Working-Class Soldiers Shed the Blood, ExxonMobil Gets the Oil
In the fall of 2002, and most dramatically on February 15, 2003, anti-war protesters across the world carried placards reading: "No Blood for Oil!" The American punditocracy sniffed at these displays of dissent and heaped scorn on the peace demonstrators for suggesting that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney would start a war so American conglomerates could steal Iraq's oil. Five-plus years later, and today we see on the front page of the New York Times: "Deals With Iraq Are Set To Bring Oil Giants Back, Rare No-Bid Contracts, A Foothold for Western Companies Seeking Future Rewards."
The article details how U.S. oil companies with close ties to the Bush administration have used the leverage of the military occupation to muscle out competitors and win no-bid contracts to exploit Iraq's vast oil reserves. "A total of 46 companies, including the leading oil companies of China, India and Russia, had memorandums of understanding with the Oil Ministry, yet were not awarded contracts." This praiseworthy piece, by Andrew E. Kramer, goes on to point out that "in a twist of corporate history for some of the world's largest companies, all four oil majors that had lost their concessions in Iraq are now back." Kramer ends the story with a quote from the former chief executive of ExxonMobil, Lee Raymond, (who recently retired with a $600 million golden parachute), saying in a fleeting fit of honesty: "There is an enormous amount of oil in Iraq. We were part of the consortium, the four companies were there when Saddam Hussein threw us out, and we basically had the whole country."
So there you have it.
The oil conglomerates that were tossed out when the Baathist regime nationalized Iraq's oil industry are today back in place with the help of 140,000 American soldiers and $750 billion from the American taxpayer.
But the Iraq war had nothing to do with oil, right?
All the pro-war commentators who assured us repeatedly that the Iraq war had nothing to do with the control of oil owe all of the soldiers who served in Iraq a sincere and heartfelt apology. Although the list of warmonger pundits is far too long to record here among those who should send their apologies to the troops are Christopher Hitchens, Michael Ignatieff, Michael O'Hanlon, Kenneth Pollack, Michael "Just War" Walzer, Fouad Ajami, Michael Barone, Thomas "Flat Earth" Friedman, Michael Gordon, and Judith Miller (to name just a few).
More importantly, there are 4,100 families who lost loved ones in Iraq who also deserve apologies from these warmongers who assured us that the war had nothing to do with the corporate control of oil. The widows, widowers, and orphaned children of the American dead in Iraq might appreciate some kind of acknowledgement of remorse from the war's cheerleaders.
And don't forget, you who supported this war, to drop a note to the nearly 30,000 wounded veterans too. The thousand or so blinded vets might want to hear an apology from you Mr. Ignatieff; so might the thousand or so vets who lost both their arms and both their legs. And don't forget, Mr. Ajami, to send your apology to all of the vets who will piss and shit through plastic tubes for the rest of their lives, and all the others who are paralyzed and wheelchair bound. And maybe Thomas Friedman and Michael Barone could address their notes of apology to all of the Iraq war vets who suffered disfiguring injuries. And the rest of the cheerleaders for the war can send their apologies to the hundreds of thousands of Iraq war vets who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
These war hawks also owe the peace protesters an apology. I was among the protesters in San Francisco so they should feel free to send their apologies directly to me via email or provide them in the comments section below. I think most peaceniks will be magnanimous in offering their forgiveness, except to Christopher Hitchens, whose supercilious douchebaggery is unforgivable.
I suggest everyone go out and read Michael Klare's book Blood and Oil, and watch the new superb documentary of the same title.
Can we all finally accept the facts, which the Senate Intelligence Committee and Scott McClellan most recently confirmed, that the Bush Administration lied to the American people about its true motives in attacking Iraq and that one of the major hidden objectives was the control of Iraq's oil reserves for U.S. companies intimately intertwined with Bush and Cheney and the Republican Party?
The only way the people of the United States could begin to "apologize" for the pain and suffering inflicted in their name on the Iraqi people is to hold war crimes trials, convict and punish the war's perpetrators, and pay reparations.
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See Joseph A. Palermo's Profile
Great Comments, thank you all! I benefit from your insights.
The same people who think Iraq was not about oil think Oswald killed JFK even though any fool can see he was shot from the front. The energy under Iraq could power the world for 3 years. That's a big nut. Hussein thought he was in the cat bird's seat after the sanctions had preserved his reserves while exhausting everyone else's. Truth is this is how they planned it all along. Anwr is our last piggy bank of oil. Iraq is the present piggy bank.
How about this...
This is a War Crime, and every Congressman, Senator, President, Justice, or "any civil officer" which knowing or having reason to know that War Crimes had been committed did not take action against them is ... by the Nuremberg Principles ...a War Criminal himself or herself.
They are also High Criminals because they have given aid and comfort (and in many cases billions of dollars' worth of weapons) to our enemies, while participating in War Crimes.
What I have just described is a valid legal reason to fill no less than six hundred nooses. And if this country actually did that, what a different world it would be.
