The Invasion of Iraq, American War Profiteering and Mesopotamian Black Gold



Posted: Saturday, January 13, 2007

by merlynne6
Blumenberg Associates LLC

The real motive behind the invasion of Iraq is now well known. Perhaps two years before 9/11, Dick Cheney and his closest neocon associates planned for an invasion of Iraq in order to secure oil resources, now believed to be the second largest in the world after those of Saudi Arabia. This plan needed a crisis that could be used a propaganda tool to 'sell' the war to a confused and frightened American public. 9/11 provided that event, and a playbook of false evidence that Iraq possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction was soon created and presented to both Congress, allies around the world, the United Nations and the American people. Those lies gradually fell apart when United Nations inspection teams failed to confirm the claims. Nonethelessl, the Bush Administration choose to defend the Iraq invasion a second time by claiming it was justified by Saddam's Hussein's tyranny against his own people and a nebulous national security interest which of course could not be precisely described. America's continued voracious, consumption of fossil fuel energies continues, as there is no coherent policy or leadership to do otherwise in the Bush Administration. Indeed such a policy would run counter to one of the important 'hidden' motives behind the war. The longer a nation wide policy for alternative energy deployment on a large scale can be delayed and avoided, the longer major oil corporations can maximize their profits even as they acquire many of the best solar, wind and alternative energy power companies. Big Oil plans to survive the end of the oil age, transformed at the latest moment possible into alternative energy corporates. Never forget, however, that the bottom line is short term profits, and those are now very high as quarterly reports from the largest oil energy corporations proudly announce to the media and public.

America's confrontation with Iran is usually treated as a situation separate and distinct from Iraq, however there may be a fundamental premise in common. The exaggerated and misleading 'reports about Iran's involvement in the Iraq and Afghanistan' wars may have the same purpose as did the lies, deceit and biased presentations about the danger posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Iran has the world's largest natural gas reserves (after Russia) and considerable oil - at least 10% of the world's known reserves. Furthermore, most of Iraq's oil reserves are close to the Iraqi border. The case that Iran's continued development of atomic weapons technology poses an immediate and direct threat to America's national security is weak, if not almost absurd. Development of nuclear bombs by Iraq is at least several years away, development of effective medium to long range missile delivery systems is likewise in the future, albeit existing inaccurate missile systems could wreck havoc in Israel or with our offshore carrier battle groups, thereby drawing the United States into a 'shooting war'. However, the bottom line on military power in Mesopotamia is that United States carrier battle groups possess awesome destructive power. A first missile launch by Iran, be that nuclear weapons, biological or conventional warheads would be quickly followed by yet another demonstration of American 'shock and awe". No country plans its own destruction, an American response (which likely includes our nuclear weaponized, submarine fleet) could reduce Iranian infrastructure and government to rubble with terrible civilian collateral damage. Simultaneously Iran military response would clog and block the narrow Straits of Hormuz through which most oil exports from the Middle East must flow. Imagine for a moment high speed patrol boats with explosives aimed at oil tankers, and/or the rapid sinking of large ships, and/or large area surface oil fires. A world where oil is $200/barrel or more would not be nice place to live, particularly within a highly volatile climate catalyzed by terrorism and misguided United States energy wars.

Having destroyed for many years any possibility for a unified coherent, peaceful nation state in Iraq; having essentially lost Afghanistan (except for Kabul and its immediate environs); having created at least two cauldrons that never existed prior to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in which Al Qaeda can recruit and train terrorists (Iraq, the adjacent provinces in northwest Pakistan/Afghanistan, and possibly Lebanon as well); having destroyed America's credibility as a world leader for peace, democracy and prosperity; having savaged much of the parliamentary, democratic process and balance of powers enshrined in the United States Constitution with serious collateral damage to the United States body politic and economy. Horrific Iraqi civilian casualties and those of brave American soldiers have become the tragic double metaphor for the hemorrhaging of Iraqi culture, society and sovereignty which goes hand in hand with the bleeding of the American Constitution, economy and society. Amidst this domestic and international tragedy, Bush, Cheney and the neoconservative cabal continue with imperialistic policies that continue to serve their objectives as first articulated several years ago.

