What Congress Really Approved: Benchmark No. 1: Privatizing Iraq's Oil for US Companies

[Demeter]

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052607Z.shtml



What Congress Really Approved: Benchmark No. 1: Privatizing Iraq's Oil for US Companies
By Ann Wright
t r u t h o u t | Guest Contributor

Saturday 26 May 2007

On Thursday, May 24, the US Congress voted to continue the war in Iraq. The members called it "supporting the troops." I call it stealing Iraq's oil - the second largest reserves in the world. The "benchmark," or goal, the Bush administration has been working on furiously since the US invaded Iraq is privatization of Iraq's oil. Now they have Congress blackmailing the Iraqi Parliament and the Iraqi people: no privatization of Iraqi oil, no reconstruction funds.

This threat could not be clearer. If the Iraqi Parliament refuses to pass the privatization legislation, Congress will withhold US reconstruction funds that were promised to the Iraqis to rebuild what the United States has destroyed there. The privatization law, written by American oil company consultants hired by the Bush administration, would leave control with the Iraq National Oil Company for only 17 of the 80 known oil fields. The remainder (two-thirds) of known oil fields, and all yet undiscovered ones, would be up for grabs by the private oil companies of the world (but guess how many would go to United States firms - given to them by the compliant Iraqi government.)
....
What does this "Support the Troops" legislation mean for the United States military? Supporting our troops has nothing to do with this bill, other than keeping them there for another 30 years to protect US oil interests. It means that every military service member will need Arabic language training. It means that every soldier and Marine would spend most of his or her career in Iraq. It means that the fourteen permanent bases will get new Taco Bells and Burger Kings! Why? Because the US military will be protecting the US corporate oilfields leased to US companies by the compliant Iraqi government. Our troops will be the guardians of US corporate interests in Iraq for the life of the contracts - for the next thirty years.

With the Bush administration's "Support the Troops" bill and its benchmarks, primarily Benchmark No. 1, we finally have the reason for the US invasion of Iraq: to get easily accessible, cheap, high-grade Iraq oil for US corporations.

Now the choice is for US military personnel and their families to decide whether they want their loved ones to be physically and emotionally injured to protect not our national security, but the financial security of the biggest corporate barons left in our country - the oil companies.

READ IT AND WEEP AND THROW THE COLLABORATORS OUT!

[MissWaverly]

1. give us your oil and we'll leave

oh, and by the way, you are supposed to be grateful.

[The Magistrate]

2. This 'Oil Law', Ma'am, Is Much Ado About Nothing

It is as much a mirage as everything else that has been projected about Iraq by the promoters of invading and occupying the place.

You will note that at the present time, Iraq is exporting little oil. The reason for this is sabotage of facilities as part of the civil war in the country, some of it by resistance bodies and some of it by criminal gangs of extortionists and smugglers, some attached to officials of the Iraqi government, allowed by the chaos to operate freely and with impunity at profit.

This is not going to change with U.S. withdrawl. In fact, it will increase with U.S. withdrawl, for this will be the signal gun for a great intensification of the civil war already in progress. No matter who is supposed, on paper, to get the profits, there will be no mentionable profits to get, because there will be no signifigant quantity of oil being exported, and the local market will be supplied principally by thieves.

The violence will end only when some faction or combination of factions within Iraq succeeds in imposing itself on the rest, and gains acceptance as a legitimate Iraqi authority. The visible mark of legitimacy in such a future Iraqi government will be repudiation of any measures instituted by puppets of the 'Zionist Crusaders' lately expelled from the country, a repudiation that will extend from traffic regulations all the way down to the consitution adopted by our puppet show. It is certain to include any laws relating to the country's oil reserves, and any contracts let under those laws. The new regulations will be calculated to bring maximum profits to the government and its officials, though doubtless this will phrased as profit to the country and its people....

[Demeter]

4. So Bush Kills Troops For a Mirage--I See No Difference!

[The Magistrate]

6. Matters, Ma'am, have Long Since Reached That Deadly Pass

Where things possess the directing minds as symbols of their strength and honor, rather than practical objectives to be gained or held for good purpose. The administration has long been in the grip of this, and there is no remedy for it but the breaking of the tool employed, or deoarture from the office that allows its wielding.

[DemDem07]

5. I disagree strongly.

This is about privatizing Iraq's oil.

[The Magistrate]

7. The Question Is Not 'What Is the Intent?', Sir

The question is what the outcome will be. Passage of this law will in fact secure nothing of what its promoters desire for themselves. It will be as much a dead loss as every other hope they had for this venture.

