United States Enforcing Laws On Other Countries?

So, I’m not sure how I cam across this little tidbit, but apparently the United States government is attempting to pass a bill that will require the executive branch of government to enforce anti-trust laws against current members of OPEC.  The bill numbered S.2976 (PDF) which has only been introduced to the Senate is apparently trying to hold countries like Iraq, Iran, United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait to United States trade laws.

Introduced by Frank Lautenberg (D) of New Jersey, has managed to apparently get it passed by the House of Representatives and now waits for the Senate’s view on it. I can’t help but wonder why Senator Lautenberg believes that OPEC is a member of, or operates in the United States. I can’t help but shake my head as this bill has even gotten further down the line than just a glance.

The Bush administration has already indicated that it will attempt to veto the bill, and I hope it is. The economic backlash against the United States for this bill against OPEC could easily damage the US economy even worse, and despite the fact that it can even damage the world economy terribly (although I will freely admit that the United States is not the center of the world and not the only economy on earth), I don’t think I can put it past OPEC to see that it has got something that the United States is not willing to get itself. (See ANWR.)

It kind of seems like this bill is intended to be something for senators and representatives to raise thier hands emphatically and shout, “I did something about the energy crisis!”. While I can understand the need to change something, I certainly think they are a little late to suddenly be worried about it. Oil prices have been climbing a good deal for awhile now, and it feels like our representatives have finally snapped.

If this is a problem the United States government wants to pursue, then they ought to take aim at OPEC through the World Trade Organization, as it seems half of the countries involved are member nations, and the other half are observing nations.

It just makes me laugh as much as seeing lolcats.