Middle East Economic Survey
VOL. L
No 33
13-August
IRAQ
419 Iraqi Intellectuals Reject Proposed Oil Law
The following is the translated text of an open letter to the Iraqi parliament and people, dated 8 August and signed by 419 Iraqi intellectuals and professionals, including academics, doctors, writers, engineers, lawyers, economists, diplomats, journalists, former ministers and senior officials. They support the stance of Iraqi oil experts on the draft law, expressed in letters to parliament on 5 March (signed by 61 experts – MEES, 19 March) and 16 July (108 experts – MEES, 23 July). The Iraqi government, with the support of the US administration, is seeking parliament’s swift approval of the law when MPs return after the summer recess in early September.
Oil represent Iraq’s principal source of revenue, so on it and the endeavors of its citizens relies the progress, development and reconstruction of the country whose resources were squandered in the past and now faces the prospect of being torn apart as bounty for the usurpers.
Over recent times public opinion has been preoccupied with the determination of the Iraqi government to pass the oil and gas law through the Council of Representatives. It is clear that the government is trying to implement one of the demands of the American occupation, and by so doing tries to camouflage its ineptitude in implementing any of its political, economic and security duties.
Available information confirms that the draft law was prepared without any Iraqi oil and legal experts taking part in the discussions on its drafting. After the draft was published, Iraqi experts raised, via seminars, statements, interviews and letters, the last of which was the letter, signed by Iraqi oil, legal and economic experts, and sent to the speaker and members of the Council of Representatives on 16 July 2007, basic objections to the provisions of the draft law. The experts stressed that the passing of the law under the present circumstances was not in the interest of the Iraqi people and totally contradicted the hopes and ambitions of our people. The patriotic forces also stressed their rejection of the law’s enactment, as did oil workers and trade unions in Basra and Baghdad.
The issue of oil today is being manipulated by the occupying authorities for the purpose of opening the doors for foreign companies to invest via production-sharing contracts that do not meet the interests of Iraq and practically annul the gains of our people that were achieved through lengthy struggles, such as Law 80 of 1960 and the oil nationalization of 1972. At the same time, the Kurdistan Regional Government, which is behaving like a “sovereign” government, is endeavoring to obtain complete authority to manage the oil resources in the Kurdistan area. It also has a vision of absorbing Kirkuk into the region and is seriously pursuing this objective. In addition, it has contracted a number of international oil companies, without coordinating with the central government.
The intellectuals and citizens of Iraq find that the draft oil law in its current form represents a serious blow to the gains of our people and their higher interests. It also lays the foundation for a fresh plundering of Iraq’s strategic wealth and its squandering by foreigners, backed by those coveting power in the regions, and by gangs of thieves and pillagers.
Accordingly, the intellectuals add their voices to the patriotic forces, to our brothers the oil and legal experts and to the oil workers who have all expressed their opposition to the proposed law. They call for renewed discussion of it by specialists and its submission to a national referendum. This law is of no less importance, from the point of view of economics and sovereignty, than the constitution. Therefore any attempt to pass it by force or coercion, to please the occupation authorities, will have no legitimacy and it will end with the exceptional and abnormal situations that the country is passing through.