IRAQ VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday July 28, 2009

CONTACT: Aaron Hughes 217-898-9083 aarhughes@ivaw.org
T.J. Buonomo 719-510-2255 tj@ivaw.org

Iraq Veterans Against the War to Call for State Department to
Safeguard Iraqi Sovereignty, Champion Labor Rights

Iraqi control of national resource development, labor practices
adhering to International Labour Organization standards are key to
long term stability

Washington, DC – On Thursday, August 6 from 8:00-8:30AM, IVAW will
hold a press conference at the U.S. State Department focusing on the
current Iraq oil negotiations and related labor rights issues. IVAW
will call for diplomatic officials to instruct international oil
companies on the importance of Iraqi national sovereignty to long term
political stability in the country. IVAW will also press U.S.
officials to publicly champion labor rights in Iraq, which the State
Department reported this year as contrasting sharply with
International Labour Organization standards.

Background

After the fall of Baghdad in 2003, U.S. officials transformed Iraq's
legal system in order to open the country to virtually unregulated
foreign investment- an act in contravention of international law. One
of the Iraqi laws kept in place by the Coalition Provisional
Authority, however, was a Saddam Hussein-era prohibition on free
association and collective bargaining in the public sector. This
legal measure has been used to suppress popular dissent against
ongoing negotiations over the role of foreign oil companies in Iraq’s
energy industry. These highly controversial negotiations have in
turn contributed to political instability throughout the country,
undermining the transition to full Iraqi sovereignty.

IVAW recognizes that Iraq's control over its natural resource
development is a prerequisite to long term political stability there
and will press the State Department to formulate and implement U.S.
policy accordingly.

IVAW member and former Military Intelligence Officer T.J. Buonomo will
be available for interviews following this event. He can be contacted
before August 3 via email at tj@ivaw.org and by phone at 719-510-2255
after this date.

For more information or to schedule interviews, contact Clarissa Rogers at
215-386-0388.

Iraq Veterans Against the War was founded in 2004 to give those who
have served in the military since September 11, 2001 a way to come
together and speak out against the U.S. occupation of Iraq, Today,
IVAW has over 1,300 members and several dozen chapters across the
country and on military bases overseas.