SEZ and Oil fields In Iraq
Palash Biswas
(Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata -700110, India. Phone: 91-33-25659551)
Email: palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com
We all knew the invasion of Iraq was about oil. Here was the country with the second largest proven reserves of crude and the easiest to extract. The invader-country, on the other hand, was the world's largest consumer of oil and it now imports more fuel than it produces. The U.S. is also home to most of the largest petroleum extracting and producing companies.
Now that Iraq has been occupied and is to be administered, Roman Empire style, by serving and retired U.S. army consuls, Iraq's oil resources are there for the picking.
As the US Goes to War against Iraq,
It Declares India a Pillar of its Hegemony in Asia
Pl read:
http://www.rupe-india.org/34/pillar.html
U.S. economy, oil contracts & war
By C. Rammanohar Reddy
http://www.hinduonnet.com/stories/2003041200031000.htm
The Hindu April 12, 2003
EiTB
UN Secretary-General unhurt by Baghdad blast
EiTB - 36 minutes ago
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was left shaken but unhurt on Thursday after a suspected rocket exploded, sending shock waves through a building where he was giving a news conference.
Explosion rattles UN chief's Iraq news conference New Straits Times
I see the Rural India being transformed into oilfields of Iraq!
The Union commerce ministry has brought about significant changes in the rules that govern the Special Economic Zones. CBI submitted its report on Nandigram to Calcutta High Court. Nandigram is still a Warzone despite the WB Govt Notification declaring that there won`t be any Chemical HUB.
They did not Hitch for a Genocide in Benagal and now, they oppose SEZ in Maharashtra!
This is the Reality of Indian polity!
In Maharshtra, Left parties across the state have come together to protest against land acquisition for sake of Special Economic Zones (SEZ). Riding on fears that Maharashtra’s insistence on land acquisition for SEZs could spark off a Nandigram-like situation in the state, the parties have organised a rasta roko on Friday which will be followed by a protest morcha at Mantralaya in the first week of the April.Left parties, including Peasants and Workers, CPI, CPM, Janata Dal(S), Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh, People’s Democratic Front of India and few other workers unions, have strongly condemned the Nandigram episode and said that they will oppose the SEZs in the state tooth and nail. ND Patil, the PWP’s general secretary alleged that the government’s SEZ allocation taking the country from self reliance to Reliance.
“As per RBI reports, the country is going to loose 1.75 lakh crores due to the concessions offered to the SEZs in the face of various tax rebates. The acts are being changed to facilitate corporate houses,” he said.
Rasta roko will be held in nearly one dozen districts including Pen, Khalapur in Raigad to oppose reliance promoted SEZ in Navi Mumbai. “It will be followed by a protest morcha on Mantralaya on 5th April,” said Pratap Hogade of PWP.
I feel the same hate against the majority native people residing in Ruling India, the illiterate, semiliterate underclasses consisting of Dalits, the untouchables, minoritieswho are hated most for their conversion from dalit status into an equality based religion, tribals, backward castes and other backwards as it is well expressed in War against Terrorism ( Muslim World!) declared by US, Britain, Western World and Israel!
All the links between Iraq's resources and U.S. needs must have been recognised by the members of the inner circles of decision-making in Washington, given their past connections with the petroleum industry. But was there a link between the U.S. invasion and the currency in which global trade in oil is conducted? The theory has been advanced that the war was all about aborting a bid, experimented with by Iraq, to end the central role of the U.S. dollar in oil trade. The stakes were too high here. A change from the dollar to the euro would have shaken the very foundations of the economy of the imperial power, so the threat had to be cut off at its very roots. The theory seems almost conspiratorial and therefore implausible.
But the developments in the global oil market in recent years have been there to take note of. And on the other side, there are the real conditions which have made the U.S. economy dependent on the dollar retaining its pre-eminence in the global economy. These connections too would not have escaped the notice of the inner circles of power in Washington and therefore must have played a definite role in persuading the U.S. that it was in its economic interests to invade Iraq.
