Obviously Oil
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, AlterNet
March 11, 2003
March 11, 2003
Viewed on March 12, 2003
Editor's Note: Although Dennis Kucinich was aggressively
attacked by Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen for suggesting
that the preemptive strike on Iraq was based on oil, the Post refused
to print the presidential candidate and Ohio Democrat's response.
This was especially frustrating, since the Post editorial stance and
balance of editorial page columns have been decidedly pro-war. You
can tell the Post how you feel about this ommission at [EMAIL PROTECTED].
Is President Bush's war in Iraq about oil? Of course it is.
Sometimes, the obvious answer is the right one: Oil is a major factor
in the President's march to war, just as oil is a major factor in
every aspect of U.S. policy in the Persian Gulf.
Ask yourself:
What commodity accounts for 83 percent of total exports from the
Persian Gulf? What is the U.S. protecting with our permanent
deployment of about 25,000 military personnel, 6 fighter squadrons, 6
bomber squadrons, 13 air control and reconnaissance squadrons, one
aircraft carrier battle group, and one amphibious ready group based
at 11 military installations in the countries of the Persian Gulf?
(Note, the disproportionate troop deployments in the Middle East
aren't there to protect the people, who constitute only 2 percent of
the world population.)
What was Iraq's number one export when the U.S. made an alliance
with Saddam Hussein, sold him biological and chemical weapons agents,
and then did not object when he gassed his own people?
For what major Iraqi resource has Saddam Hussein denied
contracts with the largest U.S. and U.K. multinational companies?
(Note, those companies are the #2 (ExxonMobil), #4 (BP-Amoco), #8
(Shell) and #14 (ChevronTexaco) largest companies in the world, and
the Bush Administration has been known to listen when large energy
corporations speak.)
For what Iraqi resource did French and Russian multinational
companies receive lucrative contracts from Saddam Hussein? What
valuable commodity does one reprehensible, megalomaniacal tyrant
(Saddam Hussein) control that another reprehensible, megalomaniacal
tyrant (Kim Chong-il) does not?
How do the White House and State Department plan to pay for a
post-Saddam occupation and reconstruction?
The answer to all of these questions is oil, of course. Oil
obviously drives U.S. policy in the Middle East. So who can doubt
that this war in Iraq concerns oil?
Meanwhile, the justifications the Administration has made for
this war can be rather easily dismissed. Contrary to Administration
assertions, a war against Iraq will not be in self-defense: Iraq does
not pose an imminent threat to the United States. It doesn't have the
ability, nor has it ever had the ability, to shoot a missile or send
a bomber to harm America. Iraq does not possess nuclear weapons.
Furthermore, there is no credible evidence that Iraq had anything to
do with the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
No credible link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda has been
made. Iraq did not have anything to do with the anthrax-containing
letters that killed several Americans.
Contrary to the Administration's portrayal of an Iraqi threat,
Iraq is hardly uniquely threatening. Sixteen other countries in the
world have or might have nuclear weapons, 25 countries have or might
have chemical weapons, 19 other countries have or might have
biological weapons, and 16 other countries have or might have missile
systems. Yet the Bush Administration is not on the verge of invading
them.
Contrary to their denials that this war has anything to do with
oil, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle wanted to go
to war in Iraq long before they became Secretary of Defense, Deputy
Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Defense Policy Board. In a
1998 letter they sent to then-President Clinton, they stated "it
hardly needs to be added that if Saddam does acquire the capability
to deliver weapons of mass destruction ... a significant portion of
the world's supply of oil will all be put at hazard... The only
acceptable strategy is ... to undertake military action as diplomacy
is clearly failing. In the long term, it means removing Saddam
Hussein and his regime from power. That now needs to become the aim
of American foreign policy."
Does President Bush's war in Iraq concern Iraq's oil?
Obviously.
Presidential candidate and Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
is the ranking Democrat on the House Subcommittee on National
Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations. Visit www.kucinich.us.
© 2003 Independent Media Institute. All rights
reserved.
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"During times of universal deceit,
telling the truth becomes a revolutionary
act."
George Orwell
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