Iraqi Parliament votes to throw us out; al-Maliki may veto

Well this surely looks familiar.

The Iraqi people want us to leave, but their 'leader' says no. Their parliament is now attempting to throw us out, and their 'leader' may veto. We Americans want to leave Iraq, but our 'leader' says no. Our Congress attempted to get us out, but our 'leader' vetoed our attempt to leave.

Representative government, eh? So much for democracy. It appears we exported our current, broken one, rather than the original.

The parliament today passed a binding resolution that will guarantee lawmakers an opportunity to block the extension of the U.N. mandate under which coalition troops now remain in Iraq when it comes up for renewal in December. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose cabinet is dominated by Iraqi separatists, may veto the measure.

The law requires the parliament's approval of any future extensions of the mandate, which have previously been made by Iraq's prime minister. It is an enormous development; lawmakers reached in Baghdad today said that they do in fact plan on blocking the extension of the coalition's mandate when it comes up for renewal six months from now.

Ironic and sad.

So what next? Will Bush disband the Iraqi Parliament, over-rule their Constitution and declare martial law? Its obvious al-Maliki can't pull that off, he is outnumbered without our armed support. Will Bush now undermine the parliament, or overthrow this elected government as well?

You see... the Iraqi Parliament still hasn't passed that Iraq Hydrocarbon bill. And until they pass that bill, our troops aren't going anywhere.

As Dennis Kucinich pointed out on the House floor:

"A new oil law set to go before the Iraqi Parliament this month would, if passed, go a long way toward helping the oil companies achieve their goal. The Iraq hydrocarbon law would take the majority of Iraq's oil out of the exclusive hands of the Iraqi Government and open it to international oil companies for a generation or more.

"In March, 2001," continuing to quote from this article, "the National Energy Policy Development Group, better known as Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force, which included executives of America's largest energy companies, recommended that the United States Government support initiatives by Middle Eastern countries 'to open up areas of their energy sectors to foreign investment.' One invasion and a great deal of political engineering ..." later, this is exactly what the Iraq oil law would achieve. It does so to the benefit of oil companies but to the great detriment of Iraq's economy, democracy, and sovereignty.

"Since the invasion of Iraq, the administration has been aggressive in shepherding the oil law toward passage. It is one of the administration's benchmarks for the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, a fact that" the administration officials "are publicly emphasizing with increasing urgency." And, that is that these are the benchmarks of the administration.

"The administration has highlighted the law's revenue sharing plan, under which the central government would distribute oil revenues throughout the nation on a per capita basis. But the benefits of this excellent proposal are radically undercut by the law's many other provisions. These allow much, if not most, of Iraq's oil revenues to flow out of the country and into the pockets of international oil companies."

In the end, it will be obvious to all but the very stubbornest of partisans, that this war is, was and has always been... entirely about the oil.