If it's all about Oil and Reconstruction Contracts, you don't Cut-And-Run

Junkdrawer

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Tue Nov-22-05 02:14 PM
Original message

If it's all about Oil and Reconstruction Contracts, you don't Cut-And-Run

If it's about preventing Terrorism and promoting stability, you retreat to the borders.

Now, here's the tricky part:

If you insist on pushing a Western style democracy down Iraqi throats, you stay. So the irony will be that the same people who have toppled democracies in favor of repressive "pro-Western, anti-communist" regimes for the last 40 years will now suddenly be willing to spend endless blood and treasure, as well as inciting terrorism, all in the cause of "democracy".

And they say irony is dead.

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indepat

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Tue Nov-22-05 03:08 PM
Response to Original message

1. "Democracy" is when the multi-nationals get most of the oil revenues

instead of the country in question and its people. That's Bush-styled democracy, the freedom for multinationals to take the liberty of figuratively/literally stripping/raping a country's wealth solely for corporate profit.

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Junkdrawer

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Tue Nov-22-05 03:43 PM
Response to Reply #1

2. The disconnect between real motives..

and what we're allowed to talk about in polite discussion is rather striking, huh?

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indepat

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Tue Nov-22-05 04:38 PM
Response to Reply #2

4. In polite discussion or raise with a local RW rag

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Junkdrawer

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Tue Nov-22-05 04:18 PM
Response to Original message

3. Speak of the devil...

Iraq's oil: The spoils of war

Iraqis face the dire prospect of losing up to $200bn (�116bn) of the wealth of their country if an American-inspired plan to hand over development of its oil reserves to US and British multinationals comes into force next year. A report produced by American and British pressure groups warns Iraq will be caught in an "old colonial trap" if it allows foreign companies to take a share of its vast energy reserves. The report is certain to reawaken fears that the real purpose of the 2003 war on Iraq was to ensure its oil came under Western control.

The Iraqi government has announced plans to seek foreign investment to exploit its oil reserves after the general election, which will be held next month. Iraq has 115 billion barrels of proved oil reserves, the third largest in the world.

According to the report, from groups including War on Want and the New Economics Foundation (NEF), the new Iraqi constitution opened the way for greater foreign investment. Negotiations with oil companies are already under way ahead of next month's election and before legislation is passed, it said.

The groups said they had amassed details of high-level pressure from the US and UK governments on Iraq to look to foreign companies to rebuild its oil industry. It said a Foreign Office code of practice issued in summer last year said at least $4bn would be needed to restore production to the levels before the 1990-91 Gulf War. "Given Iraq's needs it is not realistic to cut government spending in other areas and Iraq would need to engage with the international oil companies to provide appropriate levels of foreign direct investment to do this," it said.

...

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article328526.ece

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