Oil, troops, and the ‘noble cause’ By MARYELLEN KURKULOS
Published June 07, 2007 in New Bedford Standard Times
Amid all the wrangling these last months over the various incarnations of war funding bills, Congress and President Bush have remained in lock step on the inclusion of benchmarks to be met by the Iraqi government. Indeed, who among us could take exception to such progressive-sounding conditions as laws that would guarantee “fair distribution of oil revenues” among Iraqi ethnic groups?
For those who are closely scrutinizing these benchmarks, however, the house of mirrors is shattering: It is patently clear that Congress and the president have made appropriations funding for the war contingent on the privatization of the vast majority of Iraq’s oil reserves. Word is getting out; recently, retired U.S. Army Reserve Col. Ann Wright examined the details online. This past Monday, a Boston Globe editorial criticized the duplicitous bipartisan support they received in Congress.
The response from Iraqi oil workers, understandably incensed, has been to launch a remarkable retaliatory effort. Leaders representing 26,000 union members are now in the United States on a “Voices of Iraqi Workers Solidarity Tour” of 14 cities. They explain how “fair distribution” of revenues in the Iraqi Hydrocarbon Act represents the great giveaway of most of Iraq’s known oil fields and all of its yet-undiscovered fields to foreign companies. Half a world away in Basra, their brethren are on strike, punctuating their frustration with the complicity of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki by shutting down the crude pipeline to Baghdad.
The tour’s first stop was Tuesday at the Alexandria, Virginia-based firm BearingPoint, a high-tech consulting firm contracted to oversee economic development in Iraq. Having contributed considerably to Bush campaign coffers, BearingPoint “helped” the Iraqi government draft its oil law — but only after the law was reviewed by major oil corporations and the International Monetary Fund.
With few exceptions, most notably presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, virtually all Democrats and Republicans were silent about these circumstances. They gave President Bush his war money last month and so promoted the interests of foreign oil corporations at the expense of the lives of American soldiers, Iraqi civilians and Iraqi sovereignty.
The visiting union leaders are asking that the U.S. citizenry escalate our efforts to hold our legislators accountable for funding the war. They reject attempts to link war funding to unfettered privatization schemes and insist on the right to be involved in the drafting of any such Hydrocarbon Act.
But beyond this, I suggest it is time to come to terms with the grim realities of President Bush’s “noble cause,” what he now describes as “progress in return for Americans’ continued support and sacrifice.” It is time to discard the logical fallacy of funding the war to “support the troops.” We need to revolt against these craven politicians, insist that Congress heed our will and stop working for the war profiteers.
In short, Congress must stop funding the war and bring our troops home now.