ŒIh ^Jortlanò ffîbseruer Page A4 September 19. 2007 O pinion Opinion articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views o f The Portland Observer It’s the Oil, Stupid Pull privatization from the table E ric S toner Despite the Bush a d m i n i s t r a t i o n 's ever-evolving ratio­ nale for attacking Iraq - from nonexistent WMDs to spreading democracy in the Middle East - greater control of the world's third- largest oil reserves is one motive that has been consistently denied. Recent developments in Washing­ ton, however, suggest that the White House has once again been less than forthright. President George W. Bush and the Democrat-led Congress are cur­ rently putting intense pressure on the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to pass a controver­ sial new oil law as one o f the main by Choose a More Mainstream Judge Senate should reject Southwick nomination by M arc H. M oriai . Remember Charles Pickering, the 5 th Circuit Court of Appeals judge who never won confir­ mation but still served? After the U.S. Senate twice rejected his nomi­ nation, President George W. Bush did an end-run around the chamber and made a recess appointment in early 2004, just a few weeks before Martin Luther King Day. Ironic in light of Pickering's less-than-stel- lar record on civil rights. A sa federal district court judge, he championed the hate crime case of a man convicted of burning a cross on the lawn of an interracial couple. Pickering even pressured federal prosecutors to drop acharge against the convicted cross-burner. The judge retired near the end of his recess appointment only to be followed by yet another conserva­ tive jurist - Mississippi attorney Michael Stevens, who the Ameri­ can Bar Association deemed as unqualified, a determination that doomed his nomination. Now, the ghost of Pickering ap­ pears to be haunting the U.S. Senate in the form of Judge Leslie Southwick, a former Mississippi state court judge nominated to take Pickering's place on the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit, one of the most heavily minority circuits in the nation. Southwick, 57, served as a mem­ ber of the Mississippi Court of Appeals from 1995 through 2006. During his tenure, he favored the employer over the employee, the corporation over the consumer. However, in a 1998 employment case, Southwick pulled an about- face, siding with a white state em­ ployee rightly fired for calling a black co lleag u e a "good ole n***er." The social worker was reinstated to her job without punishment after the state appellate court ruled that her use of a racial epithet in the workplace "was not motivated out of racial hatred or racial animosity." Sounds a lot like the excuse radio shockjock Don Imus used last April in defense of the inflammatory rac­ ist and sexist remarks he made about the Rutgers University women's basketball squad. I bet Imus wi shed he worked for the state of Missis­ sippi. He'd still have a job. In an editorial earlier this year, The New York Times concluded that Southwick "revealed a thor­ ough lack of understanding of the political process." As The Times suggested ear­ lier this year, a "non-negotiable quality" o f judicial nom inees should be a commitment to equal justice. In Southwick's case, that at­ tribute has been thrown out the window just like it was for his predecessors. Again, another conservative jurist is pulled out of what seems to be a bottomless well. How in­ sensitive, given that the 5th cir­ cuit is based in New Orleans, acity still suffering from the effects of Hurricane Katrinaand from a lacka­ daisical federal response to it. In early August, the Senate Ju­ diciary Committee cast its approval for the Southwick nomination by odious impact of such language" in the slimmest of margins -one vote. supporting the social worker. It is now headed for the Senate Southwick also joined with a floor, w here a vote could be taken lower court’s majority in denying as early as this month. custody to a mother, who had never Senators must soundly reject married the father of her 8-year-old Southwick's nomination to en­ daughter, because she lived with courage the White House to nomi­ another woman. nate more mainstream candidates The Magnolia Bar Association, who enjoy support from a broader a group of black lawyers in Missis­ array of interests than what the sippi, has questioned w hether president and his cohorts cur­ Southwick could "properly en­ rently consult. force" the law when "itcom estothe Marc H. Moriai is president rights of those who are unpopular and chief executive officer of the and who are marginalized by the National Urban League Again, another conservative jurist is pulled out o f what seems to he a bottomless well. development of the country's oil sector. Indeed, every other major oil producer in the region-includ­ ing Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iran - maintains a nationalized oil sys­ tem that forbids foreign control of its oil reserves. According to Antonia Juhasz, an analyst with Oil Change Interna­ tional, the oil law would also not require foreign companies "to in­ vest their earnings in the Iraqi economy, partner with Iraqi com­ panies, hire Iraqi workers or share new technologies." To the great consternation of the Bush adm inistration, the oil law has been stalled in the Iraqi Parliament for months. Somehow, amidst the horrific violence that surrounds them, the Iraqi people Every other major oil producer in the region - including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iran - maintains a nationalized oil system that forbids foreign control o f its oil reserves. "benchmarks" that must be met to show political progress. Although U.S. officials and the mainstream media have generally billed this law as a measure that will equitably distribute Iraq's massive oil revenues - projected to reach $31 billion this year - between the c o u n try 's d iffe re n t se c ta ria n groups, this is far from a complete or accurate picture of its contents. R ather than o rig in a tin g in Baghdad, the law was conceived within the bowels of the State De­ partment prior to the war. The United States brought in private contrac­ tor BearingPoint to assist Iraq's Ministry of Oil with the actual writ­ ing of the text. After its completion, executives from the major U.S. oil companies and the International Monetary Fund got the opportu­ nity to offer their comments on the draft. Only then was the Iraqi Parlia­ ment shown the law. The result is hardly surprising. Except for three vague sentences that deal with revenue sharing, the rest of a 33-page draft of the law effectively lays the foundation for the privatization of Iraq's oil indus­ try, which was nationalized in 1972. Under the proposed law, inter­ national oil companies could be granted 30-year-long contracts that would give them far greater owner­ ship of and profits from Iraqi oil fields than they would be allowed by other possible models for the are catching wind of the grave threat that this law poses to their country's long-term econom ic prosperity, and are voicing their opposition. According to a poll released several weeks ago, almost 2 out o f 3 Iraqis - including a majority o f every ethnic and religious group - oppose the privatization o f their oil resources. Trade unions, oil experts and various political parties in Iraq are all or­ ganizing against the law. In June, the influential oil workers union stepped up the resistance by going on strike, and it has threat­ ened to do so again should the law pass in its current form. Recently, six female Nobel Peace Prize laureates added their voices to the growing chorus of opposi­ tion. In a public statement, they urged, "The U.S. governm ent should leave the matter of how Iraq will address the future of its oil system to the Iraqi people to be dealt with at a time when they are free from occupation and more able to engage in truly democratic deci­ sion-making." If this war is truly not about oil, Congress must prove it by taking this disastrous benchmark off the table. Eric Stoner is a writer based in New York whose articles have appeared in "The Nation” and other newspapers. id N O W D E L IV E R IN G Y o u r f a v o r it e n e i g h b o r h o o d g r o c e r y s t o r e n o w d e l iv e r s Surge Didn’t Work g r o c e r i e s r ig h t t o y o u r h o m e o r o f f ic e . Please bring our troops home. The surge didn't work. Things in Iraq have gone from bad to worse and will continue to worsen. Stop the killing, too many children are dying. It's not helping anyone, and it’s hurting so many. Kiki Roumel Northeast Portland Il’r Jlortlanb ODbsmtcr Established 1970 USPS 9 5 9 -6 8 0 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR 97211 i . P ubi . ishf . r : Charles H. 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