How DARE you suggest the war was about oil!

[DG]

Posted: 6/19/08 at 10:08am

The western oil companies are lining up to cash in, and now we get down to the bottom line:

"The deals, expected to be announced on June 30, will lay the foundation for the first commercial work for the major companies in Iraq since the American invasion, and open a new and potentially lucrative country for their operations.

The no-bid contracts are unusual for the industry, and the offers prevailed over others by more than 40 companies, including companies in Russia, China and India. The contracts, which would run for one to two years and are relatively small by industry standards, would nonetheless give the companies an advantage in bidding on future contracts in a country that many experts consider to be the best hope for a large-scale increase in oil production.

There was suspicion among many in the Arab world and among parts of the American public that the United States had gone to war in Iraq precisely to secure the oil wealth these contracts seek to extract. The Bush administration has said that the war was necessary to combat terrorism. It is not clear what role the United States played in awarding the contracts; there are still American advisers to Iraq's Oil Ministry."

Link to full article.

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 6/19/08 at 10:12am

"It is not clear what role the United States played in awarding the contracts; "

The hell it isn't. Before we went in Iraq did not NEED "contracts" they actually maintained their own oil. Now all those people are dead.

[tazber]

Posted: 6/19/08 at 10:17am

Suddenly the recent surge in gas prices seems to make a lot more sense

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/19/08 at 10:18am

You just can't win with liberals.

Liberals can't have it both ways. Either we drill in the US and use our own resources or we buy from other countries.

Liberals don't want to use nuclear power and ethanol uses up the food supply. So what is the answer?

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 6/19/08 at 10:22am

Well it's more complicated than that. What the average American citizen needs to know is that there is no oil shortage, Speculators are driving the increases AND the stealing of oil in Iraq was not to get cheap gas for Americans.

McCain is TOAST.

[blueroses]

Posted: 6/19/08 at 10:26am

"McCain is TOAST."

Let's hope so!

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/19/08 at 10:30am

All the Democrats want to do is have the government seize control of oil businesses. Because we all know it works so well for Hugo Chavez.

Wooosh! Hear that sound? It's the sound of all oil companies leaving the US if the Democrats have their way.
Link

[tazber]

Posted: 6/19/08 at 10:32am

For what it's worth, I STRONGLY think America should spend bucks to develop alternate fuels.
We need to break out addiction to oil.

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 6/19/08 at 10:32am

"You just can't win with liberals."

If you are talking elections then you are right.

"Liberals can't have it both ways."

It's the USA, we can have it anyway we want.

"Either we drill in the US and use our own resources or we buy from other countries."

Or seek an alternative.

"Liberals don't want to use nuclear power"

This is not entirely true.

"and ethanol uses up the food supply."

This "food supply" business is a red-herring, the increase in our current food prices is marginally do to our oil prices. Liberals are NOT for ethanol farming or production as a means to transition ourselves to a sustainable fuel.


"So what is the answer?"

There are many answers but you have get your head out of your as$ to actually hear them. We are looking for solutions, this is not a black and white issue.

There is no need to drill for oil in the USA. My question to Republicans is always this when it comes to drilling in these oil rich areas. Do you want the Federal government to run the oil industry in this country? Do you? If we start drilling here, this is on government owned land, and the government has to oversee it. Do you think it should be federalized?
Updated On: 6/19/08 at 10:32 AM

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 6/19/08 at 10:34am

"All the Democrats want to do is have the government seize control of oil businesses. Because we all know it works so well for Hugo Chavez."

How do you propose we drill in these territories without a federalized program?

[madbrian]

Posted: 6/19/08 at 10:35am

I agree with Taz. This rush by McCain and Bush to drill offshore is comical, and Charlie Crist getting on board is even funnier. We wouldn't see any oil for 5-10 years. They're preying on peoples' concerns about gas prices by peddling this as some sort of solution. The only solution is to break our dependence on oil, foreign or domestic.

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 6/19/08 at 10:40am

madbrian - I put the estimates up somewhere, we use like 6 billion barrels a year. The oil off the coast is estimated at 9 billion barrels. That is a year and some change we can import our own oil. It is a wash and pointless.

Oil companies are not allowed to lower prices unless the government forces them to. They are obliged to shareholders. This would do absolutely nothing. AND building entirely new infrastructure from scratch would RAISE prices for us.

Not to mention we run the risk of destroying coastal waters and ruining tourist destinations along the coast.

It is nonsensical.

[javero]

Posted: 6/19/08 at 12:11pm

"All the Democrats want to do is have the government seize control of oil businesses. Because we all know it works so well for Hugo Chavez."

