Tuesday May 15, 2007
The war in Iraq has brought enormous suffering to the Iraqi people, with an estimated 655,000 Iraqis killed and millions more displaced. Even so, some companies – such as Shell – are hoping to profit from this suffering. Indeed, since March 2003, Shell has been working closely with the occupying powers to create a framework that will allow multinational companies to take control of Iraq’s oil.
Thus, for example, British officials advised the International Tax and Investment Centre – a lobby group working on behalf of BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Total and ENI – on their strategy for influencing the Iraqi government, formally sent ITIC’s document to the Iraqi finance minister, and helped arrange a meeting at which Shell managers met ministers and officials.