Analysis: Big Oil to sign Iraq deals soon

Mission (almost) accomplished. Don't like it? Then read this:

One year ago, peace voters were celebrating the election of a new Congress that promised an end to the US occupation of Iraq. Since then, Congress has done little to bring US troops home from Iraq while the Bush administration has pushed ahead with the same war agenda. Peace voters have been left with few victories-- until now.

Two months after the benchmark deadline for the Iraq oil law, the law has so far been successfully resisted. The Bush administration tried to bully their way into Iraq's oil riches by pressuring Parliament to pass a law in favor of foreign oil companies but the oil workers union protested it, international media criticized it, Iraqi Parliament refused to debate it, and Americans such as yourself denounced it.

While we should be encouraged by this success, the fight is far from over. Even as Al-Sharistani concedes that the current law will not pass anytime soon, the Iraqi Parliament expects to face yet another round of pressure to pass a national oil law. Soaring oil prices and Kurdistan's signing of 15 new oil contracts are sure to increase that pressure.

As long as US troops are in Iraq, the Bush administration will do all it can to influence Iraq's oil industry. Some influence is obvious, such as the Commerce Department's hiring of an advisor for Iraq's oil industry, while other forms of influence come straight from the industry itself. Please contact Congress today to demand they continue investigations into US interference with the oil law and cease supporting a war that is illegal, immoral and unjust.

Please take action today. We have succeeded in the first phase of this fight-- let's not give up now.

Sincerely,

Kevin Zeese, Executive Director
VotersForPeace