Report: Fallon warns Maliki on oil law

BAGHDAD, June 11 — The top American military commander for the Middle East has warned Iraq’s prime minister in a closed-door conversation that the Iraqi government needs to make tangible political progress by next month to counter the growing tide of opposition to the war in Congress.

In a Sunday afternoon discussion that mixed gentle coaxing with a sober appraisal of politics in Baghdad and Washington, the commander, Adm. William J. Fallon, told Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki that the Iraqi government should aim to complete a law on the division of oil proceeds by next month...

The admiral’s appeal, which was made in the presence of Ryan C. Crocker, the American ambassador to Iraq, a senior political adviser to the command and this reporter, elicited an assurance from Mr. Maliki that he hoped to make some progress over the coming weeks. But he also offered a lengthy account of all the tribulations facing the Iraqi government, including tenuous security, distrustful neighboring Sunni states and a complex legal agenda.

Read the rest at the NY Times

Related Link:
Opinion (David Bacon): Iraqi unions fight to keep oil out of corporate hands

Related Link:
Oil strike 'on hold' after strikers surrounded by Iraqi troops; May resume Monday

Related Link:
Report: Maliki orders arrests of striking oil workers for 'sabotaging the economy'

Related Link:
600 pipeline workers go on strike in Basra, cutting Baghdad supply

Related Link:
Report: New U.S. strategy seeks to purge Iraqi government while keeping troop levels high

Related Link:
VP Hashemi opposes U.S.-backed draft oil law

Related Link:
U.S. Draft Report: Billions in oil missing

Related Link:
Report: Kurds will oppose draft oil law

Related Link:
Report: Iraq could have twice as much oil as estimated

Related Link:
Perspective: Protecting Iraq's oil supply

Related Link:
Sources: Maliki fears U.S. will torpedo government over oil money

Related Link:
Two key Iraq parties oppose oil law

Related Link:
Perspective: Whose oil is it, anyway?

Related Link:
Opinion (David R. Francis): Why Iraq's new oil law won't last

Related Link:
Perspective: Who Will Get Iraq's Oil?

Related Link:
Sunni clerics group attacks Iraq's draft oil law

Related Link:
Perspective: Troubles for the Iraq Oil Deal

Related Link:
Analysis: Basra center of Iraq's oil smuggling, and a microcosm of the war

Related Link:
Analysis: $700 million a month lost in oil smuggling

Related Link:
Opinion (Antonia Juhasz): It's still about oil in Iraq

Related Link:
Analysis: Iraq's oil industry in grip of despair

Related Link:
Bush says defeat in Iraq could push oil to $400 a barrel

Related Link:
Report: Iraq oil industry in $16 billion shortfall over last 2 years

Related Link:
Major oil companies maneuver to win stake in Iraq