Review of teach-in organised by Hands off Iraqi Oil Coalition

By Tahrir Swift, Arab Media Watch adviser and exile from Saddam Hussein's regime

29 March 2007

Dozens of people took part in a teach-in organised by the Hands off Iraqi Oil Coalition on the 24 March 2007 in Union Chapel, London.

A press release the previous month launched a coalition of organisations (*) to campaign against the introduction of an oil law which was approved by the Iraqi Council of Ministers on 26 February 2007 and is currently in front of parliament. The law will basically facilitate the daytime robbery of Iraqi oil, as the speakers at this event stated.

"The Iraqi oil law is the world's best kept secret," said Greg Muttitt of PLATFORM, an activist and expert speaker on the proposed law. Until January this year, the transcript of the law, put together by parties close to the big oil companies, has been kept under wraps. It was only disclosed recently to Iraqi MPs, who are expected to vote on it this spring.

In the book A Game as Old as Empire, Muttitt explained in his chapter on The Hijack of Iraqi Oil Reserves that the sort of contracts this law seeks to introduce, commonly known as Production Sharing Agreements, have been resisted by the Gulf states, including Kuwait and Saudi Arabia:

"Iraq, with 10% of the world's oil reserves, seems to be the easiest to turn around. And if Iraq can be re opened to the multinationals, perhaps its neighbours could be pressured to follow suit." - read more: ►