Fernando,
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>The most unbelievelable thing I heard was when the presenter of the interview asked the Iraq National Congress representative, what about the negotiations that were taking place with the US government to (look at the absurd!) denationalize the Iraqi oil AND to pass its control to US oil companies!
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>The Iraq National Congress representative said that there were nothing defined, that negotiations about Iraq's future are still being discussed blah, blah, blah...

I don't have more information on this, but I can tell you that the U.S. media has for some time been telling us certain things about the state of the oil production facilities that undoubtedly have been calculated to "make the case" for privatization.

Mainly they talk about the age of the technology in place in Iraq, saying at every opportunity that 'it will all need to be replaced' and sometimes throwing in that this is 'a very expensive proposition', leaving it to the listener to conclude that this is best done by the private sector.

When I hear this I always ask myself things like I wonder how they have been able to bank so much money in the "food for oil" program if this is the case?... or how come their people are able to pay only 12¢ per gallon if this is the case?... or how come Syria and Jordan can buy Iraqi oil while all the above happens??? In other words, they have been able to produce significant amounts of oil for themselves and the world with all this antiquated equipment, so WHY would it need replacing?!?! And all this under embargo that prevents the delivery of parts and equipment to repair things as they break (possible 'dual-use')! I see only one answer - as the excuse to denationalize it.

Remember, the oil will still "belong to the Iraqi people" even if privatized because they will continue to receive royalties for the oil. That it will drive up prices for the Iraqi people and that it will make extreme hardship for Jordan and Syria is immaterial, and the latter is undoubtedly helpful in the long run to make regime changes there too.

It will be very sad, but not surprising at all, if the oil is DEnationalized very soon in the future. After all, this is one of the "values" of democracy.


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>Please, if anyone of you fellows have further information regarding that absurd, tell about, I'd like to learn more about those negotiations.
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>Regards,
>
>Fernando