The war for the oil only

[Ernieb]

Perspective
"It is the Oil, Stupid!"
By Joseph Clifford

The Russians got into their Vietnam right after we got
out of ours? Isn't that strange?
We supported Bin Laden and the Taliban for years, and
viewed them as freedom fighters against the Russians?
Isn't that strange?

As late as 1998 the US was paying the salary of every
single Taliban official in Afghanistan? Isn't that
strange?

There is more oil and gas in the Caspian Sea area than
in Saudi Arabia, but you need a pipeline through
Afghanistan to get the oil out. Isn't that strange?

UNOCAL, a giant American Oil conglomerate, wanted to
build a 1000 mile long pipeline from the Caspian Sea
through Afghanistan to the Arabian Sea. Isn't that
strange?

UNOCAL spent $10,000,000,000 on geological surveys for
pipeline construction, and very nicely courted the
Taliban for their support in allowing the construction
to begin. Isn't that strange?

All of the leading Taliban officials were in Texas
negotiating with UNOCAL in 1998. Isn't that strange?
1998-1999 the Taliban changed its mind and threw

UNOCAL out of the country and awarded the pipeline
project to a company from Argentina. Isn't that
strange?

John Maresca VP of UNOCAL testified before Congress
and said no pipeline until the Taliban was gone and a
more friendly government was established. Isn't that
strange?

1999-2000 The Taliban became the most evil people in
the world. Isn't that strange?

Niaz Naik, a former Pakistani Foreign Secretary, was
told by senior American officials in mid-July that
military action against Afghanistan would go ahead by
the middle of October. Isn't that strange?

9/11 WTC disaster.

Bush goes to war against Afghanistan even though none
of the hijackers came from Afghanistan. Isn't that
strange?

Bush blamed Bin Laden but has never offered any proof
saying it?s a "secret". Isn't that strange?

Taliban offered to negotiate to turn over Bin Laden if
we showed them some proof. We refused; we bombed.
Isn't that strange?

Bush said: "This is not about nation building. It's
about getting the terrorists." Isn't that strange?

We have a new government in Afghanistan. Isn't that
strange?

The leader of that government formerly worked for
UNOCAL. Isn't that strange?

Bush appoints a special envoy to represent the US to
deal with that new government, who formerly was the
"chief consultant to UNOCAL". Isn't that strange?

The Bush family acquired their wealth through oil?
Isn't that strange?

Bush's Secretary of Interior was the President of an
oil company before going to Washington. Isn't that
strange?

George Bush Sr. now works with the "Carlysle Group"
specializing in huge oil investments around the world.
Isn't that strange?

Condoleezza Rice worked for Chevron before gong to
Washington. Isn't that strange?

Chevron named one of its newest "supertankers" after
Condoleezza. Isn't that strange?

Dick Cheney worked for the giant oil conglomerate
Haliburton before becoming VP. Isn't that strange?

Haliburton gave Cheney $34,000,000,000 as a farewell
gift when he left Haliburton. Isn't that strange?

Haliburton is in the pipeline construction business.
Isn't that strange?

There is $6 Trillion dollars worth of oil in the
Caspian Sea area. Isn't that strange?

The US government quietly announces Jan 31, 2002 we
will support the construction of the Trans-Afghanistan
pipeline. Isn't that strange?

President Musharref (Pakistan), and Karrzai,
(Afghanistan -Unocal) announce agreement to build
proposed gas pipeline from Central Asia to Pakistan
via Afghanistan. (Irish Times 02/10/02) Isn't that
strange?

"It?s the Oil, Stupid!"
Mr. Joseph Clifford contributed above article to Media
Monitors Network (MMN) from James Town, Rhode Island,
USA

Source:

by courtesy & © 2002 Joseph Clifford

by the same author:

We have abandoned our principles
More in 'Perspective' or 'Archive'

 

[ElFenix]

repeating "isn't that strange" totally kills the readability and chops it up into almost incomprehensible sound bites.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Excellent point.

See also:
Flanders, Jon. The World Trade Center Attack: Caspian Oil and Gas and the Afghanistan Pipeline Connection <http://redwoodpeace.org/caspian.html>

Here's an excerpt:

In an article by Kenny Bruno and Jim
Valette in Multinational Monitor magazine, dated May 2001 the authors
report that "...During Cheney's tenure, Halliburton created or
continued partnerships with some of the world's most notorious
governments--in countries such as Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq,
Libya and Nigeria."

