Friday, April 20, 2007

Iraq's doubled OIL reserves & Cheney's 2001 map of Iraq's oil

The Financial Times of London is now reporting that Iraq's oil reserves may be double earlier estimates.

In addition to providing further confirmation that the war was about oil, one detail stood out--the location of the oil reserves that have been revised upward.

I went back and looked at the maps Cheney's Energy Task Force was pouring over in 2oo1 before the war and before even 9/11. They were looking at those same fields in Western Iraq, and had list of "foreign suitors" (read competitors) for those exploration blocks, shown in pink on Cheney's map (I added the color).

Cheney Energy Task Force Docs
Cheney's reluctance to give them up

So Cheney meets with oil companies and looks at maps of Iraq. Then Condi gets a memo telling her to “cooperate fully with the Energy Task Force as it considered melding two seemingly unrelated areas of policy.” The NSC was ordered to support “the review of operational policies towards rogue states such as Iraq and actions regarding the capture of new and existing oil and gas fields.”

Bush cancelled Saddam's oil contracts when we invaded, and now he is pushing the Iraqis to adopt a hydrocarbon law that will give up to 80% of Iraq's oil wealth to American oil companies.

BBC's Greg Palast on what happened

Palast reported on one reason for the war told to him by the former top CIA oil analyst: the war was to keep oil prices HIGH. This seemed far-fetched when I first read it, but there has been some independent confirmation. For one, in the Downing Street Minutes, Bush sends assurances to Putin that a successful invasion of Iraq would NOT result in lower oil prices. For another, many policy documents talk about Iraq being a "swing producer," meaning how much they produce could affect the price per barrel, but the Oil and Gas Journal said it explicitly: without the Iraq War, oil would be TOO CHEAP.

This war is not about getting oil for us. It is another way for Bush to use tax dollars to make his rich friends richer.

We have killed over half a million Iraqis, spent our tax dollars, soldiers lives, and goodwill in the Arab world to give the oil companies this gift worth tens of TRILLIONS of dollars.

What do you think they are going to do to repay us? ANYTHING?

It is time to tell our congressman and senators to cut the shit. We know what Bush is doing in Iraq, and if they don't start talking about it, we can only assume they disapprove of him failing, not his original oil theft mission.

Find your congressman & senators

KEY EXCERPTS:

Iraq may hold twice as much oil

By Ed Crooks in London

Published: April 18 2007 20:24 | Last updated: April 19 2007 09:08

Iraq could hold almost twice as much oil in its reserves as had been thought, according to the most comprehensive independent study of its resources since the US-led invasion in 2003.

The potential presence of a further 100bn barrels in the western desert highlights the opportunity for Iraq to be one of the world’s biggest oil suppliers, and its attractions for international oil companies – if the conflict in the country can be resolved.

If confirmed, it would raise Iraq from the world’s third largest source of oil reserves with 116bn barrels to second place, behind Saudi Arabia and overtaking Iran.

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That would put Iraq in the top five oil-producing countries in the world, at current rates.

FULL TEXT

OIL motive for IRAQ WAR resources


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