Al-Maliki tells aides U.S. benchmark deadline is June 30 or his ouster possible (Oil law draft!)

[rec_report]

Al-Maliki tells aides U.S. benchmark deadline is June 30 or his ouster possible
13 March 2007

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.

<snip>

(Golly gee --apparently, the invasion of Iraq really *was* all about oil!)

[grmamo]

1. catch Randi's program from today (14th) and read her guest article

which was in the nytimes but http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0313-26.htm has it also. Randi's interview was very good.

Whose Oil Is It, Anyway?
By ANTONIA JUHASZ