In order to do business with dictators and despots, Halliburton has
skirted US sanctions and made considerable efforts to eliminate those
sanctions. Halliburton's pattern of doing business with US enemies
and dictators started before Dick Cheney joined the company, and may
well continue after his tenure as CEO.

****

Iraq.
Dick Cheney cites multilateral sanctions against Iraq as an
example of sanctions he supports. Yet since the war,
Halliburton-related companies helped to reconstruct Iraq's oil
industry. In July 2000, the International Herald Tribune reported,
"Dresser-Rand and Ingersoll-Dresser Pump Co., joint ventures that
Halliburton has sold within the past year, have done work in Iraq on
contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq's oil industry, under the
United Nations' Oil for Food Program." A Halliburton spokesman
acknowledged to the Tribune that the Dresser subsidiaries did sell
oil pumping equipment to Iraq via European agents.

****

The Bush administration plans
to use the WTC attack as an opportunity to use the US military as
pipeline police, with the current goal of splitting the government of
Pakistan and the Taliban from the Islamic militants led by Bin Laden.
If they can accomplish this, the way might be cleared for the
Afghanistan pipeline project, and the basis for further penetration
into the oil rich former Soviet republics established.



Great... get ready for another unpopular war now, in Iraq.

 

[Zipp]

If this so called new proposed pipeline really happens(which i doubt),the price of gas will probably drop to under a buck a gallon and I'll be able to fill up my SUV's gas tank for around twenty bucks. Isn't that great?

 

[duke]

"Haliburton gave Cheney $34,000,000,000 as a farewell
gift when he left Haliburton. Isn't that strange?"


I find that hard to believe.

 

[Moonbeam]

I mentioned months ago that I heard a report that the bombing patterns in Afghanistan correspond to places where war lords were demanding bribe money for the pipeling going through areas of their control.

 

[ATLien247]

What's to stop these so-called "terrorists" from attacking this pipeline, should it be built?

We can't even secure our own borders, so how could we expect to secure this pipeline?

 

[vi edit]

If memory serves me correctly(from ABC nightly news report), we only get 14%, yes 14% of our oil from the middle east, where as much of Europe and a healthy part of Asia gets nearly all of it's oil from there. Yeh, the US is in it for oil

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Zipp
If this so called new proposed pipeline really happens(which i doubt),the price of gas will probably drop to under a buck a gallon and I'll be able to fill up my SUV's gas tank for around twenty bucks. Isn't that great?

remember how bad off the oil companies were the last time it was under a buck? yeah, they really want more supply.

 

[Czar]

Originally posted by: ATLien247
What's to stop these so-called "terrorists" from attacking this pipeline, should it be built?

We can't even secure our own borders, so how could we expect to secure this pipeline?

hehe didnt that happen in Canada some months ago? when some farmer shot a hole in an oil pipeline with a shotgun

 

[JellyBaby]

What's to stop these so-called "terrorists" from attacking this pipeline, should it be built?

Permanent miltary bases in, oh say, Iraq and surrounding regions will keep the neighborhood in order.

we only get 14%, yes 14% of our oil from the middle east

Even if that figure is accurate you fail to understand the dollar amounts in just a fraction of our oil thrist are staggering. Also, it's not the "US is in it for oil" since this involves a relatively small number of people and corporations.

This all reminds me of a bad episode of Dallas. J.R. Ewing could not have envisioned a "better" world. :disgust:

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Czar

Originally posted by: ATLien247
What's to stop these so-called "terrorists" from attacking this pipeline, should it be built?

We can't even secure our own borders, so how could we expect to secure this pipeline?

hehe didnt that happen in Canada some months ago? when some farmer shot a hole in an oil pipeline with a shotgun

people shoot at the alaska pipeline all the time and nothing really happens to it.

 

[308nato]

the last time we were in Iraq the price of crude dropped to $10 a barrel which I believe was the lowest in 3 decades. That will really put the big bucks in somebodies pocket.

 

[kherman]

Hear's the more logical answer.

Iraq is developing WMD and has an interest in dispersing hte technology to terrorist cells for use against American interests. Saddam even said he was glad the towers fell. Is there any doubt. Shut up with the conspiracies.

