Outrageous Bush Executive Order on Iraq Oil Must Be Investigated

[Oilwellian]

July 28, 2003
EarthRights International

President Bush has issued an Executive Order, so far completely unreported, that purports to grant broad legal immunity to oil companies operating in Iraq. The Order is, on its face, outrageous, and should be investigated.

Executive Order 13303 (link in article), issued on May 22, 2003, claims to be essential to Iraqi reconstruction efforts. A cursory reading of the Order indicates that its real purpose is to protect oil companies by giving virtual impunity for any activities undertaken relating to Iraqi oil.

This Order, with broad language that seems to sweep aside federal statutes, including the Alien Tort Claims Act (link in article), has received no public attention. It has been brought to light by a researcher with the Sustainable Energy and Environment Network (SEEN).

Under this Order, an oil company complicit in human rights violations, or one that causes environmental damage, would be immune from lawsuits. The language of the Executive Order is so broad that it might as well have been written by lawyers for Halliburton, ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco.

In 13303, President Bush declares a national emergency as the basis for protecting the Development Fund for Iraq (an entity intended to fund reconstruction efforts with oil proceeds, overseen by an international board including World Bank officials) as well as all Iraqi petroleum, petroleum products, “interests”, proceeds, and contracts related to Iraqi petroleum. Claiming that interference with Iraqi petroleum, petroleum products, and “interests therein” jeopardizes reconstruction efforts in Iraq, EO 13303 offers a wide range of protections to certain persons, entities and assets associated with the Iraqi oil industry. The document is apparently intended as a sweeping grant of immunity to individuals, corporations, agencies and others involved in Iraqi oil sales, marketing, or other oil-related activities.
http://www.earthrights.org/news/eo13303.shtml

[NewYorkerfromMass]

1. I think this executive order was written by

Halliburton, ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco. And Brown and Root.

[Catshrink]

4. Just takin' care of bizness...

for dear old Dad and Dick.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

5. "Re-defeat shrub 2004"

Hey, is that a bumper sticker? I LOVE it!

[Catshrink]

6. Yep!!

I stole the line from democrats.com. They do have bumper stickers for sale there....

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Interesting...

Note that this is because of a "national emergency." The same sort of emergency that could perhaps call for martial law and suspension of habeas here....?

I don't know enough about the background of this sort of thing to properly comment, but one also wonders if this is designed to stop claims by the French, Germans, and others for their losses from the war. Europe and other Arab countries had major investments in Iraq, and long term contracts. This could protect any future oil revenues from paying off those obligations or being used as reparations for destroyed facilities. There could also be a question about frozen Euro accounts, since Iraq was selling oil in Euros, not dollars. I've seen very little discussion about these obligations set up under the old regime, or the actual ownership or financing of Iraqi infrastructure.

Remember how loudly we screamed when Cuba nationalized our businesses down there? Could we be doing effectively the same in Iraq?

[JaneQPublic]

3. Legal Analysis by the Gov't Accountability Project

Acrobat PDF file:

http://www.seen.org/GAPEO.pdf

The opening sentence of Section 1 decrees that "any judicial
process" is "null and void." That removes all enforcement for civil and criminal liability, with respect to protected activities for entities covered by the EO.

---snip

The EO violates U.N. Security Council Resolution 1483, rather than implements it.... The EO's immunity blank check overrides all three boundaries required by the Security Council resolution.

---snip

This cancels any legal responsibility for items such as competitive bidding so the taxpayers get the best terms available under the free market, minority hiring, occupational safety, or accounting and record keeping to demonstrate how taxpayer funds are spent. It cancels
liability for civil fraud in government contracts under the False Claims Act, 31 USC 3729, the nation's most effective anti-fraud statute. In short, the EO is a blank check for pork barrel
spending.