Iraqi Oil: Is THIS What It's Really All About?
Posted on
Thursday, January 11, 2007
by Gary A. Ballard
Upon being linked to this story today, I felt I had to respond. It's a MarketWatch story about the carving up of Iraqi oil profits by foreign companies. I find myself asking, "Is this what this whole Iraq thing has been about the whole time?"
I'm not one of those "NO BLOOD FOR OIL!" hippies you see protesting the war in marches. I find that sort of phrase a simplistic bit of hyperbole, better suited to propaganda or as a pickup line to ensnare hippie chicks on the Quad with pretensions of political thought and a dime bag of weed. The world is a complex place and surely no person, no organization, no government in the 21st century would be so greedy as to sacrifice the lives of thousands just to increase the profits line on a spreadsheet. That kind of bald-faced, black and white evil cannot truly exist in our grey world.
But these lines make my stomach turn with the realization that perhaps there really are folks with that little regard for anything but profit.
Every company that signs onto such a deal should be castigated in the media, should be abandoned at the pump and the cash register, and should be vilified by the world community. It is the epitome of the colonialist, robber baron mentality of some of these companies, who must feel as if it is their G0d-given duty to exploit every natural and human resource possible for their own enrichment. It is the modern-day equivalent of the divine right of kings, and it is reprehensible. There are not curses profane enough for oil executives and the people who helped craft this law.
Perhaps the Iraqi oil industry wouldn't be unable to get itself back on its own two feet had it not been blown to shit by an illegal invasion. Perhaps it might have avoided problems with reconstruction had the Iraqi army not been disbanded, since those suddenly out-of-work soldiers formed the backbone of much of the early insurgency. Perhaps had our government gone in with some kind of plan that involved more than just rewarding loyalist cronies with appointments overseeing a disaster, the oil industry wouldn't need outside corporations to save the day in exchange for three-quarters of the profit.
But there are a lot of "what-if's" we could engage in from the last 30-40 years, such as alternative energy supplies, or the support of brutal dictatorships against the imagined Communist threat, or even the use of diplomacy in building an actual coalition of nations willing to pay a share of the reconstruction. We could "what-if" the situation all day.
In coarse language, this law is a fucking sin against humanity, and the people involved are raging douchebags of the highest order, not fit to hold the position of jizz mop at the Glory Hole Gas Station on I-95. My shame in humanity is palpable.
I'm not one of those "NO BLOOD FOR OIL!" hippies you see protesting the war in marches. I find that sort of phrase a simplistic bit of hyperbole, better suited to propaganda or as a pickup line to ensnare hippie chicks on the Quad with pretensions of political thought and a dime bag of weed. The world is a complex place and surely no person, no organization, no government in the 21st century would be so greedy as to sacrifice the lives of thousands just to increase the profits line on a spreadsheet. That kind of bald-faced, black and white evil cannot truly exist in our grey world.
But these lines make my stomach turn with the realization that perhaps there really are folks with that little regard for anything but profit.
A draft of this controversial law, which the U.S. government has been helping to craft and has been seen by the Independent, would give oil giants such as BP PLC (BP), Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) and ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM) 30-year contracts to extract Iraqi crude and let these foreign oil companies undertake their first large-scale operations in the country since the industry was nationalized in 1972.
Oil industry executives and analysts say the law, which would allow Western companies to pocket up to three-quarters of profits in the early years, is the only way to get Iraq's oil industry back on its feet after years of sanctions, war and loss of expertise. However, opponents say Iraq, where oil accounts for 95% of the economy, is being forced to surrender an unacceptable degree of sovereignty, the Independent reported.
Every company that signs onto such a deal should be castigated in the media, should be abandoned at the pump and the cash register, and should be vilified by the world community. It is the epitome of the colonialist, robber baron mentality of some of these companies, who must feel as if it is their G0d-given duty to exploit every natural and human resource possible for their own enrichment. It is the modern-day equivalent of the divine right of kings, and it is reprehensible. There are not curses profane enough for oil executives and the people who helped craft this law.
Perhaps the Iraqi oil industry wouldn't be unable to get itself back on its own two feet had it not been blown to shit by an illegal invasion. Perhaps it might have avoided problems with reconstruction had the Iraqi army not been disbanded, since those suddenly out-of-work soldiers formed the backbone of much of the early insurgency. Perhaps had our government gone in with some kind of plan that involved more than just rewarding loyalist cronies with appointments overseeing a disaster, the oil industry wouldn't need outside corporations to save the day in exchange for three-quarters of the profit.
But there are a lot of "what-if's" we could engage in from the last 30-40 years, such as alternative energy supplies, or the support of brutal dictatorships against the imagined Communist threat, or even the use of diplomacy in building an actual coalition of nations willing to pay a share of the reconstruction. We could "what-if" the situation all day.
In coarse language, this law is a fucking sin against humanity, and the people involved are raging douchebags of the highest order, not fit to hold the position of jizz mop at the Glory Hole Gas Station on I-95. My shame in humanity is palpable.
Labels: Bush Administration, Corporate Corruption, Government Corruption, Politics
posted by Gary A. Ballard @ 10:39 AM
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