Walter Pincus: Commerce Seeks Adviser for Iraq Oil Interests

[babylonsister]

Commerce Seeks Adviser for Iraq Oil Interests
Submitted by davidswanson on Mon, 2007-09-10 02:06. Media

By Walter Pincus, Washington Post

The United States is getting ready now for the Iraqi government to get its
house in order and pass a detailed law that will govern the future handling
of its vast oil fields, which contain the world's third-largest proven
petroleum reserves.

In preparation for that moment, and in apparent hope that the United States
will be central to the process for years to come, the Commerce Department is
seeking an international legal adviser who is fluent in Arabic "to provide
expert input, when requested" to "U.S. government agencies or to Iraqi
authorities as they draft the laws and regulations that will govern Iraq's
oil and gas sector."

The Government Accountability Office report on Iraq last week found that the
benchmark efforts to develop a new oil system were still in early stages.
The framework of a new law with provisions for revenue sharing and
restructuring of the Oil Ministry has been drafted, but the single, new Iraq
National Oil Co. remains to be formed.

Nonetheless, the Commerce proposal put out Aug. 21 predicts that "as part of
a U.S. government inter-agency process, the U.S. Department of Commerce will
be providing technical assistance to Iraq to create a legal and tax
environment conducive to domestic and foreign investment in Iraq's key
economic sectors, starting with the mineral resources sector."

And it added: "Through this initiative, Iraqi officials will be able to
access the expertise of world-class professors and practitioners; they will
also attend technical workshops which will address Iraq-specific legal and
tax issues."

more...

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/26622

[PDJane]

1. the kleptocracy strikes again...........

[unhappycamper]

2. Ahhhhh. The old inter-agency process. . . .

Some that 'team' consists of

the US Army
the US Army National Guard
the US Army Reserves
the US Marine Corps
the US Air Force
the US Navy
the US Coast Guard
the Central Intelligence Agency
the National Security Agency
Blackwater
Halliburton
General Electric
Boeing
Lockeed-Martin