Oily politics

My, my, my. We aren't in Iraq for the oil, right, Georgie? Well, then, what about this?

A proposed new Iraqi oil and gas law began circulating last week among that country's top government leaders and was quickly leaked to various Internet sites - before it has even been presented to the Iraqi parliament.

Under the proposed law, Iraq's immense oil reserves would not simply be opened to foreign oil exploration, as many had expected. Amazingly, executives from those companies would actually be given seats on a new Federal Oil and Gas Council that would control all of Iraq's reserves.

In other words, Chevron, ExxonMobil, British Petroleum and the other Western oil giants could end up on the board of directors of the Iraqi Federal Oil and Gas Council, while Iraq's own national oil company would become just another competitor.

The new law would grant the council virtually all power to develop policies and plans for undeveloped oil fields and to review and change all exploration and production contracts....[These] big British and American companies had been shut out of Iraq, thanks to more than a decade of U.S. sanctions against Saddam.

I believe this is what we call "corporatocracy", a form of facism.

They're not even trying to be subtle anymore.