May

20

The Oil Law and other benchmarks

Filed Under Christian Science Monitor, Council on Foreign Relations, Democrats, George W. Bush, Iraq, MSNBC, Politics, deployment, military, oil, republicans, soldiers, war | Leave a Comment

Before you get started here, I highly recommend this backgrounder by Lionel Beehner, Staff Writer for the Council on Foreign Relations.

It’s all very confusing. Why are we trying to dictate what Iraq does with their national resources? I can’t wrap my head around why our government thinks they have any say in what Iraq does with their oil. Passing a bill in congress that dictates what Iraq must do might sound good to Americans - then if it fails, it’s the Iraqi’s fault - but this seems to be terrible logic to me. Here’s a good article outlining the issues with the first “benchmark” - the oil law.

Hasan Jum’a Awwad, Head of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, recently sent an open letter to the US Congress pleading that the acceptance of an oil law not be linked to the withdrawal of US troops.

From the Council on Foreign Relations website, here’s a sort of breakdown of the current benchmarks, (prepared by Lionel Beehner) :

In President Bush’s January 2007 speech outlining his latest strategy for Iraq, he listed a series of benchmarks on security, economic performance, and governance for the Iraqi government to meet. They include passing an oil revenue-sharing bill, reversing the draconian de-Baathification laws his administration previously forced on Iraq, and holding new provincial elections. He also demanded progress in the spending of billions of dollars in reconstruction money and revisions to the constitutional amendment process. “America will hold the Iraqi government to the benchmarks it has announced,” Bush proclaimed.

How can we hold another government to benchmarks we make up? Without clear guidelines of what defines both success and failure, how can we say we’re winning or losing?
I really feel like it’s not a win/loss situation. It’s a disaster that shouldn’t go on needlessly. Let Iraq govern themselves. The US has no business dictating how their constitution is worded, how much of their oil goes to foreign investors or how their government is divided up between the peoples of Iraq. If anything, the US should pull out all contractors, let the Iraqi’s offer contracts for rebuilding worldwide. The current contractors can pool the billions in profits they’re making to finance actual reconstruction WITH oversight.

Are we obligated to offer some sort of security force? I don’t know. I believe that the US presence fuels the insurgency, and that all progress will continue to be undone by bombs and shooting while we remain there.

So finally, here’s my assessment. The Democrats tried to put together a bill that included the President’s benchmarks and a time line for troop withdrawal. The time line was denied, but the benchmarks remain. It seems very convenient for our Congress and and Executive Branch to approve of something that the US has no way to enforce and no control over.
I hope others will comment on this entry. I’m always looking for new viewpoints, and the more we all understand the situation, the better we can PARTICIPATE in our government.