[DemDem07]

8. You might want to reread the title of the OP.

The part that about "privatizing Iraq's oil".

Your opinion of the importance of Iraq's Oil notwithstanding... :eyes:

Iraq's Oil Reserves: Untapped Potential
While its proven oil reserves of 112 billion barrels ranks Iraq second in the work behind Saudi Arabia, EIA estimates that up to 90-percent of the county remains unexplored due to years of wars and sanctions. Unexplored regions of Iraq could yield an additional 100 billion barrels. Iraq's oil production costs are among the lowest in the world. However, only about 2,000 wells have been drilled in Iraq, compared to about 1 million wells in Texas alone.

[The Magistrate]

9. You Seem To Be Missing The Point, Sir

The point of 'privatization' is to direct a greater share of profit to U.S. oil companies than they previously enjoyed from transporting, refining, and marketing the produce of Iraqi fields. This is not going to occur as a consequence of passing this law, if it is ever passed by the present puppet government. It is not going to occur first because chaos attendant on civil war prevents anyone but local criminals making much profit at all from the resource, and second because whatever government emerges from the civil war on top of its rivals will repudiate actions of the present puppet show, to display its nationalist credentials and mark its legitimacy as an Iraqi government. Thus this 'oil law' is a matter of supreme unimportance; merely one more delusion beseting the fools who imagined invading and occupying Iraq would be a simple and surely successful ebdeavor.

[DemDem07]

10. Somebody is missing the point for sure.

But it isn't me.

[The Magistrate]

11. We May Safely Leave That To Those Reading The Exchange To Decide, Sir

"Round and round and round she goes, and where she stops nobody knows, 'cept the Good Lord and he don't say, cause he gets a cut from the pit boss."

[DemDem07]

12. A refresher;

...OP Subject Title: Benchmark No. 1: Privatizing Iraq's Oil for US Companies

...My first reply: This is about privatizing Iraq's oil.


Case closed

[The Magistrate]

13. And Your Interest Extends No Further, Sir?

You think this scrap of paper emerging from a puppet show will have what effect in the future?

Do you think people press 'privatization' as a policy because they like the sound of the word, in the same way the sound 'burgled' always brings a smile to my face?

If someone presses for a thing to happen because they think it will benfit them, even though it is clear that benefit to them is the most unlikely consequence of the measure, are they truely gaining an objective if that measure is commenced?

If a thing is reared on a foundation of sand, and certain to be impermanent, what signifigance ought to be attached to it?

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[The Magistrate]

15. Do You Really Think, Sir, You Can Carry Off That 'Pablum' Characterization?

Enquiring minds want to know....

The reality is that whether the puppet government in Iraq passes this law or no, no increase in profit will be seen by U.S. oil companies, and the end of civil war in Iraq will see the repudiation of this law, should it have been passed. It is thus a matter of supreme unimportance, and a good deal of indignation is going to waste over it.

"Swearingen gets it...Swearingen...don't give a fuck!"

[DemDem07]

16. If the gruel fits...

The only reality is, the OP was correct, as was I.

The US is seeking to force Iraq to privatize it's oil.

Your misinformed opinions on US oil companies future profits aren't relevant.

[The Magistrate]

17. If You Are Going To Call My Views 'Mis-Informed', Sir

You are going to have to back it by demonstrating that your understanding of the situation regarding export of and profit from Iraqi oil, both at present and in the forseeable future, is superior to mine. Simple declaration will not do....

[DemDem07]

18. It's not relevant.

Your thoughts are not relevant to the discussion.

What part of that are you having the most trouble with?

[The Magistrate]

19. Of Course The Consequences Of An Action Are Relevant To Consideration of It, Sir

As is the situation in which it is intended it should take place. Indeed, without some attention to these things, an action cannot really be discussed at all in any meaningful way.

But your demonstration of expertise in the practicalties of extracting and profiting from Iraqi oil, at present and in the foreseeable future, sufficient to establish that my comments are 'misinformed', is eagerly awaited....

[DemDem07]

20. More mind numbing pablum.

It's like mental Novocaine.

If you're unable or unwilling to agree that the OP is correct, perhaps online debate isn't the place for you.

[pberq]

3. Congress signs death warrant for another 400 Americans

"Since the "Surge" began in January, over 500 Americans and 15,000 Iraqis have been killed. By the time September 2007 rolls around for the administration's review of the "surge" plan, another 400 Americans will be dead, as well as another 12,000 Iraqis."