Mission Accomplished (for real this time)

The front page of the New York Times featured a piece on the takeover of Iraq's precious natural resource by Big Oil. Announced Wednesday was the news that Exxon-Mobile, Shell, BP, and Total were in the final stages of negations on an agreement that would open Iraqi oil to the Western based giants for the first time since Saddam nationalized the oil fields over 30 years ago.

Four Western oil companies are in the final stages of negotiations this month on contracts that will return them to Iraq, 36 years after losing their oil concession to nationalization as Saddam Hussein rose to power.

Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company — along with Chevron and a number of smaller oil companies, are in talks with Iraq’s Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts to service Iraq’s largest fields, according to ministry officials, oil company officials and an American diplomat.

The deals, expected to be announced on June 30, will lay the foundation for the first commercial work for the major companies in Iraq since the American invasion, and open a new and potentially lucrative country for their operations.

The no-bid contracts are unusual for the industry, and the offers prevailed over others by more than 40 companies, including companies in Russia, China and India. The contracts, which would run for one to two years and are relatively small by industry standards, would nonetheless give the companies an advantage in bidding on future contracts in a country that many experts consider to be the best hope for a large-scale increase in oil production.

It has been very clear to a lot of us that this was the endgame in the Iraqi struggle as far as the current administration's interests are concerned. Not to mention the prize for Big Oil is "no bid contracts", per the New York Times. That is right NO BID.

The cowardly theft of Iraq's natural resource by Big Oil is beyond deplorable. Iraq has one thing that will help it regain its stature economically and that is its oil. By allowing Big Oil to in essence steal this from the people of Iraq, in turn we will have allowed the second occupation of Iraq. This one being as morally bankrupt as the first.