For further details pl read:
http://www.antiwarcommittee.org/resources/Iraq/WarForOil.htm
I see the US forces gunning down the masses in Nandigram and in Kalingnar!
Isee the faces of Bagdad, Kabul, Tehran, Palestine, Lebnan,Vietnam, Koria, Somalia, Russia, Latin America, Bangladesh and srilanka in the live TV shows on nandigram and singur!
But it's not just rhetoric hard facts back this attack on the government. There is prevalence of a draconian law in states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Orissa, which equips the police to arrest a loan defaulting farmer.
A Rs 1000 crore shortfall in allocation for agriculture in this year's budget collapse of the credit system, and government apathy best evidenced in the failure of even the PM's rehabilitation package for Vidarbha farmers.
"The government tells us it wants inclusive growth of tribals, Dalits or minorities it never mentions farmers," said Sharad Joshi, Member, Standing committee on Agriculture.
Elections one after another and tall promises about rejuvenating agriculture but this 70 page document prepared by a committee of parliamentarians belonging to different political parties brings out the brutal truth.
I am afraid US interests in Indian Economy and Polity have to escalate the geopolitics of Nandigram and singur to, not only, all over India, but beyound political borders in this Subcontinent, Asiawide and world wide!
SEZ drive is Neofascist Indian ashwamedh to expand the Hindutva Zionist empire of Mass Destruction with volence as well as nonviolence.
Convertion to underclasses and enslavement of entire Rural Population is the name of this cricket carnival! And if some Nandigram or Singur do dare to resist, they have to crushed like Iraq and afganistan.
The oilfields have to be cleared for the corporate Imperialism and the swiss bank accounts have to bllom for making the State Power, polity and Economy, Society and culture, languages and nationalities captive for ever.
Infra structure development and so called IT based Rural development seems the same as the Reconstruction of Iraq by multinationals in Which Bush and Chenny have their stakes!
We could not trace the culprits of Bofors plus other deals!
May we expose the in depth story of US Indo Nuclear Deal?
May we have the details of Singur or Nandigram or Haripur deals?
May we know the dealings of kamalnath? Those by the Prime Minister of india? and the deals done by Chief ministers and political parties?
Well! US people may expose well their leadership!
But we are a people deprived of freedom, fraternity and sovereignity! deprived of Human and Civil rights! We are the people he enslave others quoting Sanatan manusmriti! Now , it is a greater threat - the Post Modern Manusmriti, the New Varnashram dictted by Global order of Hindutva plus Zionism! It is not US corporate Imperialism alone ! We have to fight against Untouchability which is not abolished as yet. From birth to burning ghat we are dependenton Brahminical rituals which sustain Untouchability.
Do we deserve Freedom at all?
Are we a sovereign Nation at all?
Fifth column is in the power and the State power is nothing but a repression Machine which has no heart. It has got the Fire Power! It believes in Encounters!
It believes in Genocide!
Every leader of every color in India, has got its own Gestapo as buddhdev used it well in Nandigram!
Those demand to hang the CPIM Chief Ministers, their own hands are full of blood from Gujrat to Kashmir to North East, Punjab to Tamilnadu, Keral to UP and Bihar!
Who should be Hanged First?
Global order goes with post modern Manusmrity and Purity of blood.
All Blood are not Red!
Blacks and Dalits, Minorities and Refugees all of them have to evicted from Human civilisation.
The name of the Dehumanisation Process, the Metamorphosis is now SEZ!
Manmohan singh and Buddhadev bhattachary, Sitaram Yechury, Lalkrishna adwani, other left parties, BJP and Sangh Parivar and the so called dalit Leaders in Power speak the same language!
And the language belongs to Bush, Bill Gates, Salim, Tata, Reliance, Bektel, Union Carbide, Colasand the Weapon Industry!
Bush decided to invade Iraq in April 2001, six months before September 11th, and the official reason was to improve Western access to Iraqi oil.
Aware of the faultlines that could develop within the ruling coalition over contentious issues like SEZ policy and price rise, a UPA meeting on Wednesday chose to train its guns on Opposition BJP for disrupting Parliament during the first phase of the Budget session.
