President Bush is having a very bad week in Iraq. One hundred and three Americans service men and women died in Iraq this month. And now, the Bush installed and protected government of Iraq, rather than hand deliver its oil revenues to American and British multinational energy corporations, has instead turned to the next global superpower to help it produce more “Texas tea”:
BEIJING — China and Iraq are reviving a $1.2-billion deal signed by Beijing and Saddam Hussein’s government in 1997 to develop an Iraqi oil field, Baghdad’s oil minister said.
Officials will meet next month to renegotiate the deal over the Ahdab field, said Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein Shahristani as he was wrapping up a three-nation tour to secure investment for Iraq’s oil industry. […]
The new Baghdad government courted Beijing because Chinese producers have been willing to invest in Angola and other countries considered too dangerous or politically isolated.
Beijing had been thought to be out of the running for major contracts in postwar Iraq, with the best deals going to the United States and its allies. But the upsurge in violence there has made the country less attractive to Western producers.
The upshot? Not only are we in Iraq on false pretenses, but now it appears that if we stay we’ll be propping up the interests of China’s oil industry rather than our own. Ironic, isn’t it. Our invasion and occupation of Iraq keeps paying dividends — for our rivals. First Iran, and now China. Oh, and let’s not forget the another primary beneficiary of our little exercise in military adventurism: Al Qaeda.
That’s our Bush. Helping our enemies, one major SNAFU after another.
We’ve been building up China’s economy for years now at the expense of our own (Wal-Mart, anybody?). This is just more of the same.
George Bush: The best thing that ever happened to China, al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Not so good for the US.
The worst part is that the majority of people will have no clue of the extent of the screwups in Iraq when they vote next Tuesday. The US has blown billions there, for nothing but one disaster after another. Just like every other business venture Bush has been involved in…oh, except that one where the Texas taxpayers built a new stadium for him so he could sell his baseball team for a profit.
Steven D, do you think this latest blow will make leaving look more attractive, or will the Neocons be wanting to stay and put new puppets in place to manage the oil industry there??
this will make them more determined than ever to stay. But it shows a split between the strategic thinkers and the oilmen. This happened because American oilmen don’t think Iraq is a good investment. It’s actually kind of funny. In a sick way, of course.
We’re staying one way or another with this crew.
.. at untold risk to just about everything.
Sheer madness.
Think we will EVER hear about this on the 6 o’clock news? I doubt it.
I doubt it too.
These aren’t the kinds of stories our meida bothers to report upon. You’ll notice the story I cited was from the LA Times Business section. The only other people who have reports on this are also Business journos.
Rest assured, however, that Bush and Cheney have been advised of this tidbit by their friends in Big Oil.
At risk of silliness (which hasn’t stopped me before): for me, bearing witness to the general collapse recalls ‘American Pie’ — the song and the movie. One involves a spiritual denouement; the other involves a sophomoric perversion of national symbology.
This would all be amusing if it weren’t so incredibly grotesque.
The truth of the matter is that Dr. King’s prediction, regarding the Lord’s punishment of US arrogance, is now reality & all the King’s horses, all the King’s men can’t spin it alternately.
Saw a bumper sticker last spring that comes to mind.
BUSH/INTERNATIONAL ERRORIST