February 27, 2007 | Graham

No blood for oil part 2



“No blood for oil” – the defining chant of the anti-Iraq war protestors. Let’s assume for a second that they were right, that the US action was all based on access to oil. Why should that preoccupation only apply to Americans? What if it applied to Iraqis too? What if much of the insurrection were driven by a lust for a share in the oil wealth of the country and a fear that one group or another would miss out?
Well, you’d solve the insurrection by coming up with a mechanism for sharing oil wealth in a way that was seen as equitable. Which might be just what the Iraqis have pulled-off, according to this New York Times report

“The draft law approved by the cabinet allows the central government to distribute oil revenues to the provinces or regions based on population, which could lessen the economic concerns of the rebellious Sunni Arabs, who fear being cut out of Iraq’s vast potential oil wealth by the dominant Shiites and Kurds. Most of Iraq’s crude oil reserves lie in the Shiite south and Kurdish north.
The law also grants regional oil companies or governments the power to sign contracts with foreign companies for exploration and development of fields, opening the door for investment by foreign companies in a country whose oil reserves rank among the world’s three largest. “

So, if foreign investment does arrive and there is oil wealth to distribute, perhaps the insurrection will solve itself. Of course, if it does, the solution will prove to be one of the things that the Left opposed – privatisation of some of Iraq’s mineral resources.



Posted by Graham at 9:38 pm | Comments (2) |

2 Comments

  1. Given the amount of lies and bull put out about Iraq,mind if I say I think hell will freeze over first.
    Try as you might try to spin it, Iraq is a bloody disaster,the Govt there is a shambles,they more than likely have freedom or religion as well.
    Problem is no one takes any notice,is the NYT owned by Murdock,if so that may explain it,mind I think hes stil waiting for oil at $20/barrel

    Comment by John Ryan — February 28, 2007 @ 5:32 pm

  2. Yes, allowing foreign oil companies to rape Iraq will definitely bring an end to the violence… do conservatives actually ever think? I mean, ever?

    Comment by Dr Zen — February 28, 2007 @ 8:23 pm

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.