The diversionary tactic meant that there was virtually no discussion on SEZ policy, rendered politically explosive in the wake of the Nandigram violence. Foreign minister and government's chief trouble shooter Pranab Mukherjee set the agenda by criticising BJP for blockading parliamentary proceedings.
Mukherjee told the UPA meeting that if the Leader of Opposition was going to himself lead his party in stalling the House, where was the need to persist with the current session of Parliament once government's business had been transacted.
Congress leaders have been upset that finance minister P Chidambaram was forced to reply to the Budget discussion amid a din. The script for the evening seemed to have been prepared beforehand with CPM leader Sitaram Yechury meeting Mukherjee on Wednesday afternoon in Parliament.
The SEZ issue was touched upon by RJD boss Lalu Prasad who also prefaced his comments by observing that there would not be enough time to go over the policy on Wednesday evening.
"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."[1]
The decision for military action had nothing to do with 9/11, the war on terrorism, the UN weapons inspections, weapons of mass destruction, Iraqi human rights, or any of the factors that the US government would like you to believe are the true motives for war.
The only people who will benefit from the war on Iraq are the elite wealthy oil men who finance Bush's election campaigns, and people like Bush who have huge personal investments in the oil industry. Oil company profits have already increased by fifty percent this year because of the war, and the invasion hasn't even started yet!
Govt modifies SEZ norms
With SEZs becoming a political hot potato after killings in Nandigram police firing, the Centre on Wednesday announced changes in rules and made developers solely responsible for rehabilitation of displaced persons.And the US Slave Prime Minister of India is well content to pronounceNandigram not a setback for SEZs!
Shame!
Shame!
Shame!
Breaking his silence on Nandigram, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the loss of life in the police firing as "sad." However, he said the incident would not cause a setback to establishment of Special Economic Zones.
“The developer (of Special Economic Zones) shall make adequate provision for rehabilitation of the displaced persons as per the relief and rehabilitation policy of the State government,” a Commerce Ministry notification said.The sudden change in rules by the Commerce Ministry, the nodal agency for approving SEZs, has even preceded the finalisation of the rehabilitation policy being worked out by the Ministry of Rural Development.The announcement comes on a day when leaders of UPA as well as Left parties are meeting at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence.
Further, in a tightening measure to check speculation by real estate players, the validity for ‘in-principle’ approval has been reduced from three years to one year.
However, the validity for formal approval remains three years because land possession is essential for getting the final nod from Board of Approval in the Commerce Ministry.
The developer will have to show it possesses irrevocable rights over land.
The government has also made meeting environmental requirements mandatory for SEZ developers.
Besides, the SEZ applicant has to furnish full details of Foreign Direct Investment and its source. Also, the applicant will have to give the details of group’s net worth.
This has been done to ensure that only companies capable of setting up such projects come forward with their proposals.
However, as a relief measure, the government has allowed extension of tax benefits to the contractors working for the developers.
Earlier, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had in the Budget for 2007-08 proposed to remove concessions to contractors, but Commerce Ministry officials said Wednesday’s decision has been taken after consultations with the Finance Ministry.
It has also allowed SEZs to expand on contagious vacant land after prior permission of the Board of Approvals.
The Board has so far given final approval to 237 SEZs, and in-principle nod to another 166. However, no new approvals have been given in the past few months after the Empowered Group of Ministers decided to put fresh clearances on hold following the controversy over land acquisition in various parts of the country.
CBI submits report
Meanwhile, the CBI team, probing the recent Nandigram firing in which 14 people died, submitted its report to the Calcutta High Court on Thursday.But the West Bengal government, which could not submit its report on schedule, has now been given time till Monday.
The High Court has also asked other interested parties to file affidavits if they are interested, after which it will decide on a course of action.
The state assembly was also adjourned over the Nandigram issue. The Trinamool MLAs entered the house wearing black headbands, holding placards and blood stained clothes. They rushed to the well of the House and were joined by Congress and SUCI members who shouted slogans against chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
CPI-M members shouted back and the Speaker, failing to pacify the MLAs of both sides, adjourned the house.
