law that would transfer control of most of the Iraqi oil reserves to foreign corporations

[G_j]

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/22862

Iraqi Labor Leaders Spotlight US Consulting Firm Hired to Write New Iraq Oil Law

As the sorry, sad, sick "joke" goes, we didn't go into Iraq for the oil, but we aren't leaving without it.

Two visiting Iraqi labor leaders will lead a protest at the consulting firm responsible for drafting the new Iraq oil law, Bearing Point, on Tuesday, June 5, at 5 PM. At 5:30 PM, a march will start (about 3/4 mile) to the Capitol for a picket line.

Bush and the US Congress are putting tremendous pressure on the "Iraqi Parliament" to pass a new oil law that would transfer control of most of the Iraqi oil reserves to foreign corporations. This is not a new development. As early as December 2002, the US State Department devised a plan to open Iraq to international oil companies "as quickly as possible after the war." In March 2003, the Heritage Foundation called for full privatization of Iraqi oil. The Iraq Study Group calls for the reorganization of the Iraqi oil industry into a commercial enterprise with " US assistance.”

To further this end, the Iraqi constitution must be amended and a new oil law passed. In July 2003, BearingPoint, the reincarnation of a division of KMPG LLP, an accounting firm brought down during the Enron scandal of 2002, received a contract from USAID to re-write Iraqi economic laws. It was commissioned to write the new oil law and lobby for its passage. This intrusion is illegal under both Iraqi and US law.

Iraq’s five trade union federations, representing hundreds of thousands of workers, released a statement opposing the law, rejecting “the handing of control over oil to foreign companies which would undermine the sovereignty of the state and the dignity of the Iraqi people."

[Karenina]

1. This is so sick...

:kick:

[dave_p]

2. KPMG strikes again

An aside of this sick exercise is that governments still use outfits like KPMG and its divisions. I was once at the sharp end of one of their "consultations" - they spent six months producing a document that a 15-year-old could have written in a week, and ended up wrecking the undertaklng they'd stupidly been paid a fortune to advise, as these disgusting, dishonest little outfits regularly do (rival McKinsey's left probably even more ruined customers in its wake).

These operations know and care nothing about effective management for strong growth, they just take the money, produce whatever report will appeal to management self-interest (or in this case the agents of a predatory third party), and run.

One action of a future Democrat Administration should be to undertake an audit of the effectiveness of these firms in terms of value for money and successful policy outcomes, and bar them from policy process. Grasping clowns like KPMG have no business being anywhere near government or business. They're just parasites feeding off the fruits of others' work and destroying the very thing they claim to assist.

[mmonk]

3. Recommend and kick.

Download the flyer to show people who still believe lies about why we are there.

[G_j]

4. kick

[Solly Mack]

5. k/r

sigh