Oil, Iraq, hegemony and energy policy
Blood For Oil is an oversimplification of the war in Iraq. Certainly that is what it is about... but why? Why is the US willing to expend 2000+ American lives, 100,000+ Iraqi lives. Clearly, given the loss of Iraqi citizen life, not to mention the use of chemical white phosporous on the civilians of Fallujah, would indicate that freeing Iraq from the tyranny was not the primary objective. If that were the case, we have already lost, since we have merely replaced an Iraqi dictator with an American occupation (read: colonization).
Was it because Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction and used them on his own people? This, too, is an unlikely reason, since it was becoming clear, even before the invasion that there were no WMD in Iraq, since the UN had full access to all potential sites for inspection, and had found no signs of them. Further, the US forces themselves used chemical WMD (white phosphorus in Fallujah) against the citizens of Iraq.
For clues as to why we went to war in Iraq, we need to look at what was happening well before the war. Even before 9/11, leaders of several major oil corporations met secretly with Vice President Cheney to draw up the US energy policy. Among the documents produced in the early meetings, again before 9/11, was a map indicating how the oil fields of Iraq would be divided among these corporate interests. Hmmm... why would they be doing that if they weren't already planning to control those fields somehow?
The fact is, Iraq holds the second largest supply of oil in the world, and control of Iraq and the Middle East is vital for future global hegemony. And we had to get there before the Chinese did. So, along came 9/11 (very conveniently) and the attempt was made to link Iraq to those attacks as additional justification for war. Well there were no such links, no WMDs, just a defenseless dictator and a lot of people already suffering from US backed economic sanctions.
Looking at some more facts, one must question the wisdom of this choice of futures. Control of Middle East oil, while ignoring research into alternative renewable technologies, might have had the intent to make China dependent on the US for their oil needs, but may more likely result in China putting more of their resources into developing alternative energy technology, staking their future on what will become the primary energy source, rather than on oil, which is now at its production per capita peak, and will from here on out only become more and more expensive as it becomes more and more scarce. (By the way, the reserves under the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would, at best estimates, provide only 6 months of oil to the US).
So, in trying to win the energy race in the short term, the US may be fostering our own ultimate demise. With so many of our products already coming from China, and with China already being a technologically advanced country, it won't be long before we become dependent on them for our "green energy" needs, once the oil wells run dry.
Blood For Oil is an oversimplification of the war in Iraq. Certainly that is what it is about... but why? Why is the US willing to expend 2000+ American lives, 100,000+ Iraqi lives. Clearly, given the loss of Iraqi citizen life, not to mention the use of chemical white phosporous on the civilians of Fallujah, would indicate that freeing Iraq from the tyranny was not the primary objective. If that were the case, we have already lost, since we have merely replaced an Iraqi dictator with an American occupation (read: colonization).
Was it because Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction and used them on his own people? This, too, is an unlikely reason, since it was becoming clear, even before the invasion that there were no WMD in Iraq, since the UN had full access to all potential sites for inspection, and had found no signs of them. Further, the US forces themselves used chemical WMD (white phosphorus in Fallujah) against the citizens of Iraq.
For clues as to why we went to war in Iraq, we need to look at what was happening well before the war. Even before 9/11, leaders of several major oil corporations met secretly with Vice President Cheney to draw up the US energy policy. Among the documents produced in the early meetings, again before 9/11, was a map indicating how the oil fields of Iraq would be divided among these corporate interests. Hmmm... why would they be doing that if they weren't already planning to control those fields somehow?
The fact is, Iraq holds the second largest supply of oil in the world, and control of Iraq and the Middle East is vital for future global hegemony. And we had to get there before the Chinese did. So, along came 9/11 (very conveniently) and the attempt was made to link Iraq to those attacks as additional justification for war. Well there were no such links, no WMDs, just a defenseless dictator and a lot of people already suffering from US backed economic sanctions.
Looking at some more facts, one must question the wisdom of this choice of futures. Control of Middle East oil, while ignoring research into alternative renewable technologies, might have had the intent to make China dependent on the US for their oil needs, but may more likely result in China putting more of their resources into developing alternative energy technology, staking their future on what will become the primary energy source, rather than on oil, which is now at its production per capita peak, and will from here on out only become more and more expensive as it becomes more and more scarce. (By the way, the reserves under the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would, at best estimates, provide only 6 months of oil to the US).
So, in trying to win the energy race in the short term, the US may be fostering our own ultimate demise. With so many of our products already coming from China, and with China already being a technologically advanced country, it won't be long before we become dependent on them for our "green energy" needs, once the oil wells run dry.
posted by Apuuli at 5:00 PM
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