The Iraq troop surge is failing. An important window of opportunity to set limits on our military adventures in the Middle East was squandered this past spring when the Democrats caved into President Bush on the war funding bill. Leading Democrats may never forge a genuine, alternative war policy in which US troops are rapidly brought home, some attempt is made to repair the horrendous damage caused by the invasion of Iraq and a new policy implemented toward Iraq in which the war option is taken off the table unless calamitous events ensue. Almost all Democrats have voted for past and present Iraq and Afghanistan war funding. Multiply your voice and do something positive amidst an increasingly chaotic and violent world landscape. Each hard copy letter sent via snail mail to members of Congress is taken to represent ten registered voters.

Our involvement in Iraq is hopelessly polluted by greed, blind imperial ambition and a maniacal policy to control Middle East oil resources by force. The Bush administration with extreme hubris has set in motion a process by which false intelligence is created, thereby to possibly justify a possible attack on Iran. This President, and the latest iteration of America's 21st century imperialists lead by Vice President Cheney, are on the public record as having no interest in what last November's elections implied for Iraq policy; nor what several three and four star generals and former employees of the CIA have stated about our destructive adventurism in Iraq; nor the advice and good counsel from much of the military, friends and allies around the world; nor the self destructive aspects of a possible attack upon Iran. Bush, Cheney and their team have set loose the 'dogs of war', fueled the violent, global jihad of radical Islam and endangered national security first and foremost by alienating those countries that control the world's largest reserves of oil and natural gas.

A more detailed look into the Iraq War as a war for oil resources may be found at Atlantic Free Press - Mesopotamian Black Gold and American Imperialism 1: Iraq. See also Atlantic Free Press - Mesopotamian Black Gold and American Imperialism 2: Iran where the possibility is further explored that a United States attack on Iran's Nuclear Industry might be a Pretext to 'Capture' the Iranian Oil and Gas industries.

Further Reading -
1a,b. Surging toward the holy oil grail by Pepe Escobar; .... The Prize of Iraqi Oil by Michael Schwartz.
2a,b. IHS Launches First Detailed Report on Iraq's Oil Reserves and Production Potential Since Start of Iraq Conflict .... *The Pentagon v. Peak Oil - How Wars of the Future May Be Fought Just to Run the Machines That Fight Them; by Michael Klare.
3a,b. Rolling Back the 20th Century by William Greider; .... Is Imperial Liquidation Possible for America? by Chalmers Johnson.
4a,b,c. They've helped ruin the country. Meet Dick Cheney and his staff by Robert Dreyfuss;.... *The Founding Fathers Never Met Dick Cheney - by Dr. David Michael Green .... Bush Family War Profiteering by Evelyn Pringle.
5a,b. Is the Administration's new policy benefiting our enemies in the war on terrorism? by Seymour Hersh; .... *Hamastan and Red Zoneistan by Pepe Escobar.
6a,b,c. Iraq as a Cauldron of State Terrorism by Michael Schwartz; .... .Iraq: Welcome to the summer of hate by Pepe Escobar. .... *Iraq by the Numbers: Surging Past the Gates of Hell by Tom Engelhardt.
7. Iran's Oil Reserves by GlobalSecurity.org.
8a,b. Countdown to War on Iran by Alain Gresh; .... *General Pace fired to clear way for "national emergency," Iran nuclear strike? by Paul Craig Roberts.
9a,b. Iraq and Afghanistan Supplemental Spending, 2008 by Jeff Leys. .... A Unified Security Budget for the United States, FY 2008, by Miriam Pemberton and Lawrence Korb .

"He who knows the enemy and himself will never in a hundred battles be at risk." Sun ­Tzu.

Revised 07/01/07

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Historian of ancient/medieval times and mythologies, archivist, digital artist, teacher of environmental education to children, husband and proud father of two beautiful daughters.
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