Later, the Trinamool members paid tributes to Nandigram victims by placing floral wreaths on the martyr tomb erected in the lobby of the Assembly building.
'Buddhadeb is against farmers and the poor'
In Nandigram, the hotspot where people are agitating against West Bengal government's plan to create a Special Economic Zone, around 60 per cent of the population is Muslim.
The area is a symbol of communal harmony and is proud of its role in the national freedom struggle. The Communist Party of India-Marxist here fought for right of tillers and poor and always had political power in local structures.
This is the land of Khudiram Bose and Matangini Hazra from where the Ganaunnayan Janadhikar Sangram Committee, an alliance of 22 peoples' organisations including Jamaitul-e-Ulema-Hind, National Alliance of People's Movements, Hindu Muslim Friendship and others are fighting against proposed SEZs.
The alliance was formed in 2004 when 5,000 acres of land, mostly belonging to Muslim farmers was to be acquired for Salim Industries in Bhangad, on the outskirts of Kolkata.
Maulana Mahmood Madani, 39, general secretary of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Hind is providing leadership to the movement by activating Muslims in the area to fight against Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's policies and politics.
Madani is also a Rajya Sabha Member from Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal and is a member of the supreme body of All India Muslim Personal Law Board.
Maulana Madani claims that Jamait-ul has around one million members in West Bengal and around 10 million members all over India, including 10,000 Ulemas in their 1,700 centres.
rediff.com's Managing Editor Sheela Bhatt met him to ask him what the religious organisation is doing in the middle of a fierce economic battle of modern India. Here is what he said:
Pl Read for details:
http://in.rediff.com/news/2007/mar/21inter.htm
MP committee slams govt's farmer policy
Empty promises, persistent government apathy where even the Prime Minister's Vidarbha relief package does not take off.This is not an attack by the opposition but a scathing indictment of the government by a Parliamentary Committee.
Farmer anger from Nandigram to Punjab over SEZ. The other face of despair is a suicide graph that stains state after state as a recurring shortage of onions and pulses fuels the price rise.As agriculture lurches from one crisis to another, a parliamentary report has slammed the entire government saying these are mere symptoms of a deeper malaise.
"The Committee wonders whether the government is waiting for farmers of these states to commit suicides in large numbers before announcing any package.
"Whatever is announced in the budget and in Parliament don't get into execution because of differences of opinion among ministries. We are not impressed by the rosy picture portrayed by the Planning Commission."
"Planning Commission is not generous about releasing money," said Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Rural Development Minister.
What a wonder! what a joke after all ! With the Nandigram issue refusing to subside, the Congress today continued to gun for West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattarcharya dubbing him as the "main culprit", but steered clear of the state unit's demand for dismissal of the Left Front Government. AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh, who headed the party's fact-finding team to the troubled spot, said the incident was "totally local", contrary to the CPI-M's claims that some Maoists were involved. Singh told reporters that the handling of the situation was due to "insensitive" handling by the Chief Minister and the incident took place due to "lack of communication with the local people or arrogance".
The Congress leader also had harsh words for the local CPI(M) MP Lakshman Seth alleging that "without his clearance, nothing moves in the area".
Singh wanted a judicial inquiry into the incident along with the CBI probe already ordered to unravel the truth. He said that the magisterial inquiry instituted would not do as there is "hardly any difference between the government and CPI(M) cadre". He said that the incident should serve as an eye opener to those going in for setting up Special Economic Zones. "If you don't give farmers a good deal (while acquiring land), there will be resistance".
The Congress leader wanted the National Human Rights Commission and National Woman's Commission to also go into the incident. He demanded that the CPI(M) cadres and police involved in the incident needed to be identified.
He also called for tracing of missing persons, adequate compensation to those injured and withdrawal of extra force from the area.
