An excellent short article summarizing why many authorities regaurd the US military intervention into the mideast to be all about oil. M

Published on Sunday, June 22, 2008 by the Toronto Sun
These Wars Are About Oil, Not Democracy

by Eric Margolis

The ugly truth behind the Iraq and Afghanistan wars finally has emerged.

Four major western oil companies, Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP and Total are about to sign U.S.-brokered no-bid contracts to begin exploiting Iraq’s oil fields. Saddam Hussein had kicked these firms out three decades ago when he nationalized Iraq’s oil industry. The U.S.-installed Baghdad regime is welcoming them back.

Iraq is getting back the same oil companies that used to exploit it when it was a British colony.

As former fed chairman Alan Greenspan recently admitted, the Iraq war was all about oil. The invasion was about SUV’s, not democracy.

Afghanistan just signed a major deal to launch a long-planned, 1,680-km pipeline project expected to cost $8 billion. If completed, the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline (TAPI) will export gas and later oil from the Caspian basin to Pakistan’s coast where tankers will transport it to the West.

The Caspian basin located under the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakkstan, holds an estimated 300 trillion cubic feet of gas and 100-200 billion barrels of oil. Securing the world’s last remaining known energy El Dorado is a strategic priority for the western powers.

But there are only two practical ways to get gas and oil out of land-locked Central Asia to the sea: Through Iran, or through Afghanistan to Pakistan. Iran is taboo for Washington. That leaves Pakistan, but to get there, the planned pipeline must cross western Afghanistan, including the cities of Herat and Kandahar.

PIPELINE DEAL

In 1998, the Afghan anti-Communist movement Taliban and a western oil consortium led by the U.S. firm Unocal signed a major pipeline deal. Unocal lavished money and attention on the Taliban, flew a senior delegation to Texas, and hired a minor Afghan official, Hamid Karzai.

Enter Osama bin Laden. He advised the unworldly Taliban leaders to reject the U.S. deal and got them to accept a better offer from an Argentine consortium. Washington was furious and, according to some accounts, threatened the Taliban with war.

In early 2001, six or seven months before 9/11, Washington made the decision to invade Afghanistan, overthrow the Taliban, and install a client regime that would build the energy pipelines. But Washington still kept sending money to the Taliban until four months before 9/11 in an effort to keep it “on side” for possible use in a war against China.

The 9/11 attacks, about which the Taliban knew nothing, supplied the pretext to invade Afghanistan. The initial U.S. operation had the legitimate objective of wiping out Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida. But after its 300 members fled to Pakistan, the U.S. stayed on, built bases — which just happened to be adjacent to the planned pipeline route — and installed former Unocal “consultant” Hamid Karzai as leader.

Washington disguised its energy geopolitics by claiming the Afghan occupation was to fight “Islamic terrorism,” liberate women, build schools and promote democracy. Ironically, the Soviets made exactly the same claims when they occupied Afghanistan from 1979-1989. The Iraq cover story was weapons of mass destruction and democracy.

–Eric Margolis


URL to article: TorontoSun.com - Eric Margolis - These wars are about oil, not democracy

about government defence contracts. Its all money.

This was not a United States venture it was set up long before the war.

About the oil and Iraq, the contracts and all that, there are actually many international companies who are trying to get contracts, not just American ones.

Read some of this article its fairly unbiased: Deals with Iraq are set to bring oil giants back - International Herald Tribune

Here's some more Iraq/oil related stuff:

BBC News | MIDDLE EAST | Iraq claims victory in UN oil deal

Iraq actually wanted privatization of its oil as it was so poorly run and was operating at 46% capacity. Its a win win situation for both sides.

__________________
"...Follow the crystal star to the pyre of the flame; there exists the dwelling of the spreading fire. The heart of this life rests upon the fate of that place, and what begins there sends a contagion to the rest of the universe.
As long as the fire burns we shall never be free..." (The Shadows of Yavara, Final Reclamation)

War is always about protecting special interests, this war just so happens to be about oil. Every decision that a country makes is to set it self up in a better position in comparison to everyone else.

This is true, and while this played a part in it certainly, the ultimate reasoning for the war was not to obtain cheaper oil.

__________________
"...Follow the crystal star to the pyre of the flame; there exists the dwelling of the spreading fire. The heart of this life rests upon the fate of that place, and what begins there sends a contagion to the rest of the universe.
As long as the fire burns we shall never be free..." (The Shadows of Yavara, Final Reclamation)

Cheaper oil had nothing to do with it, that wasn't the plan. Securing the oil was the plan.

Saddam didnt stop us from importing oil from him.

Compare pre-war (2002):
MichPSC - Summer 2002 Energy Appraisal - Oil Imports

and post-war (2007-2008): Crude Oil and Total Petroleum Imports Top 15 Countries

Theyre in different units, but there really isnt much of a huge increase in oil imports.

Securing the oil? The US government does not control what the Iraqi government does with their oil even now. Both sides were pushing privatization, and yes, some of the major oil corporations are American-based (but there are also some from China and Russia) vying for contracts, does that mean it was all about oil?

__________________
"...Follow the crystal star to the pyre of the flame; there exists the dwelling of the spreading fire. The heart of this life rests upon the fate of that place, and what begins there sends a contagion to the rest of the universe.
As long as the fire burns we shall never be free..." (The Shadows of Yavara, Final Reclamation)

Nevertheless, having other countries like France and Germany getting under the table oil deals from Saddam while at the same time he made it difficult for America to get Iraqi oil would stimulate Bush administration frustration.

Not a particularly stunning revelation, to me.

People like to dress up conflict in pretty terms like democracy, freedom, honor, etc. The ONLY thing that motivates people to fight is money.

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There is no sig. There never was a sig. The sig is a lie.

That and ownership. The empire is driven and funded by capitalists. Who stands to gain from the privatisation of Iraq - you got it - the capitalists.

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Viva Fidel

"If there ever was in the history of humanity an enemy who was truly universal, an enemy whose acts and moves trouble the entire world, threaten the entire world, attack the entire world in any way or another, that real and really universal enemy is precisely Yankee imperialism"

"North Americans don't understand... that our country is not just Cuba; our country is also humanity"