July 17, 2007
by John Sebastian
|
The price of oil has always been and will always be driven by the price that a barrel of oil will fetch in the world market. And regardless of who purchases that barrel of oil, the profit from that barrel of oil will be made by he who owns the contractual right to the profit from that barrel of oil.
If the owner of the land and (it is assumed here) the oil under his land chooses to cash in on his underground fortune, but he has no machinery to pump the oil out from under his property or transport his oil to the marketplace, he may choose to enter into a contract with the owner of an oil company with the machinery to provide these pumping and transportation services.
If the owner of the oil and the owner of the oil company agree to such a contract, the right to the profit from the sale of the oil in the open market is shared by the owner of the oil and the owner of the oil company; and these shares are specified in the contractual agreement between the owner of oil and the owner of the oil company who will pump and transport the oil to the market.
If the contract specifies the percentages of an unknown profit that the owner of the oil and the owner of the oil company will share - from the sale of the oil in the world market between now and thirty years from now - it would be careless not to be careful at the bargaining table.
The primary goal of George W. Bush's Iraq War is to establish the two percentages of profit to be shared by the people of Iraq and the owners of the oil companies negotiating with the Iraqi government to pump and transport Iraq's oil; and the reason why American soldiers are still fighting and killing and dying in Iraq today is because these contractually establish percentages have not yet been established.
In 2003, the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimated that, "Iraq holds more than 112 billion barrels of oil - the world's second largest proven reserves." And that, "Iraq also contains 110 trillion cubic feet of natural gas."
In May of 2003, a study conducted by the Council on Foreign Relations and the James A. Baker III Institute at Rice University claimed that Iraq has 220 billion barrels of undiscovered oil.
Another study conducted in 2003 by the Center for Global Energy Studies and Petrolog & Associates estimated Iraq's oil reserves to be 300 billion barrels of oil - making them larger than those of Saudi Arabia.
Because of nearly two decades of U.N. sanctions pressed for by George H. W. Bush before his Iraq War in 1991, and imposed with the purposeful intent to cripple the economy of Iraq, Iraq has virtually no useful infrastructure, no industrial base, and therefore, no jobs. Because of its geography, it has limited agriculture capacity. Because of its geology, it has one marketable natural resource. Oil.
The U.N. sanctions pressed for and imposed on Iraq by the Departments of State under Bush I, Clinton I, and Bush II have caused more death and poverty in Iraq than Saddam Hussein did or ever could have. The U.N. sanctions also forced the Iraqi people into permanent states of financial distress, social poverty and psychological shock. The sanctions rendered Iraq's military completely incapable of anything more than the internal oppression of the Iraqi people. Saddam Hussein's military was a threat to no one except Iraq when George W. Bush started Iraq War II.
With Iraq in this condition, George W. Bush ordered the Pentagon to bring the full force of the U.S. Department of Defense against Iraq in order to take control of Iraq's oil reserves. This was and remains the ultimate goal of Iraq War II that began secretly behind closed doors in the Vice-President's office during the Energy Task Force meeting conducted in March of 2001; and that continues to be waged today by the government of the United Stated against the people of Iraqi and their democratically-elected government.
The department of Homeland Security has been used as a tool by George W. Bush to systematically release False Flag threats to invent and maintain an intended level of fear or terror among the American people to distract them from the truth about the justification for his wars when uncensored news reports escape the filter of unknown Pentagon and Department of Defense sources and their embedded news repeaters.
The major news services, both public and private, have shamed themselves by serving as the mouthpieces, apologists, and disinformation peddlers for Bush's purposefully-timed distractions and the never-ending and repetitious lies that he has used to justify his wars; and at the same time the press has failed to press for truthful answers to simple, truthful questions.
The only goals that United States military force can achieve in Iraq have been achieved. Saddam Hussein is gone. There are no chemical/biological weapons in Iraq. There are no nuclear weapons in Iraq. There is a democratically elected government drafting a Constitution for Iraq. There is no longer any legitimate reason for United States military forces to remain in Iraq.
(Article Continues Below)
Whether U.S. military forces or the indigenous people of Iraq removed Saddam Hussein from power, there would have been a power vacuum and the concomitant civil unrest that is occurring today would have occurred in either case. This would not have been our responsibility to correct if it had been caused by an internal coup, and since it would have happened under either circumstance, it is not our responsibility to straighten in out now. The continued U.S. military presence in Iraq will only extend the time period between now and when any semblance of civility and peace returns to Iraq.
The Iraqi people will determine when enough Iraqi blood has been spilled. But, the more Iraqi blood that American soldiers spill, the more hated America will be; this threat to our nation's security has been created and is being perpetuated by George W. Bush's decisions to begin and continue his Iraq War.
American occupying military forces are the focus of hate among Iraqi militants of all stripes. And since most Iraqis feel the same way about Al-Qaida as Saddam Hussein did, as soon as all U.S. military forces have left Iraq, their next goal will be to target and eliminate Al-Qaida from Iraqi soil. After reflecting on the success of the military forces of the United States in their attempt to occupy Iraq, Al-Qaida will either disappear or return to their pre-Iraq War safe havens along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
If George W. Bush's demand for the democratically-elected government of Iraq to meet benchmarks that favor American and British oil companies was withdrawn, the country of Iraqi would be left in a financially more stable and predictable position to restore peace and rebuild their country. Our continued military presence in Iraq and Bush's unacceptable demands are making peace and reconstruction in Iraq impossible.
