http://inthesetimes.com/comments.php?id=593_0_2_0_C
In These Times
Oil and Democracy Don't Mix
Bush administration policies guarantee a constant flow, no matter
what the human cost
By Frida Berrigan | 2.4.04
At a 1996 energy conference in New Orleans, Dick Cheney, then CEO of
Halliburton said, "The problem is that the good Lord didn't see fit
to put oil and gas reserves where there are democratic governments."
Laying the blame on the divine is a stretch, but it seems that the
vice president is right: democracy and oil do not mix. Just look at
the United States' top 10 oil suppliers. Algeria, Angola, Nigeria and
Saudi Arabia are repressive regimes with deplorable human rights
records. Mexico and Venezuela, while democracies, are marked by
instability, inequality and civil strife. Iraq remains at war and
under occupation. Only Norway, Canada and the United Kingdom are
fully functioning democracies.
Why don't oil and democracy mix? At least part of the answer can be
found in Washington's policy of providing military aid and training
to leaders who guarantee an uninterrupted flow of oil, defending it
against all threats-even those coming from their own citizens.
Since the beginning of the war on terrorism in 2001, the United
States' top 10 sources of oil imports have experienced a 350 percent
increase in U.S. military aid and training. In 2003, the United
States plans to provide these countries with $58 million in military
assistance. In fiscal year 2001, their military assistance totaled
$12.2 million.
A large part of the increase is explained by Washington's rewarding
of regimes like Algeria and Nigeria for their ability to cloak
domestic repression in the rhetoric of the "war on terrorism." As the
United States looks ahead to a never ending war on terrorism and
growing dependence on foreign oil, this dynamic will become
increasingly common.
Africa accounts for 16 percent of U.S. oil imports, and the National
Intelligence Council predicts an increase to 25 percent by 2015.
Hunger for this oil, combined with the need to collect allies in the
war on terrorism, led the Bush administration to adopt a "see no
evil" position toward human rights problems and inequality in the
continent's oil-rich nations.
This policy is so entrenched that William Burns, assistant secretary
of state for Near Eastern and North African affairs, remarked with
admiration while on a 2002 trip there, "Washington has much to learn
from Algeria on ways to fight terrorism." Burns must not have read
his own State Department 2002 Human Rights Report, which notes that
Algerian "security forces committed extra-judicial killings,
tortured, beat or otherwise abused detainees." Algeria has proven oil
reserves of more than 9.2 billion barrels and is considered
underdeveloped in terms of production, representing a golden
opportunity for U.S. companies.
And so, in spite of persistent human rights abuses, relations between
Washington and Algiers are warming. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika
has visited the White House twice and officials are discussing
establishment of an American military base in Algeria. Emboldened by
this, Algerian generals are pushing for access to previously denied
lethal technology like combat aircraft.
Nigeria is the fifth largest exporter of oil to the United States,
and with the discovery of new deep-water oil reserves right off the
coast U.S. strategic interest is growing.
In July 2003, as President Bush departed for Africa, Gen. James
Jones, the U.S. commander responsible for African operations,
announced that Washington was negotiating long-term use of a "family"
of military bases across Africa and predicted a much bigger role for
U.S. military in the Gulf of Guinea, right off the Nigerian coast.
Washington's desire for Nigerian oil and territory triggered deeper
military relationships. During the reign of Gen. Sani Abacha military
ties were frozen. But since his death in 1999, the thaw has been
quick. That year, Nigeria purchased $74,000 in U.S. weaponry. By
2001, the United States delivered thousands of times that-a total of
$3.1 million. Military aid also skyrocketed, from $90,000 in 1999 to
more than $4 million for 2003.
How increased military aid will improve human rights and efforts
toward democratization is unclear. The State Department's Human
Rights Report found that the Nigerian "military and security forces
committed extrajudicial killings."
Military aid is also increasing in areas that do not supply the
United States with oil-yet. The seven countries that make up the
Caspian region-Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan-are rich in oil, but the West
is still trying to figure out how to extract and transport it. In the
meantime, the region became strategically important for other
reasons-its proximity to Afghanistan and its eagerness to aid in the
war on terrorism.
Uzbekistan granted the U.S. permission to establish a
"semi-permanent" military base in its territory, other countries
offered "fly-over rights," troops, intelligence and rhetorical
support for the war on terrorism. In exchange, the handful of
dictators, generals and presidents-for-life that rule the Caspian
nations were granted reprieve from their international pariah status.
Tens of millions in U.S. military aid quickly followed.
Collectively, these countries are slated to receive almost $40
million in U.S. military aid in 2004. In 2001, Azerbaijan and
Tajikistan were under U.S. sanctions and received no military aid.
The other five nations received a collective total of $12.3 million
in military aid. In other words, military aid from the United States
will increase more than 200 percent in just three years-not including
Congress' $70 million Special Supplemental for Caspian countries in
2002.
In the Caspian, and in most of the other countries where U.S.
military aid and training markedly increased in the past three years,
the weapons are not being used to defend borders from impending
invasions. Rather, military resources are used to squash indigenous
movements for self-determination, undermine campaigns for human
rights, punish those who call for democracy and government
accountability, and protect leaders who came to power illegitimately.
There are a few exceptions to the "oil and democracy don't mix"
maxim, and they are instructive. Norway, the United Kingdom and
Canada are major oil suppliers to the United States, but were
established democracies with diversified economies before getting
into oil exploration. Replicating these successes in other oil-rich
countries will require a radical revision of U.S. military and energy
policy. Now would be a good time to start.
Frida Berrigan is a senior research associate with the Arms Trade
Resource Center, a project of the World Policy Institute.
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