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Ed,
This is somewhat of a long post, but I consider you to be a very clear thinker and I hope after reading this you'll consider the validity of the logic with respect to the geopolitical strategy. Regarding Iran, the US and Israel both have an interest in Iran but for slightly different reasons. Israel is understandably concerned over Iran's growing nuclear threat in the region. The US is concerned about that also but is just as well concerned about the control of Iraq's oil, the second largest proven oil supply on the planet. The US and Israel have a symbiotic relationship. The U.S. policy toward the Middle East has long relied on building up proxy forces in the region and generously supplying them with arms. After the Shah of Iran, US regional control was toppled and Iraq became the new surrogate when it invaded Iran. We all know Washington aided Iraq in doing that.
The Bush administration's ties to the oil and gas industry are extensive. Bush grew up in Texas oil exploration. Second-in-command is Cheney who came to office with a multi-million dollar retirement package from his job as CEO of Halliburton Oil. He developed an energy policy under the guidance of oil company executives whose identities he has gone to great lengths to withhold from public view.
Since taking office, Bush and Cheney have assembled a government with representatives from the oil business. These include Secretary of the Army Thomas White, a former vice president of Enron, and Secretary of Commerce Don Evans, former president of the oil exploration company Tom Brown, Inc., whose major stake in the company was worth $13 million by the time he took office and Condoleeza Rice, who before she became National Security Advisor, was on the board of directors of Chevron Corporation. Chevron named an oil tanker after her. There’s an oil tanker named the Condoleeza Rice. It’s a 136,000 ton oil tanker that carries oil around the world. Why would the Bush Administration's goals regarding the control of oil be so difficult for anyone to put together? Come on! It's staring you right in the face! They plan to expand production in the Caspian area, Nigeria, Chad, Angola, and deep offshore areas in the Atlantic basin. But they also look to suppliers like Canada, Mexico, and Venezuela. West Africa is expected to account for as much as a quarter of U.S. oil imports a decade from now.
To secure transportation routes: "The U.S. based AMBO pipeline consortium is directly linked to the seat of political and military power in the United States and Vice President Dick Cheney's firm Halliburton Energy. The feasibility study for AMBO's Trans-Balkan Oil Pipeline, conducted by the international engineering company of Brown & Root Ltd. (Halliburton's British subsidiary) determined that this pipeline will become a part of the region's critical East-West corridor infrastructure which includes highway, railway, gas and fibre optic telecommunications lines. And upon completion of the feasibility study by Halliburton, a senior executive of Halliburton was appointed CEO of AMBO. Halliburton was also granted a contract to service U.S. troops in the Balkans and build "Bondsteel" in Kosovo, which now constitutes "the largest American foreign military base constructed since Vietnam".
Beginning in the 1970s, but especially after the Gulf War, the US supplied Saudi Arabia and allied Persian Gulf states with massive amounts of weapons. After the Gulf War, US forces never left the region completely. By prepositioning military equipment and acquiring access to military bases in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar, the US prepared the ground for future direct intervention in Iraq.
"In the Persian Gulf and adjacent regions, access to oil is usually secured by a pervasive U.S. military presence. From Pakistan to Central Asia to the Caucasus and from the eastern Mediterranean to the Horn of Africa, a dense network of U.S. military facilities has emerged with many bases established in the name of the war on terror."
At this moment, the Persian Gulf is the worlds prime oil province, for the U.S. and for other importers. The Middle East oil producers will remain central to world oil security. A massive flow of Iraqi oil would limit any influence that other suppliers, such as Russia, Mexico, and Venezuela, have over the oil market. Saudi Arabia would no longer be the sole dominant producer, able to influence oil markets single-handedly. The US would no longer have to cow down to the Saudis as much as before. So any increased dissention (fundamentalist movement) within their own regime would be less of a factor for control and access to oil.
Currently Iraq's outdated methods used to raise output from existing fields may have been damaged and some of the reservoirs could actually trigger a decline in output in the short run. But once the facilities are rocketed up--a job that Halliburton can do, the spigots could be opened wide
Critical in understanding the current strategy of Bush is this: "Prior to the OPEC revolution in the early 1970s, a small number of companies--referred to as the majors or Seven Sisters--called the shots in the industry, controlling activities from exploration and production to refining and product sales. But they lost much of their reserve base, as nationalization spread through the Middle East and OPEC nations. Today, state oil companies own the vast majority of the worlds oil resources. Even though private companies still do much of the exploring, drilling, and pumping, in many countries they have access to the oil only under prices and conditions set by the host government. Although oil companies have managed to adjust to this situation, a directly owned concession would offer them far greater flexibility and profitability."
A Regime change in Iraq would give U.S. and British companies direct access to Iraqi oil for the first time in 30 years. This would be a windfall worth hundreds of billions of dollars! Think about that! Human lives become secondary when your dealing with that kind of money, especially Iraqi human lives! US companies and those that have ties to the Bush Administration will to do anything to get involved in this! And oil interests were a crucial behind-the-scenes factor in the UN Security Council wording of Resolution 1441.
Oil company executives have been meeting with US backed Iraqi opposition leaders. According to Ahmed Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress, "The future democratic government in Iraq will be grateful to the United States for helping the Iraqi people liberate themselves and getting rid of Saddam." And he added that "American companies, we expect, will play an important and leading role in the future oil situation in Iraq."
I'm sure the US expects to be able to guard the oil in Iraq with a US and British military presence. After the second world war, and after the US secured access to oil in Saudi Arabia, all the European countries converted from coal to oil as an energy source. That was no accident! Can't you see what's happening? You can control a country without military occupation by controlling the country's economy through their energy supply! Then you control it all!
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