WMD's or OIL?

[yeahwho]

Iraq is a Country that should be by all means in it's prime, plentiful oil fields, a World bent on keeping fossil fuel economy. Yet they are in the midst of an US invasion, barbaric civil war, insugency and an exodus of citizens at the rate of 100,000 per month.

So the Iraq Study Group comes out and tells the World the US invasion is an utter failure. But Wait! There's More!

The Iraq Study Group may not have a solution for how to end the war, but it does have a way for its corporate friends to make money. the group called for the privatization of Iraq’s oil resources!!!!!

Crazy those independent unbiased old coots.......read on (http://alternet.org/waroniraq/45190/)

[D_Raay]

All this talk we have been hearing, all the half-truths, all the verbal diarrhea, all the flag-waving and conversely the questioning of patriotism, all of this means absolutely nothing.

We are there to secure oil <period> end of discussion

What's alarming is that they don't seem to be very concerned about the people who attacked us at all, or how they may attack us again. Of course, that's going on the assumption that such attacks were in actuality, a surprise.

If you are ok with all the collateral damage that this causes well then I'm not sure you deserve to be an American at all. And I am referring to people in the know, not the ignorant or the misguided or misinformed.

We ARE building PERMANENT military bases there. That is why we haven't left yet despite the intense pressure from the media and the people. That is why they use terror to circumvent our freedoms while claiming to spread them.
That is why they see the internet as a threat and not an extension of our rights as Americans. Have you noticed the talk is always about "how many" troops will leave and when versus ALL of them leaving? It never is even a part of the equation, nice trick they like to pull to confuse and dissuade angst.

The powers-that-be are not about to succumb to any threat to their right to TAKE as much as they can, whenever they can. After all, what's more important than money?

[yeahwho]

It's (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/09/AR2006120900292.html) Not (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/09/AR2006120900292.html) About (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-hayden/troops-out-oil-companies_b_35816.html) Oil (http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/09/africa/ME_GEN_Iraq_Oil.php). :rolleyes:

“My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.” Cheney 3/16/03

[sam i am]

Does anyone have hard stats on the amount of Iraqi oil that has been shipped to the US since the invasion?

Links would be beneficial to see the actual overall amount of oil that the US is receiving as a result of it's invasion and how said oil has helped fuel profits for US investors or oil concerns and, invariably, how said extra oil has lowered overall gasoline prices or readily increased the amount of oil available to the US.

[SobaViolence]

i dont know if its television, transfats or discount shopping but americans cant seem to stay mad at anything longer than a couple days.


id still want to firebomb washington over katrina...
no ones fault but your own

[Ali]

Does anyone have hard stats on the amount of Iraqi oil that has been shipped to the US since the invasion?

Links would be beneficial to see the actual overall amount of oil that the US is receiving as a result of it's invasion and how said oil has helped fuel profits for US investors or oil concerns and, invariably, how said extra oil has lowered overall gasoline prices or readily increased the amount of oil available to the US.Nice straw man attempt.

However, you'll find that "the actual overall amount of oil that the US is receiving as a result of it's <sic> invasion" is far less than it should be, due to attacks on the infrastructure which should be getting it out of the ground and into the ships

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=60354

Before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, the pipeline from the northern Kirkuk oilfields to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan was shipping some 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) to world markets. Now, the pipeline operates intermittently at best because of constant sabotage attacks.

Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, Iraq has relied almost exclusively on its southern Basra oil terminal in the Gulf for exports. Oil production has been stuck at 2 million bpd with exports of 1.5 million bpd. That compares to a pre-war output of just under 3 million bpd and exports of around 2 million.

Bet they didn't expect that!

[yeahwho]

If you want it here it is, Come and get....oh wait, scratch that, a little cut in production is the thing to keep the prices high and manipulated.

OPEC Calls for 2nd Cut in Oil Output (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/business/15opeccnd.html?hp&ex=1166158800&en=4ff7dc75eade4060&ei=5094&partner=homepage)

sam i am: Does anyone have hard stats on the amount of Iraqi oil that has been shipped to the US since the invasion?

Here is a link (http://www.export.gov/iraq/pdf/iraq_oil_0406.pdf) to the potential of Iraq's oil fields as prepared for Congress in April of this year. The Insurgents are masters at destroying pipelines and have almost put refinement to a halt, but raw oil imports are flowing at a much reduced pace.

As far as if the US has profited from Iraqi Oil, not yet but believe what you read, they plan on being a player in the oil distribution (http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/12/09/iraq_oil_wealth_distribution_planned/).

