So the Iraq War REALLY was about getting the oil...

[zulchzulu]

I know. It's pretty obvious. But now, a report comes out exactly with the real news that oil companies are going to get 30-year contracts in Iraq...

The US government has been involved in drawing up the law, a draft of which has been seen by The Independent on Sunday. It would give big oil companies such as BP, Shell and Exxon 30-year contracts to extract Iraqi crude and allow the first large-scale operation of foreign oil interests in the country since the industry was nationalised in 1972.

The huge potential prizes for Western firms will give ammunition to critics who say the Iraq war was fought for oil. They point to statements such as one from Vice-President Dick Cheney, who said in 1999, while he was still chief executive of the oil services company Halliburton, that the world would need an additional 50 million barrels of oil a day by 2010. "So where is the oil going to come from?... The Middle East, with two-thirds of the world's oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies," he said.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2132569.ece

[LynnTheDem]

1. Yes, and george w. bush already admitted it.

The Iraqis (76%) already knew that before bush's invasion and war on the people of Iraq.

[Drum]

2. And what if Iraq goes with the Euro...? nt

[Karenina]

20. Drum, you're really behind the curve.

The BAD Saddam man converted to the Euro in 2002. THAT is why he had to be taken out in 2003.

[leveymg]

3. On to Saudi Arabia - the Grand Prize

Iraq was just a forward base. Iran is too difficult. Saudi Arabia is just right.

[smoogatz]

10. Saudi Arabia is already at or past peak production.

SA's reserves are roughly 260 billion barrels, but all of its major fields are in production and considered "mature." Iraq has an estimated 220 billion barrels, but a lot of the country still hasn't been explored by petroleum geologists. It also has the lowest cost of production in the world--and its reserves are basically untapped. Iraq's oil fields contain enough oil to supply America's daily consumption for at least thirty years--and possibly a good bit longer.

[USA_1]

4. Republican Kevin Phillips Said This Already ...

... in his book American Theocracy.

Too bad that so many people refused to see this truth until it was too late.

[drthais]

5. ... The Middle East,

with two-thirds of the world's oil and the lowest cost,.."

is that not nauseating?
LOWEST COST?
to whom?

[CAG]

6. The sad truth is, most americans are OK with this concept so that

we can continue to get cheap gasoline. So, tens of thousands of people die "over there", but we can still fill up our 12 mpg SUV's with $2 gas.
:banghead:

[Delphinus]

11. Yep.

They agreed with Darth Cheney when he said "the American way of life will not be compromised."

[NanceGreggs]

7. Yes, obvious from the start ...

... it is, was, and always will be about the access to oil. That's why BushCo is insistent on staying the course, the sudden 'surge' -- one last shot at quelling the violence, so the tankers can roll unimpeded.

Just one problem: The natives are not only restless, they're now deadly. Gonna be extremely difficult to keep those pipelines from being sabotaged on a regular basis, and the oil-fields aren't exactly located in the Green Zone.

The PNAC/oil-driven crowd anticipated sweets and flowers. That scenario didn't play out any better than hauling the country's oil out from under the Iraqi's feet is going to unfold.

You want the oil, Dick? Put on a flack-jacket and go get it. And good luck with that.

[dailykoff]

8. That and making money off of war, counterterrorism,

and every other wretched scam we've sold our soul to China to pay for.

[NoFederales]

9. Blood for oil ..........

NoFederales

[smoogatz]

12. Great article.

The oil grab in full swing, right out in front of god and everybody. If they'd nationalized the oil and paid every Iraqi a monthly royalty check, there'd be no insurgency today.

The money quote: "Greg Muttitt, a researcher for Platform, a human rights and environmental group which monitors the oil industry, said Iraq was being asked to pay an enormous price over the next 30 years for its present instability. 'They would lose out massively,' he said, 'because they don't have the capacity at the moment to strike a good deal.'"

[Gregorian]

13. Executive Order 13303 made their intentions obvious.

EO 13303 provides an extraordinarily broad legal shield for any and all contractors and mercenaries working in Iraq on behalf of US corporations in any oil related enterprise.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_13303


I'll never forget the simple statement in the SOTU speech where the Chimp said "We have no ambitions in Iraq". A total lie!


I will always call this the Kamikaze administration.


However, the Far East also wants what the Middle East has under it's sands. And unlike the US, they are financially solvent, and growing in power by the hour. I claim that even if we do take control of the oil fields, it will be to our detriment in one way or another.

Bush was the death of America. I'm not saying it can be reborn. But now we're in a fine mess. Expletive deleted.

[rhett o rick]

14. OIL Operation Iraq Liberation. nm

[mtnsnake]

15. Oil and for big $$ contracts for huge corporations who are friends with Bush & Cheney

Too bad it's not going to work out for the greedy bastards like they thought.

[Straight Shooter]

16. "The Middle East ... is still where the prize ultimately lies." (You lie, too, Dick, you lie a lot.)

From the March for Peace protest, date unknown. The bush administration never fooled anybody who was paying attention.

[ClassWarrior]

17. Read the ISG - i.e., Stall the Withdrawal - report.

It's right in the first paragraph:

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-juhasz8dec08,0,4717508.story?track=tothtml

NGU.

[BlueJac]

18. Just the facts about Iraq...

OIL, OIL, OIL!!

[ArmchairMeme]

19. Lifestyle .....

The overwhelming sadness of killing people for oil is that the continued use of oil will bring on global warming that will certainly compromise the lifestyle of more than just Americans.

[libodem]

21. Yes, the Iraq war REALLY is about the oil.

Check out my sig line. I've always felt our armed services are just there to protect the oil companies and contractors while they grab all the oil they can get. Dick Cheney's whole purpose is to war-profit from Halliburtons' rising stocks. We were duped into this war on lies and that makes it illegal. The best thing that could happen is Cheney, Halliburton and the oil companies return all the stolen money to our national treasury. As for the lives sacrificed by our service members they should be treated no less than the victims of 9/11. Didn't the government pay all of the survivors a million dollars to keep quiet and not sue the airlines? All of those families who have lost a father, son, uncle, or brother, sister or mother and so on deserve a piece of Dick's stock options. I can't say how much I disrespect and loath that POS.

[welshTerrier2]

22. another article on this subject

please read the Der Spiegel (in English) article linked to in this post: http://journals.democraticunderground.com/welshTerrier2/106

yes, it really was all about OIL ... don't let the experts tell you otherwise ... the Bremmer rules and the PSA imposed by Wolfowitz and the World Bank have been bush's agenda since before the invasion even began ... that's why staying longer makes no sense at all ...

you want to see a really strong push to leave Iraq immediately? get the Dems to pass a law voiding all contracts made with the Iraqi government ... the Maliki government is so weak that even if it tried to resist US imperialism, it could not succeed ... Iraq is so destitute they'll sign anything ... and people thought bush lost the war ... hah!!

great post, zulchzulu!