Kucinich introduces bill to bar U.S. oil companies from Iraq

August 1, 4:51 PMProgressive Politics ExaminerJay McDonough

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You gotta hand it to Kucinich.  He certainly doesn't shy away from a fight.  Rep. Dennis Kucinich has introduced a bill into the House of Representatives that would bar U.S. oil companies from receiving contracts for oil exploration in Iraq.  Kucinich maintains oil exploration should be done by Iraqi companies and the revenue from that work stay in Iraq. 

“Iraq needs oil revenue now more than ever as they try to rebuild their country,” Kucinich said Thursday, unveiling the Oil for Iraq Liberation Act.

Kucinich noted Congress recently required Iraq to match US investments in the country's reconstruction, and he implied that Iraq's ability to contribute to its reconstruction was damaged because of its reliance on oil revenues.

Recent reports have indicated that big oil companies like Exxon, Chevron, BP, Total and Shell are set to receive lucrative no-bid contracts to explore in Iraq.

In his floor speech, he said the bill would "discourage US oil companies from profiting from the war and will stop the further theft of Iraq’s oil resources by the very interests who have profited from the war for oil: the US oil companies." (Link)

This seems quite sensible to me.  Iraq, if it has any chance of becoming a functional and sovereign entity, should be able to take advantage of the natural resources within its borders.  Iraq is going to require a bunch of money to do the reconstruction required after this war. and that money can come from a couple sources; from Iraq itself (the best option) or from the U.S. (the worst option).  The more Iraq provides should mean the less the U.S. has to provide.  While it may be a terrific deal for ExxonMobile to have these kinds of no-bid deals, it doesn't serve either U.S. or Iraqi interests.