[sam i am]

Ali : I asked the question in all seriousness, not as a straw man.

yeahwho : I appreciate the links very much, along with the admission that not much has changed, but rather worsened since the US invasion.

It SEEMS that yeahwho's original post was implying (and please correct me if I'm wrong) that the US invasion was about the oil.

Since the oil has actually declined in production and exportation since the invasion, ipso facto, the implied rationale has failed. Would you rather it had succeeded?

[D_Raay]

Ali : I asked the question in all seriousness, not as a straw man.

yeahwho : I appreciate the links very much, along with the admission that not much has changed, but rather worsened since the US invasion.

It SEEMS that yeahwho's original post was implying (and please correct me if I'm wrong) that the US invasion was about the oil.

Since the oil has actually declined in production and exportation since the invasion, ipso facto, the implied rationale has failed. Would you rather it had succeeded?

Only reason it has failed is because securing it has proven to be a major undertaking. I would hardly discount yeahwho's reasoning on that basis.

[sam i am]

Only reason it has failed is because securing it has proven to be a major undertaking. I would hardly discount yeahwho's reasoning on that basis.

Soooooo.....

It didn't really matter that the US invaded, then, since we were getting more oil PRIOR to our troubles with Saddam?

Where's the logic in that?

[D_Raay]

Soooooo.....

It didn't really matter that the US invaded, then, since we were getting more oil PRIOR to our troubles with Saddam?

Where's the logic in that?
The logic in that should be plain enough. The struggle over the remaining fossil fuels gets much easier when your able to literally place yourself on some of it.

[yeahwho]

The logic in that should be plain enough. The struggle over the remaining fossil fuels gets much easier when your able to literally place yourself on some of it. point on!

It's not really rocket science what's happening here on the planet earth. Some people have the ways and the means to manipulate markets, others don't. It is sort of laughable that Iraq (which was previously monitered by no flyzones (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_no-fly_zones) and I predict will be again) was ever a bigger threat to US soil than it is today. Securing oil fields is a major business, today, yesterday and in the future.

Why? (http://www.mbendi.co.za/indy/oilg/p0005.htm)

North America, Far East and Oceania and Western Europe consume 77.5% of the world's oil, produce 44.4% but actually only contain 12.5% of the world's oil reserves. For these areas, 100 years is an unrealistically long period. The Middle East, in contrast, although containing 65% of the world's oil reserves only produces about 30%, and consumes about 6% of the world's supply. The graph below provides an idea of the distribution of reserves and related production globally.

It really isn't that difficult to understand once you get beyond the rhetoric of Saddam. WTF, were is OBL? Who cares? Al-Qaeda? Not now!

It really seems very obvious. Prove me wrong that the US has no interest in Middle East oil reserves.

[Ali]

Al-Qaeda? Not now! Al-Qaeda had nothing to do with Iraq... until the invasion removed the person who was keeping them at bay. (http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061221/NEWS07/612210371/1009&template=printart).

Good thing there's the alliance of al-Anbar tribes (http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/FC6E5C31-9CAF-40B7-9F9F-D7818BD0B520.htm) (ex Baathists) to help fight them again.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

[sam i am]

point on!

It's not really rocket science what's happening here on the planet earth. Some people have the ways and the means to manipulate markets, others don't. It is sort of laughable that Iraq (which was previously monitered by no flyzones (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_no-fly_zones) and I predict will be again) was ever a bigger threat to US soil than it is today. Securing oil fields is a major business, today, yesterday and in the future.

Why? (http://www.mbendi.co.za/indy/oilg/p0005.htm)

North America, Far East and Oceania and Western Europe consume 77.5% of the world's oil, produce 44.4% but actually only contain 12.5% of the world's oil reserves. For these areas, 100 years is an unrealistically long period. The Middle East, in contrast, although containing 65% of the world's oil reserves only produces about 30%, and consumes about 6% of the world's supply. The graph below provides an idea of the distribution of reserves and related production globally.

It really isn't that difficult to understand once you get beyond the rhetoric of Saddam. WTF, were is OBL? Who cares? Al-Qaeda? Not now!

It really seems very obvious. Prove me wrong that the US has no interest in Middle East oil reserves.

Ok.

Having an interest in the reserves doesn't mean the US is capable of exploiting it (thus far).

Long-term, prove to me that China and India, as opposed to Western Europe and the US, won't be the ones who are most interested in oil reserves to sustain their growth rates.