As it turns out it, is all about oil

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As it turns out it, is all about oil
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Big News Network.com Monday 27th December, 2004

Back in the halcyon days before the beginning of the second Gulf War in March 2003 the Heritage Foundation, a leading conservative Washington think tank, published an influential paper called 'The Road to Economic Prosperity for a Post-Saddam Iraq' by Ariel Cohen and Gerald P. O'Driscoll, Jr. that advocated the rapid privatization of the Iraqi oil industry.

Those were also the days when Richard Perle, then the head of the Defense Policy Board, an advisory panel that acted as the unofficial think tank and prime outside advisers for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy Paul Wolfowitz, was attracting scores of millions of dollars of investment to his Trireme Investments. The company looked certain to have an inside track on winning contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq. And it was also a time when media mogul Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox News, The Times of London, the neo-conservative Weekly Standard, the New York Post and much else beside was openly rejoicing to his friends how the toppling of Saddam Hussein in Iraq would rapidly lead to oil prices falling to only $20 a barrel.

Almost two years later, global oil prices have stabilized -- for the moment -- in the mid $40s a barrel after reaching highs of $54 a barrel, China's exponentially growing hunger for oil, its soaring auto production and its plans announced just this week to launch an inter-province highway program comparable to the vast U.S. construction of the 1950s guarantee that global demand has not peaked but will continue to soar.

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A very interesting article!!!

it just took them a lot longer than expected

www.harpers.org/BaghdadYearZero.html

:bounce:

Why was Iraq invaded?

Because of three things:

1) Iraq being cleared of WMD by the UNMOVIC/UNSCOM meant Desert Storm (when Saddam went off the reservation) was over and sanctions had to be lifted.

2) Iraq had European contracts for their oil.

3) Iraq was going to trade the oil in Euros not petrodollars.

"Remember, Bush/Saud are the same thing. BDM/Vinnel (Carlyle at the time) arm, train, equip man what keeps Saud in power. Saudi crude funds the whole Bush/Saud crew. Iraq suddenly free again to sell its oil, and in Euros not only screws Bush/Saud, but would cripple the US economy along multiple fracture lines.

First and obviously, having the 2nd largest oil reserve of accessible crude come onto the market will drive the value of Saudi crude into the basement. That Iraq would end run the rest of OPEC to make up for a decade of being starved would scatter the cartel members into the winds to fend for themselves. So what is better, to let Iraq crude take out your own operation at the knees or take it over and roll it into the same portfolio.

Second, because Iraq was gonna devalue your own assets in the first place, doing so outside our traditional partner firms and with European (French, Russian, German) firms visions of Chinnese orders means you are not getting a swing at that crude even in the rest of the chain.

Third, and most critical (and actually more "forgivable" in a strange circumpolar way) is that trading in Euros not petrodollars collapse our capital market funding of our debt and deficits, both Governmental budget and general economic. If China (as its demand for oil goes through the roof in the next 10 years) starts trading with Iraq, and the Euro becomes the currency for oil (not to mention it is already on the edge of surpassing the dollar for capital markets anyway base don value as it is) suddenly China has no need to continue to buy our debt. It would get more of a return in Euros, plus it buys oil form Iraq in Euros."
Christian Parenti

except Iraq and its a mess menawhile Putin is smiling HA HA HA!!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast: