Iraq has no unions?

 
Iraq's oil minister said Iraq's oil unions are not legitimate and have no more standing in the debate over the oil law than an ordinary citizen. Meanwhile, back in the real world, the Iraqi oil workers union represents 26,000 people who down their tools and walk out when a strike is called.

United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard: " ...the labor movement in Iraq is one of the few organizations capable of playing a significant role in lessening and hopefully ending the sectarian strife plaguing their country." This, because Iraq's labor unions unite Iraqi workers as Iraqis, without regard to religious or ethnic loyalties.

The Iraqi oil workers' present complaint is one shared by many Iraqi workers, who object to the sale of their country's national assets to foreign investors at pennies on the dollar. That was the entire Bush strategy for rebuilding Iraq. It failed, because the Iraqi people will not tolerate the literal theft of their entire country. So why are we still paying the full cost every month in both dollars and lives to keep pounding away at this dead horse?

Maybe the whole point is for our rulers to make a few more million dollars before their terms expire and other criminals take over the process of looting the Treasury.