During our short history, the United States has experienced good times and bad times. During the past six and one-half years, our country has experienced the worst of times. This is because of decisions made by George W. Bush and his men, Congress, the Pentagon, and the Departments of State, Defense, and Homeland Security.
During the past three and a half years, the Iraqi people have seen their dictator removed from power, held democratic elections, are trying to form a representative government, are drafting a constitution, have seen their fellow countrymen slaughtered by the hundreds of thousands; and their country has been destroyed by war. The Iraqi people and their elected leaders are living in a daily state of shock. The marginal profit on a barrel of oil to be sold ten or twenty or thirty years from now is not their immediate concern. The oil will still be there when the war is over. They are fighting for the survival of their country.
Now George W. Bush is targeting the next victim and formulating his next excuse for his foreign policy failure in Iraq. After inserting several other U.S.-sponsored surrogates to lead the fledgling Democracy in Iraq, and then extracting them once they proved unsuitable for our government's use, George W. Bush and members of Congress are now growing weary of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's leadership or perceived lack thereof in stabilizing his country.
Mr. al-Maliki is being accused by Bush and Congress of not being able to achieve a political resolution that would end the slaughter of his countrymen and the destruction of his country. Why would Mr. al-Maliki behave so shamefully? Does he not love his country as all patriots do? Does the daily carnage not tear at his soul? Does he have no plan to end the war in his country? Is he incapable of bringing change? Or has he decided how?
The conduct of Mr. al-Maliki and the democratically-elected members of the Iraqi government is the conscientious action of principled men who are exercising their leadership responsibilities as they see fit because they deem the oil-acquisition benchmark being demanded by George. W. Bush to be insulting and unworthy of their support. If they agreed to Bush's demand to accept this benchmark as a condition for peace, their country would continue to be financially constrained. This would make peace impossible, and the reconstruction of Iraq would continue to be plagued by unwelcome foreign interference.
While Bush, Congress, and the major news services have publicly avoided any serious discussion of the motives of those who have reaped enormous financial profits from Bush's Wars and will continue to for as long as his wars are waged; and of those who are now prolonging the war in Iraq until they can assure themselves guaranteed profits by legislating the theft of Iraq's oil; Mr. al-Maliki and the Iraqi government cannot afford to ignore these motives.
Bush's oil-acquisition benchmark would require Mr. al-Maliki and the democratically-elected Iraqi government to agree to contracts that could take 70% of the wealth generated by Iraq's oil away from the Iraqi people and give that wealth to American and British oil companies. A fledgling democracy fighting for its national identity and survival is not helped when those who brought war offer peace with unacceptable conditions.
If thsoe who want the rights to the profits and the profits from the sale of Iraqi oil are trying to force the Iraqi government to sign away the rights to their own oil as a condition for ending the war in their country - and if those seeking the right to profit from the sale of Iraqi oil through the imposition of the "Iraqi Oil Law" have any association with a legitimate government and this government is aiding the profiteers in their effort, this is nothing more than governmentally-sanctioned corporate-sponsored international extortion. It is also a form of international terrorism.
Mr. al-Maliki and the Iraqi government have implemented a plan to end the occupation of their country, and they are using the only remaining effective weapon they have left to defend their country's national interests against an irrational enemy - delay? The Iraqi government understands that the longer it goes on, the less support there is for George W. Bush's Iraq War. And even though they know more of their countrymen will die waiting for Bush to end his war, they have concluded they have no better option if they want to end the war, restore the honor and integrity of their country, and insure their children's children a peaceful and prosperous Iraq. In war there are no good choices, only the best of the worst.
The Iraqi Government is conducting the business of the People of Iraq in the best interest of the People of Iraq; and in the best manner they see fit and are able to given the present constraints demanded by Bush's benchmarks. Wise men do not sell their property because their homes have been destroyed. They rebuild. Only fools attempt to rebuild a house while it is still burning.
The perception of their own supremacy is the bane of failed leaders, defeated militaries, and the cock-sure protagonists of war. To underestimate the patience, resolve, and wisdom of an adversary is to make him your superior. The result is a self-inflicted wound borne from ignorance. George W. Bush and the planners and supporters of his wars will forever be remembered as the perfect examples of this ignorance in action.
All wars must end; now is the time for this one.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider the following:
1. Make a donation of $1 or more to help keep this website active.
click here
2. Click Here to Subscribe to the Free Populist Party Newsletter
3. Share this page or get the Populist Party RSS Feed
Sources for oil reserve references:
http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aairaqioil.htm
Sands of Iraq hold world's 2nd largest oil reserve
http://www.brookings.edu/views/op-ed/fellows/luft20030512.htm
Iraq Memo #16, May 12, 2003
John Sebastian [send him email] is a freelance writer and Constitutionalist.
