Privatizing the entire region of course the larger goal and securing the energy supplies is numero uno factor. The US military machine not only goes after the loot but also depends on it for it's survival. A very wicked feedback loop.
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Crude Designs:
The Rip-Off of Iraq’s Oil Wealth
By Greg Muttitt
PLATFORM with Global Policy Forum,
Institute for Policy Studies (New Internationalism Project)
New Economics Foundation
Oil Change International and War on Want
November 2005
For pdf version, click here
A CONTRACTUAL RIP-OFF
The debate over oil “privatisation” in Iraq has often been misleading due to the technical nature of the term, which refers to legal ownership of oil reserves. This has allowed governments and companies to deny that “privatisation” is taking place. Meanwhile, important practical questions, of public versus private control over oil development and revenues, have not been addressed.
The development model being promoted in Iraq, and supported by key figures in the Oil Ministry, is based on contracts known as production sharing agreements (PSAs), which have existed in the oil industry since the late 1960s. Oil experts agree that their purpose is largely political: technically they keep legal ownership of oil reserves in state hands (3), while practically delivering oil companies the same results as the concession agreements they replaced.
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POLICY DELIVERED FROM AMERICA TO IRAQ
Production sharing agreements have been heavily promoted by oil companies and by the US Administration.
The use of PSAs in Iraq was proposed by the Future of Iraq project, the US State Department’s planning mechanism, prior to the 2003 invasion. These proposals were subsequently developed by the Coalition Provisional Authority, by the Iraq Interim Government and by the current Transitional Government. The Iraqi Constitution also opens the door to foreign companies, albeit in legally vague terms.
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/oil/2005/crudedesigns.htm