by dubla 88 Replies latest social current
You have to ask what will happen to the oil / money?
From the country that brought us "Enron" and other accounting 'mishaps'.
There will be lots of transactions and paper trails, lots of US companies will get nice fat contracts (and probably deliver or build very little) and people will get nice bonuses as directors.
The Iraqi people will get jack-s**t
Coming from my jw background, you must know that I am not particulary patriotic but I don't think this is about oil. Atleast it better not be. The entire world is watching this war. If the American government ever used Iraqi oil for it's own benefit there would be WW3! I don't see any way that America could get away with such a theft. Not everything is a deceitful plot. This war is about terrorism even if you don't agree with beating up Saddam for something that Osama did......
You have to ask what will happen to the oil / money?
i was asking for detailed opinions of what will actually happen, as opposed to the standard line that keeps getting regurgitated. obviously youd rather reguritate the standard lines, lol.
aa
According the PBS show frontline "The Long Road to War", shows how the American policy is based on the 1992 Defense Planning Guidance on America's military posture toward the world. Drafted by then Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz it said that containment was an old idea, a relic of the cold war. It advocated that America should maintain military strength beyond challenge and use it to preempt provocations from rogue states with weapons of mass destruction. And it stated that, if necessary, the U.S. should be prepared to act alone.
"Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival. This is a dominant consideration underlying the new regional defense strategy and requires that we endeavor to prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power. These regions include Western Europe, East Asia, the territory of the former Soviet Union, and Southwest Asia."
Goes on to state that the US must retain its world domination. "The draft outlines several scenarios in which U.S. interests could be threatened by regional conflict: "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil; proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles, threats to U.S. citizens from terrorism or regional or local conflict, and threats to U.S. society from narcotics trafficking."
The 46-page classified document circulated for several weeks at senior levels in the Pentagon. But controversy erupted after it was leaked to The New York Times and The Washington Post and the White House ordered then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney to rewrite it.
The "Hawks" in Washington have been pushing their political war agenda for the last 10 years but were basically ignored until 9/11.
"Released Sept. 17, 2002, twenty months after President Bush took office, the 33-page "National Security Strategy of the United States" (NSS) offers the administration's first comprehensive rationale for a new, aggressive approach to national security. The new strategy calls for pre-emptive action against hostile states and terror groups, and it states that the U.S. "will not hesitate to act alone, if necessary, to exercise our right of self-defense by acting pre-emptively." The NSS also focuses on how diplomacy and foreign aid can and should be used to project American values, including "a battle for the future of the Muslim world."
So what is behind the control of oil? It is control and domination the US wants. That is also why France, Russia, Germany and China opposed military action was to keep the US from control of the Middle East resources. It maybe not so much money but control and power, to prevent other nations from becoming a rival "super power".
This is basically quotes and summation form the "Frontline" program. For more information:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/longroad/
Will
Who really wants the oil?
Facts on Who Benefits From Keeping Saddam Hussein In Power
by The Heritage Foundation February 28, 2003
France
* According to the CIA World Factbook, France controls over 22.5 percent of Iraq's imports.[1] French total trade with Iraq under the oil-for-food program is the third largest, totaling $3.1 billion since 1996, according to the United Nations.[2] In 2001 France became Iraq's largest European trading partner.
* Roughly 60 French companies do an estimated $1.5 billion in trade with Baghdad annually under the U.N. oil-for-food program.[3]
* France's largest oil company, Total Fina Elf, has negotiated a deal to develop the Majnoon field in western Iraq. The Majnoon field purportedly contains up to 30 billion barrels of oil.[4]
* Total Fina Elf also negotiated a deal for future oil exploration in Iraq's Nahr Umar field. Both the Majnoon and Nahr Umar fields are estimated to contain as much as 25 percent of the country's reserves.[5]
* France's Alcatel company, a major telecom firm, is negotiating a $76 million contract to rehabilitate Iraq's telephone system.[6]
* From 1981 to 2001, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), France was responsible for over 13 percent of Iraq's arms imports.[7] Germany
* Direct trade between Germany and Iraq amounts to about $350 million annually, and another $1 billion is reportedly sold through third parties.[8]
* It has recently been reported that Saddam Hussein has ordered Iraqi domestic businesses to show preference to German companies as a reward for Germany's "firm positive stand in rejecting the launching of a military attack against Iraq." It was also reported that over 101 German companies were present at the Baghdad Annual exposition.[9]
* During the 35th Annual Baghdad International Fair in November 2002, a German company signed a contract for $80 million for 5,000 cars and spare parts.[10]
* In 2002, DaimlerChrysler was awarded over $13 million in contracts for German trucks and spare parts.[11]
* German officials are investigating a German corporation accused of illegally channeling weapons to Iraq via Jordan. The equipment in question is used for boring the barrels of large cannons and is allegedly intended for Saddam Hussein's Al Fao Supercannon project.[12] Russia
* According to the CIA World Factbook, Russia controls roughly 5.8 percent of Iraq's annual imports.[13] Under the U.N. oil-for-food program, Russia's total trade with Iraq was somewhere between $530 million and $1 billion for the six months ending in December of 2001.[14]
* According to the Russian Ambassador to Iraq, Vladimir Titorenko, new contracts worth another $200 million under the U.N. oil-for-food program are to be signed over the next three months.[15]
* Soviet-era debt of $7 billion through $8 billion was generated by arms sales to Iraq during the
1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.
