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> > From: "The Wisdom Fund" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: 8 Oct 2002 14:09:10 -0000 > To: List Member <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: IRAQ BRIEFING #4: OIL, OIL, OIL > > > 1) Scramble to carve up Iraqi oil reserves lies behind US diplomacy > 2) Official: US oil at the heart of Iraq crisis > 3) Spoils of War In Iraq War, to the Victor Goes the Oil > 4) Oil firms wait as Iraq crisis unfolds > 5) Russia fears US oil companies will take over world's second-biggest reserves > 6) The word from the CIA: it's the oil, stupid > 7) In Iraqi War Scenario, Oil Is Key Issue > 8) West's greed for oil fuels Saddam fever > 9) West sees glittering prizes ahead in giant oilfields > > > -------------------- > http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,805530, 00.html > > Scramble to carve up Iraqi oil reserves lies behind US diplomacy > > Manoeuvres shaped by horsetrading between America, Russia and France over control of >untapped oilfields > > Ed Vulliamy in New York, Paul Webster in Paris, and Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow > Sunday October 6, 2002 The Observer > > Oil is emerging as the key factor in US attempts to secure the support of Russia and >France for military action against Iraq, according to an Observer investigation. > > The Bush administration, intimately entwined with the global oil industry, is keen >to pounce on Iraq's massive untapped reserves, the second biggest in the world after >Saudi Arabia's. But France and Russia, who hold a power of veto on the UN Security >Council, have billion-dollar contracts with Baghdad, which they fear will disappear >in 'an oil grab by Washington', if America installs a successor to Saddam. > > -------------------- > http://www.sundayherald.com/28285 > > Official: US oil at the heart of Iraq crisis > > By Neil Mackay > > President Bush's Cabinet agreed in April 2001 that 'Iraq remains a destabilising >influence to the flow of oil to international markets from the Middle East' and >because this is an unacceptable risk to the US 'military intervention' is necessary. > > Vice-president Dick Cheney, who chairs the White House Energy Policy Development >Group, commissioned a report on 'energy security' from the Baker Institute for Public >Policy, a think-tank set up by James Baker, the former US secretary of state under >George Bush Snr. > > The report, Strategic Energy Policy Challenges For The 21st Century, concludes: 'The >United States remains a prisoner of its energy dilemma. Iraq remains a de- >stabilising influence to ... the flow of oil to international markets from the Middle >East. Saddam Hussein has also demonstrated a willingness to threaten to use the oil >weapon and to use his own export programme to manipulate oil markets. Therefore the >US should conduct an immediate policy review toward Iraq including military, energy, >economic and political/ diplomatic assessments. > > 'The United States should then develop an integrated strategy with key allies in >Europe and Asia, and with key countries in the Middle East, to restate goals with >respect to Iraqi policy and to restore a cohesive coalition of key allies.' > > -------------------- > http://abcnews.go.com/sections/business/Nightline/ NTL_oil_iraq_021004. html > > Spoils of War In Iraq War, to the Victor Goes the Oil > > Analysis From The Editors of Nightline > > > Oct. 4 — Saddam Hussein is sitting on a gold mine — the second-largest oil reserve >in the world — > and everyone wants a piece of it. > > Oil is a consideration for nations considering joining in the fight if the United >States goes to war in the Persian Gulf, because the day after Saddam is removed, the >Iraqi oil industry is up for grabs. > > Of all of the reasons offered for removing Saddam, from terrorism to terrible >weapons, oil is seldom mentioned. Yet critical to the American agenda is the fear an >Iraq armed with nuclear weapons could dominated, or hold hostage a region through >which flows an estimated 30 percent of > the world's oil and natural gas. > > Similar worries about the world's oil supply figured heavily in the 1991 Gulf War, >and before that, concerns Iran might capture critical oil fields led the United >States to support Iraq in the war between those two countries. > > And now, oil is a consideration in the continuing drama at the United Nations. >France and Russia, both with veto power in the Security Council, have extensive oil >interests in Iraq. > > -------------------- > http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/09/ 29/MN116803.DTL > > Oil firms wait as Iraq crisis unfolds > > Robert Collier, Chronicle Staff Writer Sunday, September 29, 2002 > > > The world's biggest oil bonanza in recent memory may be just around the corner, >giving U.S. oil companies huge profits and American consumers cheap gasoline for >decades to come. > > And it all may come courtesy of a war with Iraq. > > While debate intensifies about the Bush administration's policy, oil analysts and >Iraqi exile leaders believe a new, pro-Western government -- assuming it were to >replace Saddam Hussein's > regime -- would prompt U.S. and multinational petroleum giants to rush into Iraq, >dramatically increasing the output of a nation whose oil reserves are second only to >that of Saudi Arabia. > > "There already is a stampede, with the Russians, French and Italians already lined >up," said Lawrence Goldstein, president of the Petroleum Industry Research >Foundation, a New York think tank funded by large oil companies. > > -------------------- > http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp? story=336691 > > Russia fears US oil companies will take over world's second-biggest reserves > > By Andrew Buncombe in Washington > > 26 September 2002 > > > Oil companies from around the world are manoeuvring for the multibillion-dollar >bonanza