Yes, Democrats, Liberals are now meddling with the Iraqi government and its decision to negotiate contracts with companies of their choice.

Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., John Kerry, D-Mass., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., want the United States to dam negotiations on contracts the senators claim will, in part, further sectarian fighting.

A letter from Senate Committee on Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., to President Bush’s national security adviser Stephen Hadley, is asking the administration to press Hunt Oil and other U.S. companies to cancel their oil deals with the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq.

Iraq’s oil ministry said Monday that companies chosen to participate in bidding for technical-service contracts include major energy firms, but those deals pale in comparison to the most lucrative prizes for oil exploration and new production, which are being awarded to major western oil companies, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Those technical-service contracts are separate from shorter-term, controversial consulting contracts that the ministry is negotiating with companies like Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC. The oil ministry said such consulting agreements are needed in the interim because it will take about a year for the bids for the technical-service contracts to be rewarded.

Iraq’s minister of oil, Hussein Shahrastani contends that no contracts have been signed and added it was a “normal thing” to ask the largest and most experienced oil companies to help Iraq when it needs it.

“When a person needs a doctor, you ask who the best doctor in the field is,” he said.

Mr. Shahrastani said American politicians should stay out of Iraq’s oil industry and Iraq, as a sovereign nation, has the right to sign contracts with whichever company it wishes.

“Nobody has a right to interfere in our business,” he said.

The Liberals have long insisted the Iraq war was for oil and now they find themselves meddling in the affairs of a sovereign nation.

In a separate letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Schumer and Kerry called for Iraq to pass legislation governing the oil sector first.

“We ask that you work with the (government of Iraq) to ensure that they do not sign any agreements relating to oil or gas until they have passed a fair, equitable and transparent hydrocarbon revenue sharing agreement that benefits the Sunni Arabs, Shia Arabs, Kurds and all other Iraqi citizens,” the senators wrote.

It’s beyond the pale for this “Ilk On The Beltway” to attempt to control how a Democratically elected foreign government conducts its business.

Sounds a bit like Socialism to me. The original “Progressives” loved Lenin and now the modern Liberals love Hugo Chavez methods of controlling oil. Indeed!