When you are dealing with a crime ring ... whether it's a drug ring, an extortion ring, a ring of gangsters, or in this case "all three at once, in $5,000 business suits" ... you've got a simple choice. Either you live and die by their hands, or you do something about it.
"Doing something about it" does NOT mean "the sword." (They know all about "the sword.") Rather, it means 300 million of "us" standing-up to the 1,000 or so of "them" and actually forcing Article 2, Section 4 of the United States Constitution to mean what it actually says.
Facts can be such a pesky matter, especially when they don't fit with political agendas. Where do we get our oil? http://www
Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia lead the pack.
I've been opposed to this war too, but if anyone thinks that it was solely "blood for oil", they're delusional. Just as Budweiser was one of THE FIRST companies to peddle their product in Vietnam after we normalized relations with them, there are alot of goods and services that multi-nationals and U.S. corporations want to peddle in the middle east. And make no mistake about it...Sadda
Very good post.
Who would ever suspect that oil companies might do business in an oil rich nation?
Nicely done Joseph. I was woried until I got to the last paragragh and saw a mention of the Iraqi people. Lets not forget that this war has been responsible for the deaths of maybe a million of them and the displacement of many millions (most of whom Syria are looking after by the way, so apologies to the Syrians too are in order. There was nothing secret about the reason for this war. The anti war demonstrators, of which I was one, knew damn well all along what this war was about. Oil. Greed. Money. It is a disgrace that these reprehensible people are allowed to get away with it. Impeach Bush. Put all war profiteers on trial. Do something.
Fantastic post, but I don't think you'll get any apologies.
'We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality " judiciously, as you will " we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.'"
An oldie but a goodie from Ron Suskind in 04.
The Neocons used the Republicans to kill the Republic, the Corporate media to kill the free press, Privateers to destroy our military, religious whack-jobs to turn faith against truth... None of these people will be able to admit what they've done to the things they coveted... Much less apologize for it.
Crude... a slime residual from ancient dead things, which resides in the lowest of places, and some people value above the blood of their own. Those are the people we've elevated to the loftiest of places and handed control our nation to .
I recall thinking that this has to be about oil. This was Bush's "quick" fix to our depleting oil resources. He was too dumb, lazy, and evil to try to find other sources of energy.
Nothing about this war felt right, even from the very beginning. I recall the unsettling feeling we all had about going to war. No one I ever came in contact with was convinced that we really had reason to. We watched, wide eyed, as our military forces invaded Iraq. I was pregnant with my youngest son at the time we went to war, and I kept thinking to myself, I do NOT want my son to have to be drafted to fight this senseless war. We went into Iraq, unprovoked, and even sobered by the fact there were no WMDs found. Many times, our leaders could have steered us away from the path to war, but they allowed us to go head first into a losing battle. Now look at us - broke, disillusioned and still being lied to.
It is so hard to wrap my head around what Bush and Co has done. What nightmare he has spawned for the rest of us to suffer through. We must stand up and not allow this to continue any further. Vote for the interest of real Americans - Vote Obama.
....Additi
in a final but equally repugnant betrayal that certainly clinches our current leadership's roles as treasonous commiters of war crimes, Bush reduced the money going to the military, particularly the soldiers, failed to provide increased Active Duty medical care and funds, cut funding to military hospitals-
At every step, Bush and Cheney and their administration have betrayed the American people, the people of many other nations, their soldiers, our laws, our constitution, our ideals, our freedoms, and our nation from economy to our power.
When the military made the same accusations as the peace activists, claiming that there was no strategic value to war, that the war was illegal, that the WMDs were nonexistent, and that it was being fought with too few soldiers and not enough preparation for the aftermath not just in the Middle East but also for the soldiers, instead of listening, the mainstream media and government dismissed the complainants of being leftist and unpatriotic.
When the military begged for proper management of the war and better equipment and training, they were told they shouldn't question their leadership even though those military personnel were the experts, their oath to the nation required that they stand p to illegal orders, and their highest leaders left them and their soldiers in the lurch with faulty and insufficient preparation.
The increased military funds did NOT provide soldiers with a raise that would even keep up with inflation, nor better equipment, training, medical facilities, housing, and leadership because most of the money went to underqualified contractors that not merely took over many functions our nation can't afford to leave in the hands of corporations, especially not hired foreigners, and were paid, starting salary, more in a month than the Non-Commisioned Officers made in a year.
This makes me want to explode
It's makes me irate to think of all the people who thought it was nonsense cooked up by wacko lefty nutjobs
The military complained about it from day one, but was--as usual--ignored because messages of discontent are swept under the rug. Bush cut the military more than Clinton did, firing 30% of its personnel and replacing them with mercenaries ultimately owned by and benefitting Cheney.
First, some of those "contractors" have always been around and are eminently qualified. But most are foreigners, and they make minimum twelve times more than an NCO in the Army even though they aren't as well trained, aren't American, aren't controllable, and have no oversight or trust. When the complaints started that this action was asinine--both because of reducing the number of soldiers and because of replacing them with civilians who couldn't be held accountable--they were hidden.