 

[jjones]

If you look hard enough, you can see conspiracies everywhere. Isn't that strange?

 

[ElFenix]

yeah, but where did the plane that ran into the pentagon go?

 

[woodie1]

If this is correct then I feel terrible that my Government wants to insure me and mine a stable supply of oil. lol

 

[Wallydraigle]

Have you seen that documentary about conspiracies with Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts?

 

[JellyBaby]

Uncle Webster tells me conspiracy means "the act of conspiring together". The proof the US federal government and key industries work hand-in-hand to benefit each other by a foreign policy assuring oil rights in the middle east is obvious. It doesn't happen only during an R or D administration, the scope is beyond that.

This policy has repercussions. Some may think it's worth it. Oil companies and soul-less politicians with expensive campaigns to run do. A typical American might if he owns oil stock or believes cheap gas is a direct result of such policies.

At the very least I think it's important to know who is involved, what they're doing and who is working together. We should know what the benefits to the American people are (the government works and is accountable to us, remember?), who suffers from these policies and what the final global cost will be.

 

[Moonbeam]

vi_edit, the oil story is much more complicated than percentages. Low oil prices kill American producers and high prices kill the economy. I'm sure control of Iraqi oil would make price manipulation much more feasible.

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

The problem with such accounts is that reasonable aspects are lumped together with pure conspiracy hack propaganda. Cheney got at least $20M from Halliburton . . . what's strange is that he didn't get more. Cheney is a half decent guy his platinum parachute is not quid pro quo. He helps out his industry buddies b/c they think alike.

One of the great debates of the late 90s was about a pipeline project for Caspian crude. Even an geography moron could see the easiest pipeline would run through . . . drum roll . . . Iran; straight to the gulf. Next came the geopolitical morass of snaking through Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. My suspicion (speculation, if you like) is we couldn't bring ourselves to beg Iranian assistance or we did and received two responses.
Khatami: maybe.
Ruling clerics: Satan say what?

Yes, we get less than 1/6 of our crude from the Gulf, b/c we can. But extraction is still cheaper for Gulf crude and that's where 2/3 of the world reserves are located. We can stick straws in every corner of the globe (including FL coast when Jeb isn't running for governor) but eventually we will NEED that crude.

Have you people learned nothing from Enron, El Paso Gas. Just b/c you control something doesn't mean you have to sell it. OPEC sits on most of the world reserves and crude is $30/barrel. It's called supply and demand. US companies and some elements of the US government want greater control over supply.

If this is correct then I feel terrible that my Government wants to insure me and mine a stable supply of oil. lol

Yes but our government's right to insure a stable supply stops at the borders of sovereign states.

Iraq is developing WMD and has an interest in dispersing hte technology to terrorist cells for use against American interests. Saddam even said he was glad the towers fell.

Yes, Iraq is developing WMD along with many other countries. NO ONE including the President has shown ANY evidence that Saddam is interested in dispersing technology to terrorist cells. He's a greedy bastard. Now it is certainly possible that Saddam might distribute such weapons and technology in the future. But the scenario most consistent with that outcome is if he has nothing to lose. Of course Saddam was glad the towers fell. He's a sadistic POS. But come on we tacitly supported Iraq (including weapons and intelligence) during their war with Iran while selling weapons to Iran on the DL (anyone remember Ollie North). Yes, Saddam is untrustworthy . . . but per history so is the US government.

 

[SgtBuddy]

If you were to put water or Cheerios or Fig Newtons in place of oil in that article, you could *probably* prove it true too. Oil is convenient.

Yes, it is for the oil and the USA is now trying to take over the world's oil supply. Doh!, he found us out!

 

[Pacfanweb]

I'm OK with going to war over the oil. Doesn't bother me in the least. I think Saudi Arabia and Iraq would make great 51st and 52nd states.

 

[tweakmm]

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb
I'm OK with going to war over the oil. Doesn't bother me in the least

I'm with you man. I barely even consider the men of Iraq humans, let alone the women and children. I'm all about some old fashoned butchering if it means another dime in my pocket.

 

[philmacrevis]

Originally posted by: duke
"Haliburton gave Cheney $34,000,000,000 as a farewell
gift when he left Haliburton. Isn't that strange?"


I find that hard to believe.

I was thinking the same thing. Isn't that strange?