WORLD VIEW NEWS SERVICE
Baghdad Coup D'Etat For Big Oil
Thu Apr 14, 2005 03:37
64.140.159.13
BBC Newsnight - U.S. Secret Plan for Iraq's Oil
http://gregpalast.com/video/BBCIraqOilReport.mov
Baghdad Coup D'Etat For Big Oil
By Greg Palast
BBC
iraq@yahoogroups.com
Harper's Magazine investigation reveals how Big Oil vanquished the
neo-cons ... and OPEC is the winner.
"For months, the State Department officially denied the existence of
this 323-page plan for Iraq's oil ...."
Some conspiracy nuts believe the Bush Administration had a secret plan
to control Iraq's oil. In fact, there were TWO plans. In a joint
investigation with BBC Television Newsnight, Harper's Magazine has
uncovered a hidden battle over Iraq's oil. It began right after Mr.
Bush took office - with a previously unreported plot to invade Iraq.
>From the exclusive Harper's report by Greg Palast:
Within weeks of the first inaugural, prominent Iraqi expatriates --
many with ties to U.S. industry -- were invited to secret discussions
directed by Pamela Quanrud, National Security Council, now at the
State Department. "It quickly became an oil group," said one
participant, Falah Aljibury. Aljibury is an advisor to Amerada Hess'
oil trading arm and Goldman Sachs.
"The petroleum industry, the chemical industry, the banking industry
-- they'd hoped that Iraq would go for a revolution like in the past
and government was shut down for two or three days," Aljibury told me.
On this plan, Hussein would simply have been replaced by some former
Baathist general.
However, by February 2003, a hundred-page blue-print for the occupied
nation, favored by neo-cons, had been enshrined as official policy.
"Moving the Iraqi Economy from Recovery to Sustainable Growth"
generally embodied the principles for postwar Iraq favored by Deputy
Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and the Iran-Contra figure, now
Deputy National Security Advisor, Elliott Abrams. The blue-print
mapped out a radical makeover of Iraq as a free-maket Xanadu
including, on page 73, the sell-off of the nation's crown jewels:
"privatization [of] the oil and supporting industries."
It was reasoned that if Iraq's fields were broken up and sold off,
competing operators would crank up production. This extra crude would
flood world petroleum markets, OPEC would devolve into mass cheating
and overproduction, oil prices would fall over a cliff, and Saudi
Arabia, both economically and politically, would fall to its knees.
However, in plotting the destruction of OPEC, the neocons failed to
predict the virulent resistance of insurgent forces: the U.S. oil
industry itself. Rob McKee, a former executive vice-president of
ConocoPhillips, designated by the Bush Administration to advise the
Iraqi oil ministry, had little tolerance for the neocons' threat to
privatize the oil fields nor their obsession on ways to undermine
OPEC. (In 2004, with oil approaching the $50 a barrel mark all year,
the major U.S. oil companies posted record or near-record profits.
ConocoPhillips this February reported a doubling of its quarterly
profits.)
In November 2003, McKee quietly ordered up a new plan for Iraq's oil.
For months, the State Department officially denied the existence of
this 323-page plan, but when I threatened legal action, I was able to
obtain the multi-volume document describing seven possible models of
oil production for Iraq, each one merely a different flavor of a
single option: a state-owned oil company under which the state
maintains official title to the reserves but operation and control are
given to foreign oil companies.
According to Ed Morse, another Hess Oil advisor, the switch to an
OPEC-friendly policy for Iraq was driven by Dick Cheney. "The VP's
office [has] not pursued a policy in Iraq that would lead to a rapid
opening of the Iraqi energy sector that would put us on a track to
say, "We're going to put a squeeze on OPEC."
Cheney, far from "putting the squeeze on OPEC," has taken a defacto
seat there, allowing the cartel to maintain its suffocating grip on
the U.S. economy.
Read the full story in the April edition of Harper's Magazine, out
this week: "OPEC ON THE MARCH: Why Iraq Still Sells Its Oil ˆ la
Cartel," by Greg Palast.
Watch Palast's report on the Harper's discovery on BBC television's
premier nightly current affairs show, Newsnight, viewable on-line at:
BBC Newsnight - U.S. Secret Plan for Iraq's Oil
http://gregpalast.com/video/BBCIraqOilReport.mov
(c) 2005 Greg Palast's report for BBC Television on the President's
evasion of the military draft can be seen in the BBC documentary,
"Bush Family Fortunes," updated in a special US edition on DVD. See a
segment at. Palast is the author of the New York Times bestseller,
"The Best Democracy Money Can Buy." View his writings. For interviews,
contact
http://www.issuesandalibis.org/
--------------------------------QQQQQQQQQQQQQ---------------------------------------
http://www.securingamerica.com/
Below please find the text of General Clark's opening statement before
the House Armed Services Committee at today's Iraq hearing, as
prepared for delivery.
If you'd like to listen to the audio from the hearing, and to read the
full hearing transcript when it is published, please visit the House
Armed Services Committee website.
Statement of General Wesley K. Clark
House Armed Services Committee hearing
April 6, 2005
Mr. Chairman, Congressman Skelton, distinguished members of this
Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today.
>From moment one, this Committee has been strongly supportive of the
men and women in uniform, and I want to commend you for that -- and
thank you for the support that so many of you gave to me during my
time in the military. As a former soldier, I can't stress enough how
important these deliberations are to our armed forces and military
families stationed around the world -- and to the thousands of
veterans I've met with over the past two years. I have also heard from
thousands of people over the internet who wish to express their
gratitude for your efforts and concerns about the situation in Iraq.
On their behalf and on behalf of my own family, I thank you.