In Kolkata,An NGO, Empathy-05, also moved a PIL before the court claiming that the Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee members had driven many people owing allegiance to CPI-M out of Nandigram and adjoining areas since January.
The matter, seeking justice for those allegedly driven out people, would also be heard along with the main matter on Monday.
As the United States made preparations for war with Iraq, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, on 2/6/03, again denied to US journalists that the projected war had "anything to do with oil." <1> He echoed Defense Minister Donald Rumsfeld, who on 11/14/02 told CBS News that "It has nothing to do with oil, literally nothing to do with oil."
Speaking to British MPs, Prime Minister Tony Blair was just as explicit: "Let me deal with the conspiracy theory idea that this is somehow to do with oil. There is no way whatever if oil were the issue that it would not be infinitely simpler to cut a deal with Saddam...." (London Times 1/15/03).
Nor did Bush's State of the Union Message, or Colin Powell's address to the United Nations Security Council, once mention the word "oil." Instead the talk was (in the president's words) of "Iraq's illegal weapons programs, its attempts to hide those weapons from inspectors, and its links to terrorist groups."
However our leaders are not being candid with us. Oil has been a major US concern about Iraq in internal and unpublicized documents, since the start of this Administration, and indeed earlier. As Michael Renner has written in Foreign Policy in Focus, February 14, 2003, "Washington's War on Iraq is the Lynchpin to Controlling Persian Gulf Oil."
But the need to dominate oil from Iraq is also deeply intertwined with the defense of the dollar. Its current strength is supported by OPEC's requirement (secured by a secret agreement between the US and Saudi Arabia) that all OPEC oil sales be denominated in dollars. This requirement is currently threatened by the desire of some OPEC countries to allow OPEC oil sales to be paid in euros.
Pl Read:
http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~pdscott/iraq.html
english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/AC9B68BD-9853-494D-AB7D-A5EF74C46694.htm - 67k -
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3042111/ - 31k
www.threemonkeysonline.com/threemon_articlesmoking%20gun%20-%20oil%20and%20the%20war%20in%20iraq.htm - 29k -
Oil in Iraq: the heart of the Crisis - Global Policy Forum - UN ...Oil is at the heart of the crisis that leads towards a US war against Iraq. For more than a hundred years, major powers have battled to control this ...
www.globalpolicy.org/security/oil/2002/12heart.htm - 34k - Cached - Similar pages
Vincent Ferraro, "Another Motive For Iraq War: Stabilizing Oil ...Vincent Ferraro, "Another Motive For Iraq War: Stabilizing Oil Market," Hartford Courant, ... Iraq had signed contracts with a variety of oil companies, ...
www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/courant.htm - 7k - Cached - Similar pages
Independent Online Edition > Middle EastThe huge potential prizes for Western firms will give ammunition to critics who say the Iraq war was fought for oil. They point to statements such as one ...
news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2132569.ece - Similar pages
CCC - Iraq War Impact on Oil PricesAs the 2003 Iraq War became more and more likely, there was increased speculation as to possible oil price outcomes. Clearly, predicting what would happen ...
www.ccc.nps.navy.mil/rsepResources/si/apr03/middleEast.asp - 45k - Cached - Similar pages
United Press International - Energy - Analysis: Americans say Iraq ...A pre-war oil and energy working group of the U.S. State Department's Future of Iraq project also focused on Iraq's oil sector. ...
www.upi.com/ZogbyPoll/view.php?StoryID=20070125-025759-3252r - 35k - Cached - Similar pages
Bush gives new reason for Iraq war - The Boston GlobeBush gives new reason for Iraq war. Says US must prevent oil fields from falling into hands of terrorists. By Jennifer Loven, Associated Press | August 31, ...
www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/08/31/bush_gives_new_reason_for_iraq_war/ - Similar pages
U.S. Conspiracy to Initiate the War Against IraqThe New World Order and Big Oil. We believe that the real goal of the United States war against Iraq is to return to the "good old days" when the U.S. and ...
