Long-term agreements signed by a government which, almost by definition, will be short-lived are not smart, for Iraqis.
posted on another site in 2005 -- still relevant!
PSA's or production sharing agreements in my opinion, are one of the 'freedoms' for which the administration-identified terrorists 'hate' us. Venezuela is getting out (has gotten out) from under the boot heel of PSA-type agreements with Exxon/Mobil, to the evident dismay of that corporation. Iraq, or those Iraqi leaders we installed to facilitate the so-called transition to democracy, have apparently signed, or intend to sign PSA's with US-based multinationals, to the detriment of their local economy.
It seems somewhat illegal for the US to have installed a government in Iraq, for that government to then sign agreements that do not benefit Iraq but do benefit US-based multinationals and then to be prepared to use our massive military to ensure that the Iraqi-adverse terms of the PSA are enforced. I read that the amount of dollars involved in this current rip-off rises as high as $200 billion(or more). Chunks of money that large would do much to enable a fledgling democracy to get a more firm grip on its circumstances. Removal of such an amount, conversely would do much damage to the same cause.
From the Berlin conference of 1884-85, through the exploitation of the Middle East for the sake of oil, through the acquisition of resources in Venezuela (now being reclaimed for the Venezuelan people, with the Bush administration howling loudly), PSA-type agreements have caused much of the world to have a gripe against us. We in America will have trouble throughout the world as long as we use the PSA model of exploiting the world's resources, and, more to the point, it's people.