Hans Blix: Iraq War About Oil

[LoungeMachine]

Hans Blix: Iraq war and oil connected
Posted : Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:22:20 GMT
Author : General News Editor




SYDNEY, Nov. 13 Hans Blix, the former head of the Iraq weapons search, is the latest to say oil may be a factor in the war in Iraq.

"One fear I would have is that the U.S. has a hidden thought to remain in Iraq," Blix, the former chief of the U.N. inspection team looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, told Australia's ABC radio.

Blix was in Australia accepting the Sydney Peace Prize.

"One reason why they wanted in was that they felt they must leave Saudi Arabia. After the Gulf War in 1991, they left their troops in Saudi Arabia to protect pipelines," he said. "And when they felt they could no longer stay in Saudi Arabia, Iraq was the next best place because it was more secularized than Saudi Arabia and had the second biggest oil reserves in the region."

In September former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan caused a stir when he wrote in his new book about the Iraq oil-war connection.

"I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: The Iraq war is largely about oil," Greenspan wrote toward the end of "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World."

Iraq has the world's third-largest proven oil reserves and is believed to have twice as much of yet undiscovered oil.

But with the main rationale for the war -- Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction and links to al-Qaida -- now debunked, the anti-war community is looking at motives.

U.S. officials deny such allegations.

2007 by UPI
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/141266.html

[LoungeMachine]

Iraq's leaders still can't agree on new oil law-PM

http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKCOL14317720071111

BAGHDAD, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Iraq's political leaders are in intensive talks to resolve lingering disputes over a draft law that will decide control of the world's third-largest oil reserves, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Sunday.

"Everyone agrees that this law should be passed. There is positive progress and understanding between the parties. I believe talks in the coming days will be intensive to resolve the disputes," he told reporters in Baghdad.

The oil law is seen as vital to securing foreign investment to boost Iraq's oil output and rebuild its shattered economy. Most of Iraq's proven oil reserves are in the Shi'ite south and in the Kurdish north.

The cabinet agreed on a draft in February and sent it to parliament for approval, despite disagreement over the rights of regions to negotiate contracts with foreign oil companies and whether the federal or regional governments would control the oil fields.

Maliki said the bill, which will provide a legal framework for foreign firms to do business in Iraq, had since been sent back to cabinet for more talks to iron out the disputes.

The prime minister said there was still disagreement over the exploration of undeveloped fields and production-sharing agreements, as well as contracts that had already been signed with some foreign companies.

Iraq's Kurdish region said last week it had signed seven new oil and gas contracts with international firms.

The Kurds say the draft law's annexes are unconstitutional, objecting to a proposal that would wrest oilfields from regions and place them under the control of a new state oil company.

Maliki said some parties in the negotiations wanted the annexes separated from the draft law to ease its passage through parliament.

"These disputes, some of them are based on the interests of the whole country and others are based on specific provinces," Maliki said, without referring to Kurdistan by name. (Reporting by Waleed Ibrahim, writing by Ross Colvin; Editing by Matthew Jones)