Re: SC27

http://english.alarabonline.org/display.asp?fname=2006%5C10%5C10-17%5Czopinionz%5C960.htm&dismode=x&ts=17/10/2006%2012:14:46%20%C3%A3

Bush's Petro-Cartel Almost Has Iraq's Oil

Even as Iraq verges on splintering into a sectarian civil war, four big oil companies are on the verge of locking up its massive, profitable reserves, known to everyone in the petroleum industry as "the prize."

Iraq is sitting on a mother lode of some of the lightest, sweetest, most profitable crude oil on earth, and the rules that will determine who will control it and on what terms are about to be set.

The Iraqi government faces a December deadline, imposed by the world's wealthiest countries, to complete its final oil law. Industry analysts expect that the result will be a radical departure from the laws governing the country's oil-rich neighbors, giving foreign multinationals a much higher rate of return than with other major oil producers and locking in their control over what George Bush called Iraq's "patrimony" for decades, regardless of what kind of policies future elected governments might want to pursue..........

..........Both independent analysts and officials within Iraq's Oil Ministry anticipate that when all is said and done, the big winners in Iraq will be the Big Four -- the American firms Exxon-Mobile and Chevron, the British BP-Amoco and Royal Dutch-Shell -- that dominate the world oil market. Ibrahim Mohammed, an industry consultant with close contacts in the Iraqi Oil Ministry, told the Associated Press that there's a universal belief among ministry staff that the major U.S. companies will win the lion's share of contracts. "The feeling is that the new government is going to be influenced by the United States," he said...........

............Chafing at the idea that the Chinese and Russians might end up with what is arguably the world's greatest energy prize, industry leaders lobbied hard for regime change throughout the 1990s. With the election of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in 2000 -- the first time in U.S. history that two veterans of the oil industry had ever occupied the nation's top two jobs -- they would finally get the "greater access" to the region's oil wealth, which they had long lusted after..............

..........Understanding how Big Oil came to this point, poised to take effective control of the bulk of the country's ( Iraqs ) reserves while they remain, technically, in the hands of the Iraqi government -- a government with all the trappings of sovereignty -- is to grasp the sometimes intricate dance that is modern neocolonialism. The Iraq OIL GRAB is a classic case study............

..........But serious planning for the war had begun in February of 2002, as Bob Woodward revealed in his book, Plan of Attack. Planning for the future of Iraq's oil wealth had been under way for longer still.

In February of 2001, just weeks after Bush was sworn in, the same energy executives that had been lobbying for Saddam's ouster gathered at the White House to participate in Dick Cheney's now infamous Energy Task Force. Although Cheney would go all the way to the Supreme Court to keep what happened at those meetings a secret...........

.........But the execs from Big Oil didn't just want access to Iraq's oil; they wanted access on terms that would be inconceivable unless negotiated at the barrel of a gun. Specifically, they wanted an Iraqi government that would enter into production service agreements (PSAs) for the extraction of Iraq's oil.

PSAs, developed in the 1960s, are a tool of today's kinder, gentler neocolonialism; they allow countries to retain technical ownership over energy reserves but, in actuality, lock in multinationals' control and extremely high profit margins -- up to 13 times oil companies' minimum target, according to an analysis by the British-based oil watchdog Platform.............

...........With a constitution cooked up in D.C., the stage was set for foreign multinationals to assume effective control of as much as 87 percent of Iraq's oil................

.............To complete the rip-off, the occupying coalition would have to crush Iraqi resistance, make sure it had friendly people in the right places in Iraq's emerging elite and lock the new Iraqi government onto a path that would lead to the Big Four's desired outcome..........

So there is your reason for why we are in, and will remain in, Iraq. It has nothing to do with threats from Weapons of Mass Destruction, nothing to do with Al Queda connections, nothing to do with Bush's " deep caring " for the plight of poor Sadam abused Iraqi Citizens. Bush this week reassured the " worried " Iraqi " US Puppet " president that he had no intentions of drawing down the US troop levels until at least 2010. Also this week there was a report stating that troop levels in Afganistan " may " have to remain the same until 2020. US soldiers are dying in ever increasing numbers for oil, and because of the continueing lies of this administration. The huge military bases built in both Iraq, and Afganistan will be maintained as long there is oil and natural gas in the area to be stolen by the huge US multinational oil and gas corporations. Also the bases provide the stepping stones to proceed after further oil prizes, like Iran. And the two essential Mantras repeatedly referenced and used by this " Administration of Crooks " to whip up the American Public, on an ongoing basis into a fearful state, all to enabel Bush and his Oil Gang's ambitions of wealth and power, are 9-11, and Crazy Terrorist. 9-11 was the perfect event to start Bush, Chenney and crew on thier current power trip and war quest for oil. Almost 3000 people did die, for a pack of lies from this administration ( 9-11research.com ). Bush loves to incessently cite the dangers of " TERRORIST ". He said also " Your either with us, or your against us ", in his black and white made up world. Everyone who does anything against this administration is a Terrorist. Countries, groups, individuals, you name it. He knows a " war " on such an enemy as this can NEVER BE WON, because there will always be conflicts in this world, between entities of opposing views. A war without end that can always be used, over and over, to drum up fear in American Citizens when needed for thier designs. He also knows that if you label someone or group a Terrorist, they are automatically WRONG HEADED, CRAZY, WITH BLACK BEADY EYES, EVIL IN THIER HEARTS, FULL OF CONTEMPT FOR GOODNESS, CONTINUALLY USING " SINSTER METHODS " TO ACHIEVE THIER AIMS ( a favorite bush tactic! ), ETC, ETC, and therefore provide the perfect target at which to direct any aggressive intentions necesary by the affected NON TERRORIST!. The truth is, there are, and will always be fighting between various peoples and groups, for countless varieties of reason's. Techniques used in these conflicts to engage the opposition are as varied as the human imagination. One needs to only look at Bush, and the recent passing of his new, updated, " Torture Techniques " legislation, done to cover thier butts, regarding thier ongoing crimes as related to the Geneva Convention. We as a country, should conduct our affairs honorably in respect to the treatment of other peoples and countries, and we should " with reason and ethical intent " defend ourselves when it becomes necesary. What Bush and Crew have done, and are doing, has nothing to do with this. They want to keep the American Public in a constant state of fear of the " ever present Terroist " all around us, so they can mold the public's will around thier " proposed policies " for dealing with " all the dangerous terroist, everywhere ". They have gotten thier way on everthing so far, Homeland Security, the Patriot Act, occupying Afganistan, occupying Iraq, definite designs on attacking Iran, and even further ongoing agenda's. We absolutely need a new direction, and to get rid of this greedy, unethical, dishonorable group of thugs. I hope all of you will see, just how serious and dangerous a sitution is being created by the moves of Bush and his Oil Pals during thier time in power. A start will be to vote them out of power on November 7th. Then, if the Democrats do get significant control back, meaningful investigations need to be immediatly initiated to look into the criminal activity perpetrated by these dispicable men of power, regarding 9-11, and the illegal wars of Afganistan and Iraq, conflicts where these same men so easily, and without even the slightest shred of caring, send men and woman off to die, for thier lies, which serve the purpose of hiding thier quest for control of the world's remaining reserves of energy, and for thier unthethical quest for ill gotten power. They won't stop, unless we, the American Public stop them.