Are Bush and Cheney on the Pipe?
Hodaka - 20.12.2004 09:18
Bush’s oil move backfires: Now he will have to try diplomacy leader," The Guardian (4 Aug 2003).
Source
Are Bush and Cheney on the Pipe?
There are daily attempts to remake the world and serve the Bush and Cheney interests in Iraq. President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney’s cocky hopes for a privatized, pro-American Iraqi oil industry keep going down like sand in an hourglass—“These are the Cheney's Cha-Chings of our Lives.” There are continuous attacks on installations in Iraq's northern oil fields that are increasingly well coordinated. Saboteurs have repeatedly blown up segments of the pipeline leading from the Kirkuk fields to the Turkish Mediterranean Port of Ceyhan.
The Bush Administration thought it would have access to the world’s second largest hydrocarbon reserves and produce so much oil that Saudi Arabia, in charge of OPEC, would lose its grip on petroleum prices. Did you wonder why the United States started a war in Afghanistan—to start the smokin’ pipe. America was in negotiations to deal with the Taliban for an oil pipeline in Afghanistan.
How did our oil get under their sand?
Low prices would also mean falling revenues for oil-producers, which in the Middle East might precipitate the collapse of regimes hostile to the U. S. Ever since Arab nations imposed an embargo on oil exports to America in 1973, the United States has tried, in theory, to wean itself off foreign oil. George Bush declared hydrocarbon independence a priority. But the real issue is not where the oil spurts from, but how much it costs to buy.
Preparing wells and pipes in postwar Iraq would cost $1 billion--raising oil production to 3.5 million barrels a day. It would take three years and cost another $8 billion investment and another $20 billion for repairs to the electrical grid that powers the pumps and refineries. Bringing production up to 6 million barrels a day would cost a further $30 billion, perhaps $100 billion.
In other words, assuming only $8 billion of the $20 billion can be used on industry, the Bush overall budget of $87 billion that horrified Congress and the American public is likely to rise toward a figure of $200 billion.
Since the 1920s, only around 2,300 wells have been drilled in Iraq, and those are in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates. Its deserts are almost totally unexplored. Officially, Iraq contains 12 percent of the world's oil reserves--two-thirds of the world's reserves are in just four other countries--Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait and the Emirates -- but it could contain up to 25 percent.
It's possible to argue it was Saddam's decision to switch from the dollar to the Euro in 2000 made regime change important to the United States. When Iran threatened to do the same, it was added to the "axis of evil." The defense of the dollar is almost as important as oil.
On May 22, the U. N. Security Council passed Resolution 1438, which provided gas and oil companies in Iraq with limited immunity until Dec. 21, 2007. Their reason? To protect the flow of oil revenues into the development fund that will be used to reconstruct Iraq.
On the same day, Bush issued Executive Order 13303-- called "Protecting the Development Fund and Certain Other Property in Which Iraq Has an Interest." Unlike the U. N. resolution, the president's order appears to place U. S. corporations above the law for any activities related to Iraq oil, either in that country or in the United States.
The United States invaded Iraq--its chief export oil--and Iraq now has control of perhaps 25 percent of the world's reserves. But the U.S. can't make the oil flow. The cost to get the oil flowing is causing an economic crisis in the United States. The Bush Administration is more concerned about the flow of oil than the daily killing of young U. S. soldiers. Washington has got its hands on the biggest treasure chest in the world, but it can't open the lid because they are still trying to get the smokin' pipe going.
The Bush Oil Administration
Dick Cheney, VP: Until 2000 - President of Halliburton (In the position to build the Afghan pipeline).
Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor: 1991-2000 - Manager of Chevron Oil, and Kazakhstan go-between.
Donald Evans, Secretary Commerce: former CEO, Tom Brown, Inc. $1.2 billion oil company).
Gale Norton, Secretary Interior: Former national chairwoman of the Coalition of Republican Environmental Advocates - funded by, among others, BP Amoco.
Spencer Abraham, Sec. Energy: Up through his failed bid for senatorial reelection in the 2000.
Thomas White, Secretary of the Army: Former Vice Chairman of Enron and a large shareholder of that company's stock.
M. Stewart.
Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2004. All rights reserved.
Revised: 12/11/04.
 http://www.stewartsynopsis.com
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