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What Congress Really Voted For: Benchmark #1: Privatizing Iraqi Oil for US Oil Companies

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babylonsister Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-25-07 08:01 AM
Original message
What Congress Really Voted For: Benchmark #1: Privatizing Iraqi Oil for US Oil Companies
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/22914

What Congress Really Voted For: Benchmark #1: Privatizing Iraqi Oil for US Oil Companies
Submitted by davidswanson on Fri, 2007-05-25 12:44. Congress

By Ann Wright, US Army Reserves Colonel, Retired.

Thursday, May 24 the US Congress voted to continue the war on Iraq. They called it “supporting the troops.” I call it stealing Iraq’s oil-the second largest oil reserves in the world. The “benchmark” or goal the Bush administration has been working on furiously since the US invaded Iraq is the privatization of Iraqi oil. Now they have the US Congress blackmailing the Iraqi Parliament and Iraqi people: no privatization of Iraqi oil, no reconstruction funds.

This threat could not be clearer. If the Iraqi Parliament refuses to pass the privatization legislation, the US Congress will withhold US reconstruction funds promised to the Iraqis to rebuild what the United States has destroyed in Iraq. The privatization law, written by American oil company consultants hired by the Bush administration, would leave the control of only 17 of 80 known oil fields with the Iraq National Oil Company. The remainder (two-thirds) of known oil fields and all yet undiscovered oil fields would be up for grabs by the private oil companies of the world (but guess how many would go to the United States firms given to them by the compliant Iraqi government.)

No other nation in the Middle East has privatized its oil. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Iran give only limited usage contracts to international oil companies for one or two years. The $12 billion dollar “Support the Troops” legislation US Congress passed requires Iraq, in order to get reconstruction funds from the United States, to privatize its oil resources and put them up for long term (20-30 year) contracts.

What does this “Support the Troops” legislation mean for the United States military? Supporting our troops has nothing to do with this bill, other than keeping them there for another 30 years to protect US oil interests. It means that every military service member will need Arabic language training. It means that every soldier and marine would spend most of his or her career in Iraq. It means that the fourteen permanent bases will get new Taco Bells and Burger Kings! Why? Because the US military will be protecting the US corporate oilfields leased to US companies by the compliant Iraqi government. Our troops will be the guardians of US corporate interests in Iraq for the life of the contracts, for the next thirty years.

With the Bush administration’s “Support the Troops” bill and its benchmarks, primarily Benchmark #1, we finally have the reason for the US invasion of Iraq: to get the easily accessible, cheap, high-grade Iraqi oil for US corporations.

more...
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babylonsister Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-25-07 08:18 AM
Response to Original message
1. .
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DemDem07 Donating Member (207 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-25-07 08:27 AM
Response to Original message
2. kick
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tmlanders Donating Member (149 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-25-07 08:33 AM
Response to Original message
3. Yup, that is why we invaded Iraq...
but don't you think that the trillion dollars could have been better spent trying to find and develop alternative energy resources? Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of lives. And now they look like they are going to go after Iran's oil, too. Makes me sick to think about it...
:puke:
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Supersedeas Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-25-07 08:43 AM
Response to Reply #3
5. how Federalized troops serve the private interest of the Oil Industry
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The Backlash Cometh Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-25-07 08:36 AM
Response to Original message
4. When are we going to nationalize this shit so they stop spilling our
kids' blood to control an oily subtance that will empty our pockets?

I mean, we're going to lose our children and our welfare over this.
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formercia Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-25-07 08:44 AM
Response to Original message
6. Multinational Corporations.
Big Oil stockholders come from all over the World.

This is about the wealthy Elites profiting from the misery and death of the poor and working class.
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gatorboy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-25-07 08:49 AM
Response to Original message
7. Anyone remember how they treated Richard Belzer like a conspiracy theorist on Maher
Edited on Fri May-25-07 08:50 AM by gatorboy
when he brought this up several weeks ago? He was trying to make a point on the show how both sides were going to play the "privatize the Iraqi oil" card and everyone looked at him like he wa a loon even though the info was obviously out there and official. It's right there in front of us, and the MSM STILL can't bear to admit OIL is a much larger issue over there. They still treat it like some crack pot idea (And if I recall correctly, the right winger on Maher's show that night did the same to Richard, as well as Maher.).
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opusprime Donating Member (292 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-25-07 09:00 AM
Response to Original message
8. But... but... gas is almost $4.00 a gallon...
If we invaded for the oil, why hasnt the price of gas gone down?

