Schumer wants to probe Iraq oil deal

By GottaLaff

Chuck Schumer isn't about to go along with this deal:

Sen. Charles Schumer called Monday for an independent probe into the Iraqi government’s decision to open the country’s oil fields to foreign oil companies.
“This is a head fake by the Iraqi government,” Schumer said just hours after the Iraqis announced their plan. “The Iraqis have shown they will pursue these contracts at all costs, their nation’s political stability be damned.”

Schumer criticized the Iraqi government for signing the deal before an oil revenue sharing law is in place, saying the decision could potentially inflame sectarian tensions within Iraq.

The New York Democrat said he plans to offer an amendment to an upcoming defense authorization bill requiring the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study on the law’s potential consequences.

Expect other lawmakers to follow Schumer’s lead in blasting the deal, as the announcement is a potential two-for-one special for Democrats, eager to argue that the Bush administration is trying to control Iraqi oil resources and trying to steer the revenues to large oil companies. [...]

“This…contract will only make a bad situation worse,” [Schumer] said. “Signing these deals without a revenue-sharing law is like putting the cart before the horse. The Iraqi government should know better, and so should the Bush administration that has apparently had an ‘advise-and-consent’ role on these deals.”

Glad to see someone was alert on this one. Now about that follow-through...