The Dow Jones news service, which has obtained a proposed draft of a new oil law for Iraq, reports: “Iraq’s first postwar draft hydrocarbon law recommends the government sign production sharing agreements and other service and buyback contracts … An Iraqi oil ministry official told Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday the new law proposes allowing —…

“The United States should assist Iraqi leaders to reorganize the national oil industry as a commercial enterprise…” — Iraq Study Group ANTONIA JUHASZ A visiting scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies, Juhasz just wrote the piece “Oil for Sale: Iraq Study Group Recommends Privatization,” which states: “The [Iraq Study Group] report calls for the…

TOM ENGELHARDT Available for a limited number of interviews, Engelhardt just wrote a piece titled “How to Stay in Iraq: The Iraq Study Group Rides to the Rescue,” in which he states: “Put in a nutshell, the Iraq Study Group plan — should it ever be put into effect — might accomplish the following: As…

NIR ROSEN Rosen has spent a total of two and a half years in Iraq since the invasion. He said today: “The [Baker-Hamilton] commission is based on consensus, calling for eventual withdrawal but no timeline; I don’t think it’s very significant. The U.S. can make things worse in Iraq, but it can’t make things better.…

Former CIA director Robert Gates’ confirmation hearing is scheduled for Tuesday. Several articles on Gates, featuring in-depth information about his background and suggested questions, are at Consortium News. The following former CIA analysts are available for a limited number of interviews: MELVIN A. GOODMAN Now a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, Goodman…

ANDREW BACEVICH Professor of history and international relations at Boston University, Bacevich recently wrote a piece in the Christian Science Monitor titled “Iraq Panel’s Real Agenda: Damage Control,” which commented about the Iraq Study Group: “Their purpose is twofold: first, to minimize Iraq’s impact on the prevailing foreign policy consensus with its vast ambitions and…

JAMES PETRAS Professor emeritus at Binghamton University, Petras said today: “Bush seems intent on having al-Maliki form a coalition with different ethnic groups to divide the resistance and urging al-Maliki to actually increase the level of government violence. This would basically preserve the status quo — there are no new initiatives here. If anything, this…

DE LACY DAVIS The founder and president of Black Cops Against Police Brutality and a 15-year veteran of the East Orange, N.J., police department, De Lacy Davis is a recently retired sergeant in the community services unit. He said today: “The New York and LA police departments unfortunately set the pattern for the country. What…

AP is reporting: “A U.S. Air Force jet carrying one pilot crashed in Iraq on Monday, the military said.” BEAU GROSSCUP Author of the new book Strategic Terror: The Politics and Ethics of Aerial Bombardment, Grosscup is professor of international relations at California State University in Chico. He said today: “The silence over the Bush…

CLOVIS MAKSOUD Available for a limited number of interviews, Maksoud is a Lebanese national and former ambassador of the Arab League to the United Nations. He is currently director of the Center for the Global South at American University. Maksoud said today: “Such events are largely the product of a sectarian system in Lebanon. This…