Iraqi oil for the Iraqis, urges MSP
Monday, 18 June 2007
Bill Wilson, MSP for the West of Scotland region, today lodged two Parliamentary Motions concerning the Iraqi oil industry.

Speaking after lodging them, Dr Wilson said that he was concerned that Iraqis working in the oil sector should not be pressured to forego their right to strike should they choose to exercise this legal means of objecting to the proposed Oil Law.  This law, he said, amounted to the de facto sale of their country’s oil industry to multinational companies and he had been alarmed to hear that objecting workers had received death threats. He continued, “I await the UK and USA governments’ responses.  By speaking against the proposed privatisation of Iraq’s oil industry they would demonstrate the truth of their oft-made assertions that the invasion of Iraq was not motivated primarily by greed and self-interest.

“I believe that every country should have the right to use its natural resources for the benefit of its people.  Iraq needs all the income it can get to rebuild itself after the devastation of the last few years.  Iraq lost over a million people due to sanctions and suffered over half a million war casualties as a result of the invasion.  It would be obscene if Iraqis were to have their oil stolen from them as well.

“I would like to believe that the UK and USA governments will act honourably in this matter but, sadly, I confess that I have little real expectation of it.”

FULL TEXT OF THE MOTIONS

Date of Lodging: 18 June 2007
Short Title: Iraq: Right to Strike
S3M-00194 Bill Wilson (West of Scotland) (SNP): That the Parliament notes with grave concern the death threats against members of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU) who were recently protesting against the proposed oil law which would effectively cede control of Iraq’s oilfields to multinational companies; further notes that the right to strike is protected by the core conventions of the International Labour Organisation, to which the Iraq Government is a signatory, and accordingly expresses its support for calls for the threat of violence against the oil workers to be withdrawn and for their legitimate right to strike to be recognised should they choose to exercise it.

Short Title: Iraq: Privatisation of Oil
S3M-00195 Bill Wilson (West of Scotland) (SNP): That the Parliament notes with concern proposals to pass laws allowing the privatisation of Iraq’s oil industry; notes that both the Blair and Bush administrations stated that their declared major purpose for invading Iraq was to remove weapons of mass destruction and that the invasion was not motivated by that country’s oil reserves; notes that both administrations have stated their support for the introduction of democracy in Iraq, and accordingly is confident that the UK and US administrations will demonstrate their good intentions by encouraging the Iraq Government not to privatise that country’s oil but to maintain it as a source of income to help Iraq’s reconstruction and recovery.
 
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