UPI March 08, 2007
Key Iraq Sunni group warns against oil law
BAGHDAD, March 8 (UPI) -- The top Sunni clerical group in Iraq has warned parliament not to approve the hydrocarbons law, claiming it will deprive Iraqis from its oil wealth.
"We caution the parliament that it is faced with a historical responsibility and it will have to choose between: siding by the people in preserving its right and the right of its future generations from squandering and exploitation by the pharaohs of the age, and siding by the occupier and its conspiracies to seize this great national wealth," the Association of Muslim Scholars said in a statement posted Tuesday on its Web site.
The AMS, which GlobalSecurity.org calls "the highest Sunni authority in Iraq," urged any law governing Iraq's vast oil and natural gas reserves to preserve nationalization and limit foreign ownership.
Last month, negotiators forged a tentative agreement on a draft law outlining the rights to signing oil contracts and distribution of revenues, though final agreement have not been made. Parliament plans to take up the bill by May.
Iraq has 115 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and in January produced about 1.7 million barrels per day. Oil sales fund about 92 percent of its federal budget. Iraq's oil sector was nationalized in 1975.
The statement said such a law shouldn't be passed while the country is occupied by foreign forces or while it is in the midst of war. "What is the logic of passing such a law in such circumstances?" it said.
"We caution them that the Iraqi people is watching all these scenes and will not allow anyone to trade in its resources."
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