By Tina Susman
The Los Angeles Times
Tuesday 03 July 2007
Baghdad - Iraq's Cabinet today approved legislation to oversee the distribution of the country's oil wealth and sent it to parliament for ratification, but it was unclear whether the measure could overcome the political hurdles that have stalled it for months.
Washington considers it the most important piece of legislation facing the parliament and has been pushing for its passage as a way of showing political progress in Iraq. With lawmakers scheduled to take a monthlong break starting Aug. 1, and with U.S. officials set to present an Iraq progress report to Congress in September, time is running short for passage.
The legislation first was approved by the Cabinet in February but never was sent to parliament for ratification because of disagreements over several issues, including how oil wealth would be fairly distributed nationwide and how much control the central government would have over regional decisions on oil contracts.
Iraq's government spokesman, Ali Dabbagh, insisted today that these issues had been resolved and that the Cabinet had accepted the newest draft.
"Everything has been approved," he said. "I don't find that there is anything that is going to block or stop this law from passing."
Parliament is expected to begin debating it this week, Dabbagh said.
Also today, U.S. military officials said an Apache attack helicopter had been shot down south of Baghdad but that the two crew members had escaped with minor injuries. The Air Force used two 500-pound bombs to destroy the downed helicopter to prevent hostile forces from recovering it, the statement said.
In western Al Anbar province, two Marines died in what was described as an accident not related to combat, the military said. Their deaths, which occurred Sunday, brought to 3,586 the number of American troops killed in Iraq since the war began in March 2003, according to www.icasualties.org, an independent monitoring group.
Also in Al Anbar, the military said at least 23 suspected insurgents had been killed in two days of fighting south of the provincial capital, Ramadi. A military statement said the battle began after security forces got word that insurgents loyal to Al Qaeda in Iraq had gathered on Ramadi's outskirts to stage a series of attacks. Their intent was to reclaim the area as a base of operations, months after Sunni leaders in Ramadi switched loyalties from the insurgency to U.S.-led forces.
Helicopter gunships destroyed two trucks loaded with explosives, and several among the dead were found to be wearing explosive vests, the military statement said.
Special correspondents in Baghdad contributed to this report.
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