Oil and the Military

As we all know the reason given for the invasion of Iraq was the alleged existence of WMD but when it became apparent that no such weapons existed, the reason for the invasion became the gift of democracy and freedom to this poor backward country. At no time was it ever mentioned that the real reason was to gain possession of its oil fields. It seems historically that whenever the subject of oil arises, our leaders feel compelled to lie. In the case of the American invasion of Iraq the President’s press secretary stated with a straight face that the occupation had nothing to do with oil. The Secretary of Defense asserted shamelessly that the attack was in no way connected to the existence of oil. And the Prime Minister of England stated the same bald faced lie.

It was interesting that at the time our army reached Baghdad a cordon was thrown around the oil ministry building to protect it from harm but the outstanding archeological museum and library filled with rare artifacts and antiquarian books stood totally unprotected from shameless looting.

Before 9/11 Osama bin Laden made it clear that since Saudi Arabia was a center for religious worship for millions of Muslims, American military bases had to go. So the occupation of Iraq played a dual role though not admitted publicly. The military bases were in time moved from Saudi Arabia to Iraq, sitting on top of the 2nd largest oil preserve in the world. Could it get any better than that?

It is not only in Iraq but the military is also being used world wide as protection for oil fields particularly in unstable nations from which we import oil. Nigeria is in the news at the moment. Others are Venezuela, Columbia, Angola and Indonesia. All of these countries rely almost totally on energy exports for income. Such one sidedness perverts their political institutions and restricts their economy. Bribery and cronyism are endemic and wealth remains in the hands of the powerful few. Finally when the economic stress becomes intolerable, a popular arising occurs accompanied by or led by insurgent terrorists. And frequently these uprisings are put down by outside military intervention. Imperial oil must continue to flow irrespective of the needs of the poor.

However, it wasn’t until the first Gulf War that the word oil was used as a reason for military intervention. Bush, Sr. said at the time that our way of life would be threatened if Saddam continued to control the huge oil resources of his country. Then in 2002 when invasion of Iraq was again on the agenda, oil was never mentioned. Freedom and democracy became the new spin; the pipedream of the neocons.