This week the circus came to town. Not Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, but Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, and with it the three rings of a five-plus year war and occupation, politicians in their populist best pitches and the media echo of what’s going on with Iraq’s oil revenue.
Petraeus, the commander of coalition forces in Iraq, and Crocker, the top U.S. diplomat in the country, were obliged to lead what was for this week the greatest political show on Earth: explaining the meaning of the war a year after the “surge” in U.S. troops led to a decrease in violence (aside from the massive uptick over the past two weeks).
The two said Iraq is improving its ability to spend money on reconstruction and most new U.S. spending, outside of security, would be on capacity-building needed to spend the funds.
The five years have meant hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. taxpayer spending — mostly on military — and Congress is asking now “for what?” And Congress — armed with a failed “benchmark” of passing an oil law, the inclusion of which may have added a fracture in the polarized Baghdad political scene — breathed fire on Iraq’s leadership for how it uses its oil revenue and turned the snake charmer onto Americans and the media.
“U.S. efforts to date have not resulted in key Iraqi ministries having the capacity to effectively govern and assume increasing responsibility for operating, maintaining, and further investing in reconstruction projects,” former chief U.S. auditor David Walker testified before a Senate committee last month.
Anthony Cordesman, Iraq expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, points to a Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction report published in January that between 2003 and 2008, $50.6 billion of Iraq’s money was spent on reconstruction, $47.5 billion was spent in U.S. funds and nearly $16 billion in other donations.
“In short, we used more of their money for reconstruction than ours,” he told United Press International.
US Vice President Richard B. “Shooter” Cheney: If US Withdraws From Iraq, Al Qaeda Would ‘Acquire Control’ Of Country’s Oil Resources
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/11/cheney-oil-al-qaeda/
This claim appears to be emerging as an administration talking point about the dangers of withdrawal. On March 19, bush also warned that out of “chaos in Iraq” could emerge an “emboldened al Qaeda with access to Iraq’s oil resources.” When a reporter asked the White House spokesperson about bush’s statement, even she couldn’t believe Bush would make this claim, alleging that the reporter was misrepresenting the President’s comments. ( He wasn’t. )
It’s highly unlikely that al Qaeda would take control of Iraq’s oil if the US redeployed. First, the vast majority of Iraqis are Shi’ites, who want nothing to do with a fringe Sunni group like Al Qaeda. Second, 70% of the country’s oil is in southern Iraq — e.g. Basra — where there are strong Shi’ite strongholds.
Despite cheney and bush’s claims, US withdrawal would not mean that al Qaeda would suddenly be able to defeat at least three different powerful Shi’ite militias ( Mahdi Army, Badr Organization, and Fadhila’s gangs ) to seize control over Iraq’s oil.
cheney’s bogus oil argument
http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/04/11/oil/index.html
There are probably some grounded, halfway reasonable arguments against withdrawing US troops from Iraq, but the fact that the White House keeps relying on sheer nonsense suggests the bush gang can’t think of any, either.
Consider dick cheney’s remarks on sean hannity’s radio show yesterday.
HANNITY: If we pull out too early, what do you believe the consequences would be? [...]
CHENEY: For us to walk away from Iraq I think would have at least that bad an effect, probably worse, because if al Qaeda were to take over big parts of Iraq, among other things, they would acquire control of a significant oil resource. Iraq has almost 100 billion barrel reserves, producing 2.5-3 million barrels of oil a day. If you take a terrorist organization like al Qaeda and give it that kind of revenue, there’s no telling the amount of trouble they could get into.
It’s hard to overstate how far-fetched this is.
What’s especially striking about this is that the president, about three weeks ago, emphasized the same point. bush insisted that if we withdraw, there will be chaos in Iraq, which would lead al-Qaida to acquire Iraq’s oil. At that point, the president said, the terrorist network “could pursue its ambitions to acquire weapons of mass destruction and to attack America and other free nations.”
Just how groundless is the argument? After bush’s comments, a White House reporter asked Dana Perino, “I don’t understand how a fragmented, clandestine, non-Iraqi terrorist organization could produce and sell Iraqi oil on the global market, especially when the majority of Iraqis have turned against al-Qaida. Could you describe a plausible scenario?” As it turns out, she couldn’t.
It fascinates me that even now, as the war begins its sixth year, the White House is still struggling to come up with arguments that make sense and can withstand even cursory scrutiny. It fascinates me further that dick cheney, weeks after the White House couldn’t defend bush’s bogus claim, believes he should repeat the same debunked argument.
Oil giants Chevron and Total have confirmed that they are in discussions with the Iraqi Oil Ministry to increase production in an important oil field in southern Iraq.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080412/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_oil_deals;_ylt=AnNKs8nzX2WVB4HmftR_8BayBhIF
The Iraqi Oil Ministry has said it is also negotiating with Royal Dutch Shell, British Petroleum and ExxonMobil to increase crude production in four other fields and under the same agreement.
A roadside bomb killed an amerikan Occupier in Baghdad on Saturday, capping the bloodiest week for US Occupiers in Iraq in 2008. Total Killed In Action count stands at 4,033 for the mighty usa Imperial War Machine.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080412/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq
and the usa thought that they would just stroll on in and Steal Iraq’s Oil.
How’s that workin’ out for you, you evil filthy War Criminal amerikans ??
Find Any WMD In Iraq Yet ??
hope you eventually CHOKE on that Oil !!!!
The Rape of Iraq Continues
Thirty-five international oil companies have qualified to bid for future oil and gas contracts to develop one of the world’s largest oil fields.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080413/ap_on_bi_ge/iraq_oil;_ylt=Aopj7XzQVsrEKaw6JFedDJ2yBhIF
Iraq should nationalize its Oil Fields immediately and share ALL of the Oil $$$$$ with the Iraqi people.
Not one red cent should go to any non-Iraqi Oil companies.
Otherwise the people of Iraq are going to get Screwed.
I long for the days when reporters reported the news and editorial writers wrote the opinions. There was a “church and state” separation that was sacred. Nowadays there are few reporters left, and Ben Lando, you are not one of them. You’re an editorial writer, not a reporter.