This is a letter that I sent to the Editor of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette on 05/13/2007. It was published on 5/16/2007.
To The Editor,
How are the U.S. voters ever going to come to grips with what are the issues in Iraq if the mainstream press simply repeats the Republican mantra that the Iraqi Parliament needs to pass the oil revenue sharing law proposed by us?
In every article where oil revenue sharing is mentioned as needed, there should be a hint that this bill mainly benefits U.S. oil companies and is very detrimental to the Iraqis. No wonder the Iraqi government is dragging its heels about passing this law.
I wouldn't be surprised if our pushing this idea on them is the answer to George Bush's question as to why they hate us so much. In fact the hate is no mystery at all when you become aware of what we are trying to do to them.
/Steven Greenberg
As a response to viewing my letter on this web page, Richard H. did some research that backs up what I was hinting at. The following is what he sent to me:
For example, a quick Google search listed:
http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2007/03/iraqi_oil_agreement.html from Mother Jones
From Platform and CarbonWeb http://www.carbonweb.org/showitem.asp?article=58&parent=4&link=Y&gp=3 with some info about Production Sharing Agreements.
http://www.al-ghad.org/2007/02/14/exclusive-the-official-draft-of-the-oil-and-gas-law-of-the-iraq-republic-15-jan-2007/ The draft law proposal from january (in English); I didn't look at it.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/middle_east/iraq/jan-june07/oil_03-19.html from PBS NewsHour
I think the first link, which is to the article on the Mother Jones web site, gives a pretty clear picture of the issue.
Here is a May 11, 2007 UPI article that gets close to the point, but misses the target somewhat. One paragraph provided some telling info that I had not seen before,
"United Press International made numerous requests to ask House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey, D-Wis., about the oil benchmark but received no response. His committee drafted the language. When House Democrats asked him about the issue in a private meeting this week, The Politico reports, he cussed them out."