How many justifications/excuses have we heard for invading Iraq? First and foremost there were those WMDs, threats that loomed over our television sets each and every time President Bush or a spokesperson for his administration hit the video hustings to bang the drum for war. Close behind was the claim of a connection between Saddam and 9/11. He and Al Queda were supposed to be the best of best friends, don’t you know.
Then it was the atrocities Iraq’s regime committed: why, Saddam was the evilist dictator the world had known since Hitler or Stalin! And never forget the call to spread the gospel of freedom and democracy to the oppressed people of Iraq, and hopefully thereafter to the entire Middle East. Yes, bringing the vote and McDonald’s franchises to the poor, deprived muslims of the world was truly a worthy goal. Why count the cost in blood spilled (ours and theirs) or monies spent (mostly ours paid direct to Halliburton, et al.) in pursuit of such wondrous outcomes?
Oh yes, there’s been no end of high minded justifications for this war. The one reason, however, that never gets discussed, the looming elephant in the halls of Congress and the White House and our media mega-conglomerates, is rarely exposed to public view, no doubt because of its essentially base character. Yet throughout history it has been one of the principle causes of war: sheer, unabashed Greed. Or in this case specifically, the desire for profits from oil:
Iraqis face the dire prospect of losing up to $200bn [that’s $200 billion, for those of you unfamiliar with British notation] of the wealth of their country if an American-inspired plan to hand over development of its oil reserves to US and British multinationals comes into force next year. A report produced by American and British pressure groups warns Iraq will be caught in an “old colonial trap” if it allows foreign companies to take a share of its vast energy reserves.
Yes. You read that right. The reason we fought this war was so large multi-national British and American Oil Companies could make a killing developing Iraqi crude. Seems hard to believe, does it? Not really. When you wash away all the other justifications what else is left?
We know now Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction, other than the ones invented by Mr. Chalabi and friends as cover for promoting a rush to war. And we know there was never any link between the events of 9/11 and Saddam except on the lips and tongues of Cheney and Rumsfeld. The great and glorious democracy we’ve brought them is filled with torture chambers and ethnic massacres just like Saddam’s regime (only the victims have changed). After all those phony excuses are stripped away, the one true reason still remains, staring us in the face, just waiting for us to admit its existence.
The Iraqi government has announced plans to seek foreign investment to exploit its oil reserves after the general election, which will be held next month. Iraq has 115 billion barrels of proved oil reserves, the third largest in the world.
According to the report, from groups including War on Want and the New Economics Foundation (NEF), the new Iraqi constitution opened the way for greater foreign investment. Negotiations with oil companies are already under way ahead of next month’s election and before legislation is passed, it said.
The groups said they had amassed details of high-level pressure from the US and UK governments on Iraq to look to foreign companies to rebuild its oil industry. It said a Foreign Office code of practice issued in summer last year said at least $4bn would be needed to restore production to the levels before the 1990-91 Gulf War. “Given Iraq’s needs it is not realistic to cut government spending in other areas and Iraq would need to engage with the international oil companies to provide appropriate levels of foreign direct investment to do this,” it said.
Yesterday’s report said the use of production sharing agreements (PSAs) was proposed by the US State Department before the invasion and adopted by the Coalition Provisional Authority. “The current government is fast-tracking the process. It is already negotiating contracts with oil companies in parallel with the constitutional process, elections and passage of a Petroleum Law,” the report, Crude Designs, said.
Maybe this was the real reason for Mr. Chalabi’s visit last week. As everyone knows, board room deals are always hashed out in advance of any public announcement.
So, here’s my stock tip of the week. Better buy your oil stocks now before their Iraqi deals get finalized. Since you and I are paying for the war with our taxes (and some with our family members) the least we can do is get our slice of George Bush’s big investment opportunity.
