several drafts, and is now on the point of being presented to the cabinet and then the parliament in Baghdad. Its provisions are a radical departure from the norm for developing countries: under a system known as “production-sharing agreements”, or PSAs, oil majors such as BP and Shell in Britain, and Exxon and Chevron in the US, would be able to sign deals of up to 30 years to extract Iraq’s oil. PSAs allow a country to retain legal ownership of its oil, but gives a share of profits to the international companies that invest in infrastructure and operation of the wells, pipelines and refineries. Their introduction would be a first for a major Middle Eastern oil producer.  […]

Critics fear that given Iraq’s weak bargaining position, it could get locked in now to deals on bad terms for decades to come. “Iraq would end up with the worst possible outcome,” said Greg Muttitt of Platform, a human rights and environmental group that monitors the oil industry. He said the new legislation was drafted with the assistance of BearingPoint, an American consultancy firm hired by the US government, which had a representative working in the American embassy in Baghdad for several months.

“Three outside groups have had far more opportunity to scrutinise this legislation than most Iraqis,” said Mr Muttitt. “The draft went to the US government and major oil companies in July, and to the International Monetary Fund in September. Last month I met a group of 20 Iraqi MPs in Jordan, and I asked them how many had seen the legislation. Only one had. (emphasis mine)

So among all this chaos still going on, a US consulting firm writes legislation for Iraq, passes it around to oil companies and the IMF to give their two cents, and the Iraqi government doesn’t even get more than a token shot at even reading it.  That legislation has to do with, oh 70% of their economy.

Sovereignty?  What sovereignty?

Ok, obviously I don’t think they should go the traditional route of government ownership, especially considering how that worked for them before (read: poorly).  But considering it’s their country, & we claim it’s supposed to be a democracy, doesn’t it naturally follow that the answers to who decides and what to do would be “the Iraqi people” and “whatever the hell they want”?  I suspect if a poll were circulated in Iraq about this proposal they’d have to add a third option of “fuck you”, cuz “no” would hardly suffice.