NightBlogger

BAGHDAD - Frustrated Iraqis faced miles-long lines at gas stations on Tuesday — a stark reminder that a country with one of the world’s largest oil reserves still has major challenges delivering fuel to its people. The lines followed Iraq’s announcement Monday that it was opening six major oil fields and two natural gas fields to development by foreign firms, which could lead to the biggest outside stake in Iraq’s oil industry since it was nationalized more than 30 years ago. More

WSWS
TENS of thousands of Iraqis protested in a number of cities Friday against the proposed agreement between the puppet regime of Nouri al-Maliki and the Bush administration that would codify a long-term US military occupation.

In a secret videoconference last November, Maliki and Bush signed an agreement, a cynically titled “Declaration of Principles for a Long-Term Relationship of Cooperation and Friendship,” which outlined plans for the establishment of permanent American military bases and preferential treatment for US energy conglomerates and investors to exploit Iraqi oil reserves. The full details of the pact, including the general dimensions of the American occupation force, were to be worked out by July 31, 2008. More