The Wombat’s Blog

Wising Up to a Reason for War

The voices are getting louder, yet we still don’t get the full story. Here is a letter submitted by a local resident about the Iraqi Government signing away its fortune to US oil interests. Why would they do this? Why would they be the only country in the Middle East signing up for this? Why is the press not reporting this?

I’ve read about the PSAs for the oil production in the former Soviet Republics, but they’re right, this sounds rather aggressive and tragic.

Since the beginning all foreign media and foreign countries that suggested that this war could be about oil, were ridiculed. Ah well. Guess who has pie in their face now?

(Original found here.)

Iraq legislation
The war was all about oil

For those who may have wondered whether oil was the reason we invaded Iraq, a new oil law just passed by the U.S.-backed Iraqi Council of Ministers, and probably soon to be passed by the Iraqi Parliament, should answer that question.

This law, which was planned in the U.S. before the invasion and has since been promoted by J. Paul Bremer and his successors, will legalize Production Service Agreements (PSAs) with oil companies from outside of Iraq, such as Exxon Mobil, BP, and Shell.

These contracts will provide these companies with lengthy contracts (up to 30 years) to extract Iraqi oil and reap up to 75 percent of the profits. It also allows for oil company representatives to sit on the Iraqi Oil Council which determines Iraqi oil policy.

No other Middle Eastern country currently uses PSAs and where they have been used in the past (e.g. for technological expertise); they have been written for much shorter periods, like five years.

This privatization of its oil industry will deprive Iraq of much-needed revenue to rebuild and sustain its country which has been severely damaged as a result of the U.S. invasion and occupation and will transfer that money to the pockets of outside interests.

So, at last, we know what George Bush means when he speaks of “victory” in Iraq and why Dick Cheney can say, “Things are going well in Iraq.”

Among the beneficiaries of the invasion will be the big oil companies who will now be able to continue supplying us with gasoline at exorbitant prices.

One might only mention also the contracting firms (like Halliburton) and arms merchants for whom the Iraq invasion is a bonanza.

On the other side of the ledger are the American military and their families, countless Iraqi children, women, and men, dead, wounded and fled, and the American taxpayers of today and years to come.

In addition, a plundered U.S. treasury that cannot provide for education, health care, Katrina recovery, development of alternative energy sources and the basic infrastructure here at home. These are the casualties of this disastrous war for oil, all for an agenda of the few.

Tragic.

See more details at http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2132569.ece

T.B., Waimea

Posted under: politics, media