OPERATION BLACK GOLD: THE TRUE PURPOSE OF WAR.
Operation Black Gold.
Jeremy Rifkin - taken from www.espressonline.it , 14/11/2002.
To understand how Europe and America have moved away from each other, just listen to what they say on the street all'incombente U.S. invasion of Iraq. In the U.S., most people believe in President George W. Bush when he says that America has a moral duty to protect the world from Saddam Hussein's pathological desire to build and use weapons of mass destruction. On the contrary, in Europe, most people feel that the U.S. is planning the invasion of Iraq in order to secure its oil reserves , Iraq being the second largest producer in the world after Saudi Arabia.
If America were able to get hold of those oil wells, say the Europeans, would be in a position to counter Saudi influence in the region, and could then dictate terms to the future for the rest of the world 'access to oil.
So while most Americans believe that our plan of attack on Iraq is intended to save the world from a madman, most Europeans think that the real madness is President Bush, who as only bad intention to create a foothold in Middle East so that the 'American Empire "will continue to expand.
It should be noted also that the media support the political sensitivities of their respective countries. Europeans believe they have many reasons to be suspicious of the reasons that push the U.S. towards the Middle East. They accuse the Bush administration to pursue in their own self-interest rather than national interests, despite the global responsibilities that were placed in front: for example, the White House's refusal to sign the Kyoto Treaty to reduce greenhouse or the lack of support to the recommendations made at the Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development. In both cases, Europeans accuse the U.S. of ignoring their moral obligations to preserve the collective oil in favor of what they regard as an arrogant and blatant attempt by the United States to put their commercial interests before anything else. Including the fate of the rest of the world. Europeans see the then imminent invasion of Iraq as part of a large picture of the White House to cement its position as the first military and commercial.
In America, however, the outlook is rather difficult. Still shaken by the events of September 11, many Americans believe President Bush when the latter asserts that Iraq is a potential danger to their security. The Americans feel vulnerable and worry that America may occur in the future more terrorist attacks like September 11. Many people, therefore, to embrace the idea promoted by the White House of a "preventive action" against terrorism. In addition, many Americans are incredulous to the fact that Europeans do not consider more seriously the threat of global terrorism and wonder why those who are supposedly our allies are so reluctant to side with the United States in their efforts to depose Saddam Hussein. However, one can not but be surprised by the almost complete silence of American politicians and media on the issue of a possible link with oil. It is possible that American political leaders, journalists, columnists, editors, publishers of print media and multimedia, are so naive as to believe that the White House really has no other plans in the Middle East, except those declared by President Bush and his administration? all these people really believe that oil plays no role in strategic thinking of those who belong to the circles of power closer to the White House?
The American columnists, in particular, have argued so much the concern of the White House of a terrorist threat by Saddam Hussein, who gave little importance to the question of oil. And when politicians and the media to discuss oil, it is only in reference to the potential impact that a war in Iraq could have in terms of increase or decrease of oil prices on world markets. There was also wondered which countries and companies could benefit from a regime change in Iraq. But the fact that the Bush administration's determination to invade Iraq can somehow have something to do with the desire to secure oil wells, politicians of both parties and the national media have not uttered a word.
This is even more deafening national silence if you look closely at the key players in this drama. Both the president Bush and Vice President Cheney are oilmen . Both come from the petroleum industry. The careers of both have been shaped by oil interests. Their political fortunes has been touted by the oil lobby. President Bush began its journey as a businessman in the 80s in Texas, and founded a company called Arbusto oil exploration (for more details see " When the bin Laden family did business with the Bush family ") in 1984 , merged with another company in oil exploration, creating the Spectrum 7. And Bush became president. Two years later, she decided to sell his company to Harken Energy Company, for which was already working as a consultant. At the time, Harken had interests in the Middle East. For his part, Vice President Cheney, prior to his inauguration at the White House, was chairman and chief executive officer of Halliburton Company. Halliburton is a leading global provider of products and services related to the oil and energy and does business in more than 100 countries.
No wonder, then, that in the campaign for the presidential elections of 2000, the then Republican candidate George W. Bush has been the number one recipient of money from energy industry, managing to raise more than $ 1.8 million in contributions more than any Another candidate for federal office has received over the past ten years.
If there was any reason to be suspicious of the intentions of the White House on Iraq, certainly the fact that Vice President Cheney has held secret meetings of government behind closed doors with leaders of the energy industry should at least have raised the eyebrow a few belonging to the media, because those meetings took place immediately after receiving his appointment, has been made in order to plan future initiatives in the field of America. And then, despite continuing efforts by members of Congress to disclose those acts, Cheney has refused to release records discussions, in addition to the names of participants and society.
I'm not really say that these private discussions have specifically to do with American security interests in Iraq and the Middle East. Rather, all this shows how the interests of the oil companies are never far from the thoughts of President Bush and Vice President Cheney.
view of the close and old ties of President Bush and Vice President Cheney with the oil industry (such as no other presidential administration in U.S. history) is pretty incredible that no member of Congress or members of the media have bothered to raise the following question: the desire to secure oil resources of the second country in the world oil production, plays a strategic role in any White House policy?
is certainly understandable why American politicians and representatives of the media does not want to question the intentions of America in Iraq: what would make them appear very patriotic. But there are reasons and circumstances rather obvious to suspect a possible ulterior motive behind intention to declare war on Iraq, and would therefore be wise to consider seriously the claims by the European media and much of the rest of the world: that that the real intentions of America in the Middle East are not really what we are told.
Of course, if this second order was also only partly in the heads of those sitting in the White House, the nature of the debate would change dramatically. For the majority of Americans who harbor doubts already about the extent of the Iraqi threat and the need to engage as soon as American troops, endangering the lives of young men in uniform, the prospect of doing everything for ensure even in part the interests of big oil companies would not be well seen, nor well-intended. One thing is sure: the Americans would not support an invasion of Iraq never, nor of any other country in the Persian Gulf, the sole purpose of conquering oil fields. After all, we fought the last Gulf War to prevent Iraq to get their hands on the oil resources of Kuwait.
may be that Europe and the rest of the world are wrong about the intentions of America in Iraq. But the fact that the U.S. does not discuss publicly what the rest of the world suspected to be the real reason why the White House wants to depose Saddam Hussein, makes me think that behind the White House's obsession with Iraq there is much more to what we have been told so far.
Translated by Rosalba Fruscalzo.
Below, a survey by TIME about the true reason why the U.S. invaded Iraq.
0 comments:
Post a Comment