After the war started and issues with these contractors were brought up, these were also hidden. As were the realities that the war was illegal, counterproductive, ill-managed, and going to destroy our military and soldiers. Now, we're faced with corrupt and manipulative companies that send money to Cheney and refuse to follow any laws, a military that has to hire these corporations even though the prices are ridiculous, and a nation that couldn't defend itself in the case of an attack on our soil because our reservists and Guard are all activated and mostly gone, and many of the military's functions have been turned over to these corrupt mercenary organizations.
The "private" Cheney energy meetings. Isn't it about time that the oil company executives were subpoenaed to appear in front of Congress to tell all they know, or does "executive privilege" also extend to them?. Isn't there one guilt-ridden soul, neck deep in the blood of this filthy war that will speak? Or are they all such miserable cowards? What about the losses and ruined lives of our troops for lies? Do the deaths of hundreds of thousands mean nothing? What has this country come to mean except greed and sleaze? Have we become so corrupted that we don't demand the truth?
Cheney has abused power that doesn't even come with the Vice Presidential position, and hopefully once he is gone our leaders will get the guts to give him what he deserves for so disserving the nation, and extend this criminal investigation and punishment to those who have assisted in his treachery.
And God forbid they should have to pay a windfall profits tax.
See Joseph A. Palermo's Profile
If Iraq only had nutmeg as its national resource there'd be no U.S. troops in Iraq -- the Oil Ministry was the only institution that U.S. troops protected while the National Library and the Museum were being looted. Halliburton and other Cheney cronies wanted this war. The Likudniks neo-cons wanted it. But you bet the oil conglomerates wanted it too -- why should Iraq open up its oil to private corporations with no-bid when Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Brazil, Mexico etc. would never do so with their oil -- I thought capitalists loved "competition" Halliburton never competed for contracts and neither does ExxonMobil -- thank you Hari for leading me to add a final sentence.
I agree with everything you've said, Mr. Palermo. It is just unbelievable that there are still those out there who refuse to see the truth, and that the Democratic leadership in Congress refuses to take legal action against the most atrocious US war criminals in history--George Bush, Dickface, Rummy, Condi Rice, Wolfowitz etc. The sheer fact that I'm able to write "etc." after a list of US war criminals is itself a humiliating thing. And, oh, the surprise! No bid contracts being awarded to oil conglomerates like Exxon-Mobile and BP? Who would've thunked it? Certainly not Christopher Hitchens! The all-knowing, incapable of error, Christopher Hitchens.
Christopher Hitchens is a disgrace to crap falling out of asses everywhere. Mr. Hitchens is just intellectual enough to see past the hypocrisies of organized religion, but can't see past the lies of the Bush administration and its facilitators? Hitchens is not an intellectual, he's a self-aggrandizing, self-loving, WINDBAG of the utmost incompetence when it comes to US foreign policy. I know the UK won't have him, so maybe he should move to Iraq, since, as he argues, the surge is working, and Baghdad is just a lovely place to spend the summers. I'm sure the Iraqi's would welcome Hitchens with open arms, bombs strapped to their chests, ready to embrace him as a liberator.
It looks as if capitalism is, like many systems before it, being abused by thsoe at the top as a means of ensuring their proliferation and continued success without concern for the health of capitalism and the nation they swindle. The contractors are both an example of the most extreme harm capitalism can support when used to privatize a government so that profits and interests drive everything, and of the impossibility of capitlism to be maintained in truth when maintaining monopolies and current power and money dispersement becomes the prime focus.
Joseph A. Palermo: "If Iraq only had nutmeg as its national resource there'd be no U.S. troops in Iraq -- the Oil Ministry was the only institution that U.S. troops protected while the National Library and the Museum were being looted."
Thank you!!!! I said this seven years ago and, at the time, no one that I knew agreed. Family members thought this was a "good idea" because the price of gas would go down.....O
The day the story broke about protecting the Oil Ministry while hospitals were looted for medicines I wasn't surprised.
It’s tragic that Americans still don’t seem to understand what’s going on in Iraq and why the criminals in the White House consistently refuse to draw down our troops in that meat-grinder.
People need to realize that, at least under this Administration, the troops will never be brought home until Exxon-Mobile and the other fascist oil company CEOs feel secure enough to begin moving the equipment they’ve staged in Kuwait across the border into Iraq to begin stealing Iraqi oil.
And our delusional vice president is still trying to concoct a way to attack Iran with the nuclear bunker-buster bombs he’s been so excited about using, ignoring the fact that our military is already stretched to the breaking point, even with Bush’s recruiting waivers that now accept men and women with extensive rap sheets into our military. All we need is another unprovoked, preemptive war started by these psychopaths using Alice-in-Wonderland intelligence.
There’s little doubt in my mind that directing a war from a safe distance is probably the only thing these invertebrates have to make them feel manly and it’s a crime that America’s real men and women have to die as a result of the unbounded greed and insatiable lust for power these chicken hawks and their corporate sponsors are famous for.
This is one of the strongest reasons for voting them out in November, before they go into Iran.
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