(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many adults in Iraq believe their country's oil should be administered domestically and not by foreign companies, according to a poll by KA Research and Custom Strategic Research for Oil Change International. 63 per cent of respondents prefer Iraq's oil to be developed and produced by state-owned companies.

In February, a preliminary draft of the Iraq Oil and Gas Law was released. If approved, the regulations would allow multinational companies to sign exclusive 20-year deals with the current government of Iraq to develop and produce oil. The National Assembly is not expected to vote on the proposed law until September.

Earlier this month, former Iraqi oil minister Issam al-Chalabi expressed dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs, saying, "People are afraid to send their children to school, people are afraid to go to work, hundreds of Iraqis are being killed every day. What's so important about issuing a law that cannot even be implemented?"

The coalition effort against Saddam Hussein's regime was launched in March 2003. At least 3,664 American soldiers have died during the military operation, and more than 27,200 troops have been wounded in action.

There has been no official inquiry on the actual number of Iraqi casualties. A volunteer group of British and U.S. academics and researchers—known as Iraq Body Count (IBC)—estimates that more than 68,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed during the military intervention.

In December 2005, Iraqi voters renewed their National Assembly. In May 2006, Shiite United Iraqi Alliance member Nouri al-Maliki officially took over as prime minister.

Polling Data

In the coming decades would you prefer Iraq's oil to be developed and produced by Iraqi state-owned companies or by foreign companies?

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