Goth--that assertion is so bogus considering the history of the GOP (and Churchill's adminstration) meddling in the affairs of both Iran & Iraq's oil industries. For the sake of the deity of your choice please google "Operation Ajax" before spewing anymore bile on here about Democrats in the context of energy policy/Middle East.

Also, read the article below in which the Brits of all people put the US on blast for Nixon's eagerness to "seize" Middle Eastern oil way back in '73. In any discussion about oil from that region we have to peel back the layers a bit to get down to how Britain tried to pimp both Iran & its creation Iraq and how the GOP-lead US hasn't gotten over its "empire envy" yet.


Britain Says US Planned to Seize Oil in '73

Updated On: 6/19/08 at 12:11 PM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/19/08 at 1:40pm

"For the sake of the deity of your choice please google "Operation Ajax" before spewing anymore bile on here about Democrats in the context of energy policy/Middle East."

Don't even mention Democrats and energy policy in the same sentence. You want to go back in history, we don't have to look farther than Jimmy Carter. During the Carter years, gas had to be rationed. The GOP may not have the best energy policies, but at least citizens have the freedom to decide when they fill their tank. During the Carter years, a person could only buy gas on certain days and they had to drive around until they found a gas station that hadn't pumped dry.

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 6/19/08 at 1:46pm

Goth- "During the Carter years, a person could only buy gas on certain days and they had to drive around until they found a gas station that hadn't pumped dry. "

It's not like you understand history. You haven't a clue as to what you are talking about.

You are the hypocrite here, first suggesting we drill off-shore and then suggesting federalizing the oil business is a bad thing. It makes no sense and is illogical.

We should be rationing SOMETHING, we are in two wars. George Bush is the ONLY president in history to offer tax breaks during wartime. Instead we've been told to be scared and go shopping. Makes complete sense.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/19/08 at 2:05pm

"It's not like you understand history. You haven't a clue as to what you are talking about."

Please enlighten us on how Jimmy Carter's energy policy did not cause the rationing and closing down of gas stations.

[javero]

Posted: 6/19/08 at 2:53pm

Goth--I call bull****!!!

Granted Carter was abominable as POTUS in the context of foreign affairs but it is absurd to lay the blame for the collapse/unraveling of the Ottoman Empire and the looting by Western oil companies afterwards at HIS feet.

Please research the following before returning to this thread. You're a bright person but unfortunately one with a short-sighted view of West-East relations.

1. Ottoman Empire
2. Anglo-Persian Oil Company
3. Turkish Petroleum Company
4. Sykes-Picot Accord
5. San Remo Conference
6. Balfour Declaration
7. I.G. Farben & Standard Oil
8. Mohammad Mosaddeq

Updated On: 6/19/08 at 02:53 PM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/19/08 at 3:02pm

"Please research the following before returning to this thread."

Research this: Had Carter not created a panic by rationing gas, people wouldn't have wasted it sitting in long lines idling their cars waiting to pull up to a pump that would run dry before they got to it.

[javero]

Posted: 6/19/08 at 3:28pm

Goth--Carter was reacting to a revolution in Iran that saw a mad man named Aytollah Khomeni take charge. The Shah flew right along with folks that actually knew how to manage Iran's oil industry. Panic ensued in the marketplace and prices went through the roof for a spell.

As a Libertarian, in hindsight I can say that Carter's attempt at price controls was the height of insanity but just keep your ears to ground now because if fuel prices at the pump reach $5 a gallon here in the states there will a public outcry to the next POTUS for "price controls". I'm careful to write NEXT POTUS because Americans have simply tuned out the cretin currently in office.

The Dems got Carter; the GOP has the legacies of Hoover (Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act), Nixon (Bretton Woods) and Bush Jr to lament over.

As a nation we have to thank the ghost of Richard Nixon for pegging the price of our dollar to the blood-bath known as oil. Ron Paul knows what he's talkin' about.

Updated On: 6/19/08 at 03:28 PM

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 6/19/08 at 4:35pm

"Please enlighten us on how Jimmy Carter's energy policy did not cause the rationing and closing down of gas stations."

Goth but there is no reason for you even to mention it. It has nothing to do with your argument nor does it support it. You clearly are just generalizing about it and do not understand the context or the aftermath of that rationing.

Oh boo-hoo Americans had to wait in line for gas.

[roquat]

Posted: 6/19/08 at 4:48pm

And Goth, please lay off that tired old knee-jerk strategy of defining "liberal" as "anyone who disagrees with me." That's papalovesmambo's territory.