It's the oil stupid

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

Ann Wright

May 28, 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.)

No other nation in the Middle East has privatized its oil. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Iran give only limited usage contracts to international oil companies for one or two years. The $120 billion dollar "Support the Troops" legislation passed by Congress requires Iraq, in order to get reconstruction funds from the United States, to privatize its oil resources and put them up for long term (20- to 30-year) contracts.

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.

It's a choice for only our military families, because most non-military Americans do not really care whether our volunteer military spends its time protecting corporate oil to fuel our one-person cars. Of course, when a tornado, hurricane, flood or other natural disaster hits in our hometown, we want our National Guard unit back. But on a normal day, who remembers the 180,000 US military or the 150,000 US private contractors in Iraq?

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.

How much more can our military and their families take?

Ann Wright served 29 years in the US Army and US Army Reserves and retired as a colonel. She served 16 years in the US diplomatic corps in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Micronesia and Mongolia. She resigned from the US Department of State in March, 2003 in opposition to the war on Iraq.

 

There are certain places in the world, even in the states such as CO, California, Alaska, Hawaii that can't be used for oil hence earthquakes and
volcano's!

Oil sucks we have hydrogen! and electric cars and solar
oil sucks! and is not a renewable resource so it doesn't matter anyways
fukk oil

 

Ouch...

 

And wave goodbye to our economy, huh?

I'm all for alternative energy sources. But we can't just say "**** Oil!" and change over night.

 

Biggest pile of crap Ive heard in a while. The Iraq funding bill has NO requirement of privitization of the Iraqi oil industry. It merely requires that the Iraqis come to some agreement on sharing of oil revenue. MARK

 

stfu jeb bush get off the forums!

 

ESDMF!!!!! MARK

 

What is "ESDMF"?

 

im going with "Eat Sh*t Democratic Mother F**ker"

 

Gee I'm sure glad I waited a full minute for the page to load for that little exchange

 

That's one I've never seen before. I'm a little scared that someday we'll stop using words and we'll just abbreviate everything.

That paragraph above would simply be: TOINSB. IALSTSWSUWAWJAE.

You think misunderstandings are a problem now? Wait ten years.

 

Ha

Ha. You have no idea what you're talking about. None. None. None. None. Wa-ha-have goodbye.

 

Hmm

I'm going to have to say that although there is probably some truth to this assertion, I'm going to have to say most of that is probably false.

 

So, are you going to start debating? Are you in pre-school, it sounds like a kid arguing over a pokemon card.