http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2003/03/20/042.html Thursday, Mar. 20, 2003. Page 7
Report: U.S. Plans to Tap $40Bln Iraq Account
In itself, the current proposal of Kofi Anon is technical and almost required: the residual unspent amounts left over from the sale of Iraqi oil under the sanctions (in the billions) will be needed by desperate and suffering people. So the U.N. Secretariat should be authorized to use the residual funds quickly on its own since there will be no Iraqi government in the picture (the current Resolution requires the UN Secretariat to use lengthy procedures involving the Iraqi government and the Security Council).
The catch - who will control the NEXT batch of Iraqi oil to be sold (and, of course, for the long term)? The Military Government? Under what rules? For example:
- Will 'humanitarian needs' include 'public safety' and thus reimburse the U.S./UK for the costs of the occupation?
- The current 'Oil for Food' took billions (25% or maybe some $10 billion?) from Iraq and gave it to other countries as war reparations (surpassing Versailles). Now will the US/UK receive reparations for the cost of the war using this precedent?
- Until there is a legally recognized national Government, who will control the oil fields and sell the oil? U.S./UK oil companies under a leasing arrangement with the Military Government? (Of course this leads to the issue of the ultimate privatization of the oil fields themselves.)
There is one big point of leverage over the US/UK. To export Iraqi oil legally (other than through 'Oil for Food') there will have to be a Security Council Resolution. Could the US/UK try to attach the first steps in this direction to a more innocuous Resolution? The press reports that the US/UK have floated a private draft of a new 'Oil for Food' resolution. Alternatively they may have to wait for some weeks or months, when there is an impending crisis as the residual funds run out and when they have some sort of local Iraqi partners.