*********************************************************************
WORLD VIEW NEWS SERVICE
To subscribe to this group, send an email to:
wvns-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
NEWS ARCHIVE IS OPEN TO PUBLIC VIEW
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/wvns/
http://gregpalast.com/video/BBCIraqOilReport.mov
Baghdad Coup D'Etat For Big Oil
By Greg Palast
BBC
iraq@yahoogroups.com
Harper's Magazine investigation reveals how Big Oil vanquished the
neo-cons ... and OPEC is the winner.
"For months, the State Department officially denied the existence of
this 323-page plan for Iraq's oil ...."
Some conspiracy nuts believe the Bush Administration had a secret plan
to control Iraq's oil. In fact, there were TWO plans. In a joint
investigation with BBC Television Newsnight, Harper's Magazine has
uncovered a hidden battle over Iraq's oil. It began right after Mr.
Bush took office - with a previously unreported plot to invade Iraq.
>From the exclusive Harper's report by Greg Palast:
Within weeks of the first inaugural, prominent Iraqi expatriates --
many with ties to U.S. industry -- were invited to secret discussions
directed by Pamela Quanrud, National Security Council, now at the
State Department. "It quickly became an oil group," said one
participant, Falah Aljibury. Aljibury is an advisor to Amerada Hess'
oil trading arm and Goldman Sachs.
"The petroleum industry, the chemical industry, the banking industry
-- they'd hoped that Iraq would go for a revolution like in the past
and government was shut down for two or three days," Aljibury told me.
On this plan, Hussein would simply have been replaced by some former
Baathist general.
However, by February 2003, a hundred-page blue-print for the occupied
nation, favored by neo-cons, had been enshrined as official policy.
"Moving the Iraqi Economy from Recovery to Sustainable Growth"
generally embodied the principles for postwar Iraq favored by Deputy
Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and the Iran-Contra figure, now
Deputy National Security Advisor, Elliott Abrams. The blue-print
mapped out a radical makeover of Iraq as a free-maket Xanadu
including, on page 73, the sell-off of the nation's crown jewels:
"privatization [of] the oil and supporting industries."
It was reasoned that if Iraq's fields were broken up and sold off,
competing operators would crank up production. This extra crude would
flood world petroleum markets, OPEC would devolve into mass cheating
and overproduction, oil prices would fall over a cliff, and Saudi
Arabia, both economically and politically, would fall to its knees.
However, in plotting the destruction of OPEC, the neocons failed to
predict the virulent resistance of insurgent forces: the U.S. oil
industry itself. Rob McKee, a former executive vice-president of
ConocoPhillips, designated by the Bush Administration to advise the
Iraqi oil ministry, had little tolerance for the neocons' threat to
privatize the oil fields nor their obsession on ways to undermine
OPEC. (In 2004, with oil approaching the $50 a barrel mark all year,
the major U.S. oil companies posted record or near-record profits.
ConocoPhillips this February reported a doubling of its quarterly
profits.)
In November 2003, McKee quietly ordered up a new plan for Iraq's oil.
For months, the State Department officially denied the existence of
this 323-page plan, but when I threatened legal action, I was able to
obtain the multi-volume document describing seven possible models of
oil production for Iraq, each one merely a different flavor of a
single option: a state-owned oil company under which the state
maintains official title to the reserves but operation and control are
given to foreign oil companies.
According to Ed Morse, another Hess Oil advisor, the switch to an
OPEC-friendly policy for Iraq was driven by Dick Cheney. "The VP's
office [has] not pursued a policy in Iraq that would lead to a rapid
opening of the Iraqi energy sector that would put us on a track to
say, "We're going to put a squeeze on OPEC."
Cheney, far from "putting the squeeze on OPEC," has taken a defacto
seat there, allowing the cartel to maintain its suffocating grip on
the U.S. economy.
Read the full story in the April edition of Harper's Magazine, out
this week: "OPEC ON THE MARCH: Why Iraq Still Sells Its Oil ˆ la
Cartel," by Greg Palast.
Watch Palast's report on the Harper's discovery on BBC television's
premier nightly current affairs show, Newsnight, viewable on-line at:
BBC Newsnight - U.S. Secret Plan for Iraq's Oil
http://gregpalast.com/video/BBCIraqOilReport.mov
(c) 2005 Greg Palast's report for BBC Television on the President's
evasion of the military draft can be seen in the BBC documentary,
"Bush Family Fortunes," updated in a special US edition on DVD. See a
segment at. Palast is the author of the New York Times bestseller,
"The Best Democracy Money Can Buy." View his writings. For interviews,
contact
http://www.issuesandalibis.org/
--------------------------------QQQQQQQQQQQQQ---------------------------------------
http://www.securingamerica.com/
Below please find the text of General Clark's opening statement before
the House Armed Services Committee at today's Iraq hearing, as
prepared for delivery.
If you'd like to listen to the audio from the hearing, and to read the
full hearing transcript when it is published, please visit the House
Armed Services Committee website.
Statement of General Wesley K. Clark
House Armed Services Committee hearing
April 6, 2005
Mr. Chairman, Congressman Skelton, distinguished members of this
Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today.
>From moment one, this Committee has been strongly supportive of the
men and women in uniform, and I want to commend you for that -- and
thank you for the support that so many of you gave to me during my
time in the military. As a former soldier, I can't stress enough how
important these deliberations are to our armed forces and military
families stationed around the world -- and to the thousands of
veterans I've met with over the past two years. I have also heard from
thousands of people over the internet who wish to express their
gratitude for your efforts and concerns about the situation in Iraq.
On their behalf and on behalf of my own family, I thank you.
*********************************************************************
WORLD VIEW NEWS SERVICE
To subscribe to this group, send an email to:
wvns-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
NEWS ARCHIVE IS OPEN TO PUBLIC VIEW
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/wvns/
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