that would follow the ousting of Saddam Hussein. > > Russia is so concerned that it has been holding secretive talks with the Iraqi >opposition to shore up its economic interests in the country which still owes Moscow >$7bn dollars from Soviet times. > > With the second-biggest reserves in the world, Iraq's underdeveloped oilfields have >become a key negotiating chip and a backdrop to talks between the US and the other >permanent members of the UN Security Council – all of which have major economic >stakes in regime change in Iraq. > > -------------------- > http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/09/22/1032055034013. html > > The word from the CIA: it's the oil, stupid September 23, 2002 > > Who should be more worried, asks Kenneth Davidson, Saddam; or the French and Russian >oil companies > presently in Iraq? > > France and Russia have oil companies and interests in Iraq. They should be told that >if they are > of assistance in moving Iraq towards decent government, we'll do the best we can to >ensure that > the new government and American companies will work with them. If they throw their >lot with > Saddam, it will be difficult to the point of impossible to persuade the new Iraq >government to work with them. Former CIA director James Woolsey, quoted in The >Washington Post, September 15, 2002. > > So there you have it. The Bush administration may be telling the world that the >reason the UN Security Council has to approve an allied attack on Iraq is because of >Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capability, but the real reason France and Russia >are being told to get on board the > US military bandwagon is Iraq's oil reserves. > > According to The Washington Post, all five permanent members of the Security Council >- the US, Britain, France, Russia and China - have international oil companies with >major stakes in a change of leadership in Baghdad. The Washington Post is one of the >major media vehicles through which members of the American establishment talk to each >other. > > -------------------- > http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18841-2002Sep14.html > > washingtonpost.com > > In Iraqi War Scenario, Oil Is Key Issue U.S. Drillers Eye Huge Petroleum Pool > > By Dan Morgan and David B. Ottaway Washington Post Staff Writers Sunday, September >15, 2002; Page > A01 > > > A U.S.-led ouster of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein could open a bonanza for >American oil companies long banished from Iraq, scuttling oil deals between Baghdad >and Russia, France and other countries, and reshuffling world petroleum markets, >according to industry officials and > leaders of the Iraqi opposition. > > Although senior Bush administration officials say they have not begun to focus on >the issues involving oil and Iraq, American and foreign oil companies have already >begun maneuvering for a stake in the country's huge proven reserves of 112 billion >barrels of crude oil, the largest in the world outside Saudi Arabia. > > -------------------- > http://www.observer.co.uk/worldview/story/0,11581,772668,00.html > > West's greed for oil fuels Saddam fever > > Anthony Sampson analyses the roots of America's fear of the Iraqi dictator,and warns >that toppling > him might cause less stability and more insecurity > > The Observer, August 11, 2002 > > Is the projected war against Iraq really turning into an oil war, aimed at >safeguarding Western > energy supplies as much as toppling a dangerous dictator and source of terrorism? Of >course no one can doubt the genuine American hatred of Saddam Hussein, but recent >developments in Washington suggest oil may loom larger than democracy or human rights >in American calculations. > > The alarmist briefing to the Pentagon by the Rand Corporation, leaked last week, >talked about Saudi Arabia as 'the kernel of evil' and proposed that Washington should >have a showdown with its former ally, if necessary seizing its oilfields which have >been crucial to America's energy. > > And the more anxious oil companies become about the stability of Saudi Arabia, the >more they become interested in gaining access to Iraq, site of the world's second >biggest oil reserves, which are denied to them. > > -------------------- > http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-352935,00.html > > Times (UK), July 11, 2002 > > West sees glittering prizes ahead in giant oilfields > > By Michael Theodoulou in Nicosia and Roland Watson > > > THE removal of President Saddam Hussein would open Iraqs rich new oilfields to >Western bidders and > bring the prospect of lessening dependence on Saudi oil. > > No other country offers such untapped oilfields whose exploitation could lessen >tensions over the Western presence in Saudi Arabia. > > After Kuwait's liberation by US-led forces in 1991, America monopolised the postwar >deals, but the need to win international support for an invasion is unlikely to see a >repeat. > > Russia, in particular, and France and China all permanent members of the United >Nations Security Council have high hopes of prising promises of contracts in a >liberated Iraq from a United States that may need their political support. > > -------------------- > > FOR BACKGROUND, READ THE WAR ON ISLAM > > Buying information at: > > http://www.twf.org/Library/WaronIslam.html > > FREE downloads from: > > http://www.twf.org/Library/woi2edL.pdf > > Or buy it on the Internet from Amazon.com > > -------------------- > > _______________________________________________________________________ > Powered by List Builder > To unsubscribe follow the link: > http://lb.bcentral.com/ex/sp?c=8797&s=B521250BBAC2DCAE&m=72 > --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^^=============================================================== This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^^===============================================================
