"News that's not known, or not known enough."
Helen & Harry Highwater's cranky weblog of news and opinion.
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"News that's not known, or not known enough." Helen & Harry Highwater's cranky weblog of news and opinion. |
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Moqtada al-Sadr, the fighting in Basra, & oil
After reporting on the bombing of an oil pipeline on Mar. 27, on the third day of fighting, the report presents the info that some oil workers are stuck in the field, unable to leave due to the curfew, while others are unable to get to work. Included also is a statement issued by a UK-based group called Naftana (which means "Our Oil" in Arabic) that supports Iraq’s Federation of Oil Unions and stands against the privatization of Iraqi oil by the occupying powers. They condemn the Iraqi military action in Basra and the British participation in it. In their statement, they call the action "an attack on worker’s rights and an assist to privatization of Iraq’s economy." VERY IMPORTANTLY, they go on to say that "this is a push to replace the dock workers (near Basra) and company with an international port firm." Also provided in the statement is some info relayed by Iraqi union leaders The statement includes this info, too: "in December 2007, the Basra Development Commission (BDC) was formally announced after discussions between the UK Prime Minister, Gordon Browne, and Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih." A "commissioner" named Michael Wareing was also appointed Also, it seems that in 2003 the occupying forces brought two companies into the area Regarding US Vice-President Dick Cheney’s Mar. 17-18 visit to Baghdad, the statement had this to say: "top of the agenda was the oil law and how to ensure its passage. The oil law means that international oil majors will control Iraqi oil for many decades." By the way, Cheney was also in Turkey on Mar. 24 (the attack in Basra began at midnight on the 24th) on the last stop of his 10-day trip. This short article indicates the main points discussed (according to press reports) The Naftana group also says this: "Naftana believes that they [British and American leaders] commanded it [the current Iraqi military action]", which is not what the mainstream media crap reports are saying as they speculate on whether the US and British were "surprised" or call it al-Maliki’s "bold decision." They also call it a "civil war" or, a little more accurately, the Prime Minister trying to wipe out a rival political force before the October elections. Naftana’s logic related to the US and UK commanding the attack is that they wanted to speed up their plans given the changes in public opinion in the US and the UK, and also break up the resistance that could remove their "puppet" and even his supporters the Kurdish leaders, Talibani and Barzani, from power in those October elections. As the details in the statement clarify, for the Iraqi resistance the issues are MUCH LARGER than the October election
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