The Bush plan for getting control of Iraq's oil is now becoming apparent to all. THAT is the true reason we attacked Iraq -- to gain control of their oil -- and not because Iraq aided terrorists that attacked us, Iraq had WMDs, or any other of the lies Bush misled us with. Way back in a blog entry last on 5/4/2007 (Why Bush & Cheney think they are winning the war in Iraq), I said the real goal of Bush/Cheney's war on Iraq was to gain control of their oil. Likewise, in a blog entry on 6/2/2007 (ExxonMobil's stingy approach to looking for new oil), I said: "...I got to wondering why would ExxonMobil in 2004 stop spending more on obtaining new oil sources than it had done in the past. Why did it feel safe paying such huge profits to its shareholders now and risk falling behind in finding new oil sources for its future? HELLO! Maybe ExxonMobil can pay such huge profits since it knows it will have access to new oil in the future, i.e. ExxonMobil does not have to explore for new oil because it expects to gain new access through the actions of someone else. And who is that someone else? Why good old Bush and his war on Iraq. I once read that Iraq has the second largest oil reserves in the Middle East. Before we attacked Iraq, Iraqi oil was controlled by their national government and was headed mainly to supply Europe with oil. However, there is a bill in the Iraqi parliament that will take control away from the Iraq national government and place it in the hands of an oil board that will have western oil companies as members. This will open up access to Iraqi oil to western oil companies. (Can you say ExxonMobil?) Our going to Iraq was for their oil. ExxonMobil knew this was coming; hence their change in company exploration policy in 2004. Does the lying and seeming stupidity behind the Bush war now make more sense to you? It does to me. Our troops are fighting and dying to gain access to Iraqi oil for our big oil companies like ExxonMobil. Simple enough...ExxonMobil has known this for years."
Well, now I read (The Nation, July 21/28 2008 issue, pp. 10-11) where no-bid contracts are in the works for ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, and Total to pay them for their technical expertise in getting Iraq oil back to maximum production. Normally, such contracts would go to oil service companies and NOT directly to the major oil companies themselves. Moreover, these contracts to ExxonMobil, et al. contain the provision that these major oil companies will have the right of first refusal on all subsequent contracts to manage & produce Iraq's oil fields. So, these companies will 'win' all future contracts to acquire Iraq's oil. According to Iraq's oil ministry, within a year long-term contracts will be signed giving these foreign oil companies control over 75 percent of Iraq's existing oil fields, while retaining a mere 25 percent under control by the Iraq National Oil Company itself. There you have it, folks! Within a year, ExxonMobil, et al.will have gained the prize we went to war for in Iraq -- access to Iraq's oil fields, the second major oil reserves in the world after Saudi Arabia.
Further evidence that the plan to take over Iraq's oil was the reason behind the war: Fadhil Chalabi, who served as Iraq's oil under secretary, who met with the major oil companies before the invasion, and who was one of Bush's primary Iraqi advisors during the build-up to the war, recently said on National Public Radio's To The Point that the war was "a strategic move on the part of the United States and the UK to have a military presence in the Gulf in order to secure oil suplies in the future." Also, he said gaining control over Iraq's oil fields was "a primary objective" of the war.
Part of the Bush/Cheney plan to control Iraq's oil in the future will require the U.S to maintain a permanent military force in Iraq to protect our newly acquired oil interests. Hence, Halliburton now has been given contracts to build fourteen permanent military bases for the U.S. armed forces to stay in Iraq. You may have noted recent reports where the new Iraq government now says it wants a timetable for all U.S. troops to be withdrawn from Iraq and for Iraq to become a sovereign nation once again. Surprise, surprise! Bush has announced he opposes such a plan. No duh! The U.S. can never leave Iraq. We'd risk losing all we fought for -- control over the majority of Iraq's oil production.
What the U.S. has done in Iraq is analogous to what Hitler and the Nazis did in invading Poland. We conquered a country that had not attacked us just to get their oil. Bush just wasn't sure the American public would buy attacking another country to get their oil. (Hey, they probably would once gas hit $4 a gallon!) Therefore, Bush/Cheney et al. fabricated that pack of lies as cover for their plan. Smart! Ruthless! Real Republican/Big Corporations' Interests of them! Still wonder why the Muslim world distrusts and hates America?