deoxy.org/wc/wc-consp.htm - 25k - Cached - Similar pages
Green Left - IRAQ: Washington’s war for oil profitsIn a November 2003 article, “Oil Companies in Iraq: A Century of Rivalry and War”, James Paul, executive director of the New York-based Global Policy Forum, ...
www.greenleft.org.au/2007/702/36432 - 22k - Cached - Similar pages
t r u t h o u t - Wolfowitz: Iraq War Was About OilWolfowitz: Iraq War Was About Oil By George Wright The Guardian. Wednesday 04 June 2003. Oil was the main reason for military action against Iraq, ...
www.truthout.org/docs_03/060503A.shtml - 10k - Cached - Similar pages
Nandigram continues to remain tense
Monideepa Banerjie
The women in Nandigram are being caught in crossfire and there have been allegations of sexual assault against CPM workers.
On Wednesday, CPI (M) brought dozens of women and children from Nandigram to Kolkata to draw attention to their plight.
Sporadic clashes continued in the Nandigram area of West Bengal on Wednesday with a bomb being hurled at a Trinamool procession and a CPI-M refugee camp set on fire.
A video was taken by a cameraperson hired by the police on March 14 to record the events at Nandigram.
The footage clearly showed that women and children were pushed to the front at Sonachura by the Jami Uched Pratirodh Committee during the battle with the police. Who these men are, is yet to be determined.
In Kolkata, there are tearful women and children, victims of the first wave of violence at Sonachura, driven out of their homes three months ago because their families owe allegiance to the CPI-M.
They have been living in relief camps at Khejuri and are now in Kolkata to draw attention to their plight.
"If they go back, there is going to be violence again. Unless the police are there, who is going to protect them? All the efforts of the government to normalise situation politically is not being permitted," said Brinda Karat, MP, CPI(M).
Among these women who met the Chief Minister are Savita Samanta whose husband was killed, Kanika Mondal whose daughter was raped and hanged to death and Kakoli Giri who was gangraped, all allegedly by members of the Jami Uchched Pratirodh Committee.
"Five people came into the room, they tied my hands and mouth. Then I became unconscious," said Kakoli Giri, rape victim.
"My daughter and I had gone to the fields. She came home to drink water and cook a meal. I came home and found her hanging," said Kanika Mondal, victim's mother.
"The Trinamool men came in a procession to my house, barged in and took my husband away. I haven't seen him since. I hear they cut him to pieces and set his body on fire," said Savita Samant.
Meanwhile, a copy of the police footage has been given to the CBI, which is expected to submit its preliminary report on Nandigram to the court on Thursday. The CBI is likely to seek more time from the court to submit a more detailed report.
"Profits in the fourth quarter soared 50% to $4.09bn (£2.5bn),
beating analyst expectations."[2]
War-time propaganda tells you what you want to hear; that your politicians have noble motives for the war on Iraq.
International Conference
With the Resistance, for a Just Peace in the Middle East
Chianciano Terme, Province of Siena, Italy, Saturday 24 / Sunday 25 March,
2007
As the West looks anxiously at Iraq and Afghanistan, dangerous cracks are opening up in Lebanon and the White House is determined to prop up Fouad Siniora's government
The reality is that Washington is now much more deeply involved in Lebanon's affairs than most people, even the Lebanese, realise. Indeed there is a danger that - confronted by its disastrous "democratic" experiment in Iraq - the US government is now turning to Lebanon to prove its ability to spread democracy in the Middle East. Needless to say, the Americans and the British have been generous in supplying the Lebanese army with new equipment, jeeps and Humvees and anti-riot gear (to be used against who, I wonder?) and there was even a hastily denied report that Defence Minister Michel Murr would be picking up some missile-firing helicopters after his recent visit to Washington. Who, one also asks oneself, were these mythical missiles supposed to be fired at?......
While the Chianciano conference "With the Resistance, for a Just Peace in
the Middle East" is focused on Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine, we cannot forget
Afghanistan. The European NATO powers are operating the occupation of
Afghanistan on behalf of their US partner which thus gets a free hand to
carry on its massacre in Iraq. Its only two fronts of the very same war in
which the European Union is fully siding with the EU. Therefore we not only
call for the immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops but support the
Afghan people's resistance.
