What would an attack on Iran do to oil prices? $75/barrel, $100/barrel?

Call it a hunch. But, it seems that the real object of the invasion of Iraq was to create an artificial shortage to drive up the world price of crude oil. Greg Pallast's BBC report yesterday links the multinational oil giants with neocons in the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans (OSP) as the joint authors of Bush's Iraq plans. See below.

That report seems to confirm a looming suspicion that the widely-publicized plans of Israel to bomb Iran, perhaps this June with American support, have more to do with old-fashioned oil prices than Iranian aspirations for nuclear power.

Secret U.S. Plans For Iraq's Oil

By: Greg Palast Reporting for BBC Newsnight


Thur Mar 17, 2005 08:25 AM ET

<snip>

In fact there were two conflicting plans, setting off a hidden policy war between neo-conservatives at the Pentagon, on one side, versus a combination of "Big Oil" executives and US State Department "pragmatists."

"Big Oil" appears to have won. The latest plan, obtained by Newsnight from the US State Department was, we learned, drafted with the help of American oil industry consultants.

Insiders told Newsnight that planning began "within weeks" of Bush's first taking office in 2001, long before the September 11th attack on the US.

<snip>

New plans, obtained from the State Department by Newsnight and Harper's Magazine under the US Freedom of Information Act, called for creation of a state-owned oil company favored by the US oil industry. It was completed in January 2004, Harper's discovered, under the guidance of Amy Jaffe of the James Baker Institute in Texas. Former US Secretary of State Baker is now an attorney. His law firm, Baker Botts, is representing ExxonMobil and the Saudi Arabian government.

<snip>

View segments of Iraq oil plans at
www.GregPalast.com/opeconthemarch.html.

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Greg Palast's film - the result of a joint investigation by BBC Newsnight and Harper's Magazine - will broadcast on Thursday, 17 March, 2005.

You can watch the program online - available Thursday, March 17 after 7pm EST for 24hrs - from the Newsnight website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/default.stm.

You can also read the story in greater detail in the latest issue of Harper's magazine - now available at your local newsstand.