Uhhgg... dont you get sick and tired of answering idiotic questions?
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Cults4Bush Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-25-07 09:30 AM
Response to Original message
9. I trust Col. Wright beore 98 % of elected officials.
especially now... and quite frankly her credentials are a lot more impeccable than most dems by a very wide margin.
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donkeyotay Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-25-07 10:42 AM
Response to Original message
10. So much for being the land of the free.
We don't control our government, our media or our foreign policy, and our children are being used as corporate cannon fodder. We mostly don't have a clue what's going on, and even when we do the PTB don't care what we think. This is freedom? This is democracy?
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donkeyotay Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-25-07 10:44 AM
Response to Original message
11. And a big K&R for all the truth tellers, and for Dennis Kucinich,
Edited on Fri May-25-07 10:45 AM by donkeyotay
the man too honest to be president. Murca can't handle the truth.
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Mnemosyne Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-25-07 11:18 PM
Response to Reply #11
16. Word on Dennis. n/t
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UNCLE_Rico Donating Member (124 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-26-07 05:19 AM
Response to Reply #16
21. DK F-ING ROCKS STRAIGHT UP
And Hard!

His friggin present-ation to the Congress the other day, along with a solid 12-point plan of action (that makes 10x more sense than anything * and Co have even PONDERED) in the form of HR1234 (2nd thought: i think that's the right number...) to get us the FUCK OUT was nothing short of brilliant.

I tell ya, man weren't you glad to see the MSM spent so much time covering his rock-solid points and looking through his HR plan and everything. I mean, he's only a fairly powerful and increasingly vocal committee chair, only a 2x now Presidential Candidate, you'd think they'd just ignore him kinda, but NO ...

LOVED our good ol' liberal media, didn't you? How they just spread far and wide the tale of DK's courageous (probably just took years off his life, knowing how the thugs he's up against operate) stand! HAIL THE MSM, for what DK stands against is no less than an INTERNATIONAL CRIME being committed by our little greazy POTUS. Lil Boot's is now going to EXTORT and BLACKMAIL the Iraqi government into signing an oil deal that HIS CRONIES put together.... that does NOTHING in a way that is typical for the region. Thanks MSM, REALLY stepped up, doing your job there, giving such extensive covered of Kucinich and his plan.

Bush's excellent plan, is to, instead, force Iraq into PSA's, which ... for KNOWN HUGE untouched sweet crude oilfields ... that'll run the company about $1 to $1.50 a barrel to extract ... and sell for TOP DOLLAR? Are you friggin KIDDING ME? He's gonna try to run a grift, a SCAM, a CRIME of this magnitude? Right under the world's nose, in a country you invaded on trumped up lies, a country right in the heart of OPEC land? PSA's, yeah, RIIIGHT. Decided you're gonna throw a little 1940's touch into your schtick there, chimpy?

It's obvious by his tactics, that this Bush is one SHARP TOOL. I mean, war on terror, shit, it's over, *'s got it SOLVED, baby. Wait til all them Iraqi's see the check! Wait'll they SEE that they're gonna get their FAIR SHARE (of the 12% TOTAL) that their government 'secured' for them! Heck, they'll be so overjoyed to be getting ANYTHING (cause remember: BIG BAD SADDAM, boy they HATED that GUY!) that they won't even ask WHY the OTHER 88% of their NATION'S OIL REVENUE is already LOST, nor why it instead goes directly into the pockets of the sponsors of your 'Liberators'. I know I can ALready feel that MUSLIM LOVE that's sure to be coming our way NOW, how'z bout you!?!

So many points in DK's presentation and his bill that I wish the Dem's would pick up and run with here. Let's face it, despite the media's whoring to the contrary, the so-called 'fair distribution' law consists of only 3 LINES that deal with the actual PURPORTED SUBJECT. The three apparently occur in and around, like, 30 OTHER pages, wherein and, gee, funny, these OTHER PAGES proceed to basically FUCK the citizens of Iraq OUT OF BILLIONS AND BILLIONS AND BILLIONS of DOLLARS of oil revenues?!? So, Chimpy's basically taking and STICKING it the Iraqi people he claimed he came to 'liberate' ... repeatedly, raw, and royally ... and violating numerous international treaties that the US is signatory to while doing so. My god, this should be a slam-dunk if anything was right in the Dem's heads.

Instead of seeing a what SHOULD happen, which is a Rally Around DK all over the airwaves, with pundits galore supporting his bill, etc, the media instead just keep mouthing the LIE 'fair distribution of oil wealth among all Iraqi's' like a bunch of limbots.

Lil Boots is now just, out in the open, openly FLOUTING international law (Geneva Conventions prevent ANY of the sorts of financial/privatization shenanigans that *Co has pulled over in Iraq is the truth), and this is one the Murkan Public can understand. Bush is stealing the Iraqi's oil, just like so many people have suspected all along. I tell ya, people NOT supporting the Iraqi's and DK are going to find themselves on the wrong side of history, you mark my words on that.
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Mnemosyne Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun May-27-07 09:18 AM
Response to Reply #21
23. Welcome to DU Rico! I see that you've had quite enough also.
This blackmail, and it most definitely is, of the Iraqi government to steal their oil is just one more in the growing list of the many, many reprehensible actions by the treasonous corporate government of the US.

And I will mark your words; the regime they support will be remembered as nearly as evil as the Nazi regime.

Treasonous war criminals run the US.
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Blackhatjack Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-25-07 11:16 AM
Response to Original message
12. K & R And Why is the MSM not reporting this important component in the bill passed?
The privatization of Iraqi oil is almost NEVER mentioned by any MSM source.

Only Kucinich on the floor of the Senate has mentioned it that I can recall.
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Bruce McAuley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-25-07 10:06 PM
Response to Original message
13. Benchmark #2: Sell all Iraqi oil for $$$$$ only.
Keeps the petrodollar viable for another 30 years too.
Hell, we might as well just make them all 3 new states of the United States.
To hell with what they want anyway, both the Dems and the Repubs are bought and paid for.
To hell with what WE want anyway, they in congress and the White House ALL are whores.
Executive whores and legislative whores, and also there's the military industrial whores.
Crap.

Bruce
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cosmicdot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-25-07 10:09 PM
Response to Original message
14. the Cheney Energy Task Force-in-action
wonder if he drew from the Council on Foreign Relations Caspian Sea Dialogue c. 1999? http://www.treemedia.com/cfr/library/library.html



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Rex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-25-07 10:13 PM
Response to Original message
15. Seems to be now more of control than our companies getting access
they already had that after the davis-bacon act was revoked. No habeas corpus and really...you don't need anything else.

Got a million dollar lawyer? Got 20 of them?
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Disturbed Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-25-07 11:40 PM
Response to Reply #15
18. Exactly!
The Rethugs and Dems are on the same page with this effort to direct the oil flow to the USA.
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Triana Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-25-07 11:40 PM
Response to Original message
17. So tell me - WHY do "they hate us"? For our FREEDOM?
FREEDOM to do WHAT?

Pre-emptively and WITHOUT PROVOCATION INVADE and destroy other countries and take THEIR resources from them for profit - refusing to rebuild until/unless they turn all their resources over to us?

Riiiiight


ROBBER BARONS - they always have been - always will be.
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Decruiter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-26-07 01:05 AM
Response to Original message
19. Ann is truly a Patriot! She speaks truth to power and does it so WELL!!
I'm very, very proud to know her.

Everyone should be listening to what she has to say. She resigned her position in protest, the day we started dropping bombs in Iraq and she has never waivered.

Ann Wright is a true PATRIOT, she is a diplomat, she is a soldier, she is a statesman, I guess I just think she is truly one of the best.

I don't just think it, I know it.

We need at least 100 or so more of her!! Guess what, she hasn't signed a book deal yet, what's up with that? I know, she really is for real.
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Raksha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-26-07 03:34 AM
Response to Original message
20. K & R
This makes more sense than anything I've seen yet...unfortunately.
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1932 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-26-07 06:06 AM
Response to Original message
22. Mission (almost) Accomplished
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bobthedrummer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-28-07 08:46 PM
Response to Original message
24. Kick
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bobthedrummer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-29-07 01:38 PM
Response to Original message
25. .
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