Therefore we additionally have invited Rahim Ramim, a representative of the
revolutionary anti-imperialist left forces from Afghanistan, who will report
on the struggle against the occupation.
***
Is there a difference between the blood of an Afghan or an
American-European?!
Declaration by the Left Radicals of Afghanistan (LRA)
www.iraqiresistance.info/news.php?n=43&l=en
***
Programme & Speakers
www.iraqiresistance.info/speak.php?l=en
How to go there
www.iraqiresistance.info/venue.php?l=en
Call & Endorsers
www.iraqiresistance.info/call.php?l=en
Registration
www.iraqiresistance.info/register.php?l=en
***
US VICE-PRESIDENT CHENEY SHARES OUT IRAQ'S OIL
Halliburton, an oil services company based in Bush's home-state of Texas, which was formerly run by US Vice-President Dick Cheney, has already been awarded a contract by the US government to operate in post-war Iraq.[1]
"Reports in the Wall Street Journal suggested the
contracts could be worth as much as $900m."[2]
Haliburton "has a history of government contracts" and will be a "leading beneficiary" of the war on Iraq. Mr Cheney should receive huge financial rewards for the war on Iraq through substantial investments in the corporation he once headed.
Iraq is currently the world's second largest source of oil, but the majority of subterranean oil reserves have never been tapped. After the war, when US oil corporations have fully developed the oil industry's potential, Iraq is expected to become the largest single supply of oil on Earth.
"The new oilfields, when developed, could produce up
to eight million barrels a day within a few years - thus
rivalling Saudi Arabia, the present kingpin of oil."[3]
The world's largest oil corporations are lining-up to exploit what could be the world's greatest supply of oil, and the US government has ensured that companies owned and heavily invested in by America are first in the queue.[4]
SOURCES
[1] Evening Standard (UK), "Cheney under fire over spoils of war", 11 March 2003.
"THE company once headed by US Vice-President
Dick Cheney is set to be a big corporate winner in the
event of a war with Iraq that ended in US victory."
[2] BBC News (UK), "US firms vie to rebuild Iraq", 10 March 2003.
"Aside from Halliburton unit Kellogg Brown and Root,
they include Bechtel, Fluor, Louis Berger and Parsons.
All five are US-owned and headquartered."
[3] Evening Standard, "Is this war all about oil?", 11 March 2003 (PM).
"In the past few days the United States has brought
unprecedented financial pressure on other members
of the UN Security Council - particularly Russia, so
far without success - to join the war on Iraq."
[4] Evening Standard, "Giants see post-war oil bonanza", 10 March 2003.
"President Saddam Hussein is believed to be sitting on
reserves of at least 115bn barrels, the second-biggest in
the world after Saudi Arabia."
FURTHER READING
BBC News, "Oil firms 'discuss Iraqi stake'", 12 March 2003.
"Oil firms BP and Shell [both owned primarily by big
investors in the US and the UK] have held discussions
with the government over a possible stake in Iraq's oil
reserves..."
Washington Post (USA), "Companies Selected to Bid on Iraq Reconstruction", 11 March 2003.
"The Bush administration, preparing what would be
the most ambitious U.S. rebuilding project since the
aftermath of World War II, expects in coming days to
award a construction contract worth hundreds of
millions of dollars to begin remaking Iraq, U.S. officials
said yesterday."
"A few U.S. construction giants -- including the Bechtel
Group Inc., Halliburton Co. and Fluor Corp. -- were
invited to bid for the work..."
BBC News, "Analysis: Oil and the Bush cabinet", 29 January 2001.
"What makes the new Bush administration different
from previous wealthy cabinets is that so many of
the officials have links to the same industry - oil."
BBC News, "Dick Cheney: Leading hawk", 10 September 2002.
"The vice president has also been deeply involved in the
oil industry for much of his career."
BBC News, "New Enron sleaze allegations", 8 October 2002.
"The 'creati