Bush to al-Maliki: pass a draft oil law by the end of June, or you are gone

[sabra]

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/13/africa/ME-GEN-Iraq-Oil.php

Al-Maliki tells aides U.S. benchmark deadline is June 30 or his ouster possible
The Associated Press

BAGHDAD: Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki fears the Americans will withdraw support for his government — effectively ousting him — if parliament does not pass a draft oil law by the end of June, close associates of the Iraqi leader told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The legislature has not even taken up the draft measure for a fair distribution of the nation's oil wealth — only one of several U.S. benchmarks that are now seen by al-Maliki, a hardline Shiite, as key to continued American support for his troubled government.

...

Compounding al-Maliki's fears about a withdrawal of American support were visits to Saudi Arabia by two key political figures in an admitted bid to win support for a major Iraqi political realignment. Saudi Arabia is a major U.S. ally and oil supplier.

Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a Shiite, arrived in the Saudi capital Tuesday. Masoud Barzani, leader of Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdish region, flew in a day earlier. Most Kurds are Sunni Muslims.

"Allawi is there to enlist support for a new political front that rises above sectarian structures now in place," the former prime minister's spokesman Izzat al-Shahbandar told AP.

[paparush]

1. Excerpt - "All your oil are belong to US"

[rurallib]

2. Won't it be hard to do when most of the legislature has fled the

country for safety? I read somewhere (sorry no link) that over half the legislature was long gone mostly to Britain.