* Russia's LUKoil negotiated a $4 billion, 23-year contract in 1997 to rehabilitate the 15 billion-barrel West Qurna field in southern Iraq. Work on the oil field was expected to commence upon cancellation of U.N. sanctions on Iraq. The deal is currently on hold.[16]
* In October 2001, Salvneft, a Russian-Belarus company, negotiated a $52 million service contract to drill at the Tuba field in Southern Iraq.[17]
* In April 2001, Russia's Zaruezhneft company received a service contract to drill in the Saddam, Kirkuk, and Bai Hassan fields to rehabilitate the fields and reduce water incursion.
* A future $40 billion Iraqi-Russian economic agreement, reportedly signed in 2002, would allow for extensive oil exploration opportunities throughout western Iraq.[18] The proposal calls for 67 new projects, over a 10-year time frame, to explore and further develop fields in southern Iraq and the Western Desert, including the Suba, Luhais, West Qurna, and Rumaila projects. Additional projects added to the deal include second-phase construction of a pipeline running from southern to northern Iraq, and extensive drilling and gas projects. Work on these projects would commence upon cancellation of sanctions.[19]
* Russia's Gazprom company over the past few years has signed contracts worth $18 million to repair gas stations in Iraq.[20]
* The former Soviet Union was the premier supplier of Iraqi arms. From 1981 to 2001, Russia supplied Iraq with 50 percent of its arms.[21] China
* According to the CIA World Factbook, China controls roughly 5.8 percent of Iraq's annual imports.[22]
* China National Oil Company, partnered with China North Industries Corp., negotiated a 22-year-long deal for future oil exploration in the Al Ahdab field in southern Iraq.[23]
* In recent years, the Chinese Aero-Technology Import-Export Company (CATIC) has been contracted to sell "meteorological satellite" and "surface observation" equipment to Iraq. This contract was approved by the U.N. oil-for-food program.[24]
* CATIC also won approval from the U.N. in July
2000 to sell $2 million worth of fiber optic cables. This and similar contracts approved were disguised as telecommunications gear. These cables can be used for secure data and communications links between national command and control centers and long-range search radar, targeting radar, and missile-launch units, according to U.S. officials. In addition, China National Electric Wire & Cable and China National Technical Import Telecommunications Equipment Company are believed to have sold Iraq $6 million and $15.5 million worth of communications equipment and other unspecified supplies, respectively.[25]
* According to a report from SIPRI, from 1981 to
2001, China was the second largest supplier of weapons and arms to Iraq, supplying over 18 percent of Iraq's weapons imports.[26]
Yes, the US will want some too, but it appears all the ones trying to keep Saddam in power have their greedy little hands out further.
So the war isn't about "liberating" a repressed people but who can get control of the Iraq's resources. Why do you think the Chinese, French, Germans and Russians oppose the war? They are in it for selfish gains to. So lets not all get on our high moral horses here and say that its for the deliverance of the poor Iraqi people (the disposable commodities or causalities of war).
Will
Comparing Enron (a private corporation) to what the US does, does not meet the similar cases test. Some forget that the US has outspent any other Nation on the face of the earth in aid. Over one trillion dollars have been spent in the last twenty years. The Marshall Plan helped Japan, Britain, Germany and others to rebuild infrastructures after the war. No, we did not enslave them, look at the trade dificet we carry with almost every nation.......Once again, The US and thirty other courageous Nations will fix yet another proplem that the EU has let festered until now.
Facts, you got to like them.
Some forget that the US has outspent any other Nation on the face of the earth in aid
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Debt/USAid.asp
Read it and weep ...
Facts, you got to like them.
Yes, they beat rhetoric anyday
The Iraqi people will get jack-s**t
You think they have jack-s**t now????
Ahhh, playing with the numbers.....piece of cake!
Lest take this apart one by one!
First, this reflects money spent related to GPN. So what? The US is at a disanvantage because of the large amount of Gross National Product it produces. In total dollars spent, your graft still shows we outspent everyone, including Japan.
Second, it only accounts for the 1990s and on up......what about the last fifty years? Why only stop at the 1990s?
Third, it does not reflect the amount spent for safety issues like NATO, that has added to the benefit of other nations in many ways.
In the last fifty years over one trillion dollars have been spent by the US....top that!
Even if the US was only in the top ten, your negitive claims still don't add up!
Haaaa, you can’t beat the "true" facts.......
