[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On the other hand, there is a huge democratic movement in Iraq, led
> by Ahmed Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress, based in London. He > promises a secular Iraq, with equal representation between all the > religious factions, recognition for the Kurds, fair and free > elections. He would be the champion of the left, if the left wasn't > opposed to war. And you say this guy is the best choice we have? Chalabi's INC has no support from the main opponents of Saddam within Iraq. Chalabi is a MIT trained banker born into a wealthy family with close ties to monarchy installed in post WWI Iraq by the British. He has lived in the west and does not enjoy recognition by the Iraqi public. His role is to enable the US oil companies to seize Iraqi oil, and he has openly said so. His allies in Washington plan to denationalize Iraqi oil and parcel it out to American companies. Since he will not have widespread Iraqi support, the US military will be in the position of propping up his new regime. This is all too familiar! RR http://www.prospect.org/print/V13/21/dreyfuss-r.html The INC is quietly courting the American oil companies. In mid-October, Chalabi had a series of meetings with three major U.S. oil firms in Washington. The INC and its backers make no bones about the fact that the American forces gathering to attack Iraq will be liberating Iraq's oil. Unable to restrain himself, Chalabi blurted to The Washington Post that the INC intends to reward its American friends. "American companies will have a big shot at Iraqi oil," he proclaimed. "The American oil companies are going to be the main beneficiaries of this war," says [James E] Akins [former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia]."We take over Iraq, install our regime, produce oil at the maximum rate and tell Saudi Arabia to go to hell." "It's probably going to spell the end of OPEC," says JINSA's Bryen. [Iraq is currently producing oil at less than a third of it's capacity]
