SEE SLIDE SHOW OF CHILDREN OF WAR - It is about the oil!
ABSTRACT - War is taught to Americans in a multi-million dollar marketing campaign. Pell back the PR rhetoric, I see an oil monopoly game. Read the Oil and Gas International (10/30/02) report about how the White House and State Department scheduled meetings with Iraqi opposition leaders to carve out Iraq's oil and gas reserves. Land on Park Place in Iraq, you find it’s worth $1.1 trillion in oil contracts; a new Iraq regime will dispense them to US and UK oil companies. Ahmed Chalabi, leader of the London-based Iraqi National Congress already met with executives of three US oil multinationals to negotiate the carve-up of Iraq's massive oil reserves after Gulf War II (Beaumont & Islam, 2002; Dreyfus, 2002). “Neither ExxonMobil nor ChevronTexaco would say if they had held talks with Iraqi opposition leaders. Like most other major operators, however, they did say they would return to Iraq if sanctions were lifted” (Oil & Gas International, 2002). This is an oil presidency, bent on destroying the OPEC oil cartel. Five Bush administration members were Enron executives. ExxonMobil contributed $1.2 million to the Republican Party in 2000, second to Enron; ExxonMobil spent $47 million lobbying the US Congress and Presidential Administrations since 1997. Condoleeza Rice was senior executive with Chevron Oil (1991-2000); they named an oil tanker after her. 100 officials in the Bush White House have put most of their personal investments ($144.6 million) into oil and gas. Bush and Cheney see the world as oil. Bush was senior executive at three oil companies (Arbusto Energy, Spectrum 7, 1978-84, Harken oil 1986-90). VP Cheney was CEO of Halliburton (1995-2000), world’s largest oil service company. This oil war keeps attention off Enrongate, Harken and Halliburton accounting scandals. Oil and Enron scripted US energy policy (Cheney Report http://www.whitehouse.gov/energy).
Once again I head to the Peace Vigil in downtown Las Cruces, New Mexico. Each Wednesday 60 to 100 people stand on Church Street, in front of the Federal Building; downtown Las Cruces. On Sunday (Oct 7 02) there was a vigil at Pioneer Women's Park, and on Monday (Oct 8) a Peace Vigil was held on the New Mexico State University campus (Click here). Today, Oct 26, there is a Peace rally in support of March on Washington Saturday, 1 pm, at the Federal Building. I am considering what sign to carry today. How about "Peace, not war," "Stop the Oil War," or "Say 'No' to the Oil War."
On the 28th of October (Monday) I will spoke about my research on the relation between the oil industry and the Iraq war at a Teach-In/Speak-Out for Peace to be held at NMSU Corbett Center from 9 AM to 10 PM. This paper is background research for that talk. On Jan 18, our 150 vigilists joined one million people searching for alternatives to the Oil war. On Jan 20th, we assembled again for Martin Luther King's day. Is this an Oil War?
I am told the Wall Street Journal reported Monday (Jan 20) that executives from Exxon/Mobil Corp., Chevron/Texaco Corp., Conoco Philips and Halliburton met with the staff of Vice President Dick Cheney in October to discuss a future carve-up of oil territories in Iraq. The Bush administration denies the meeting took place.
Oil and Gas International (10/30/02) issued a report that documents the fact that the White House and the US State Department scheduled meetings with Iraqi opposition leaders to carve out Iraq's oil and gas reserves:
"The Bush administration wants to have a working group of 12 to 20 people focused on Iraqi oil and gas to be able to recommend to an interim government ways of restoring the petroleum sector following a military attack in order to increase oil exports to partially pay for a possible US military occupation government—further fueling the view that controlling Iraqi oil is at the heart of the Bush campaign to replace Hussein with a more compliant regime."
I am a Vietnam veteran. I served in the U.S. Army in Saigon, as a company clerk, then as a golf Pro. Where there are generals there is high demand for golf! When I came home from that war, I was told to ditch my uniform when I got off the plane because hoards of protestors would pelt me with eggs and spit on me. I landed in Oakland, went to the men's room, and changed out of my Army greens into my civvies I carried in a paper bag.
We have narrative freedom, the openness of a society to voice our opposition to this latest US war against the Middle East. I see more bumper stickers that red, "I never used my civil liberties anyway." I think I will use mine, explore some stories I hear about the relationship between the Iraq war and our oil interests. I will also provide positive narrative; that we can end the threat of war in Iraq by reducing our dependency on oil; we can create an identity that is not based on oil consumption. There are better options open to us. Who is Oil?
- O is for Organizations: Exxon-Mobil, Royal Dutch-Shell, British Petroleum-Amoco, Chevron-Texaco, TotalElfFina, and let's not forget Enron.
- I is for Individuals whose life style depends upon oil.
- L is for Life on this planet that will run out of oil and turn to something else in nature.
To me, this is the next Vietnam, and like poet George Bowering, at home, we are "at war with the U.S." We protest the war, we seek peace. Who is the patriot? The one who resists the grand narrative of war will buy us security at home, or the one who questions such a story with a counter-story? Like Vietnam, the government spins a story of moral righteousness, a story line that an Iraq War is a necessary per-emptive strike to save our homeland security (pun intended). We are in war games we can not quit playing (See more on Vietnam and Oil). And as I-Individuals, we stand between Oil corporations, and Life on this planet.
The "O's" and "I's" in the US are the largest consumer of oil, the "L" (Life) of the world. Add it up O and I in the US consume 895.6 million tones, which is 25.5% of world's oil-Life each year (Pal, 2002). Consider our relative size:
U.S. population is only 4.62% of the world's six billion people, yet we consume 25.5 % of the oil and emit 24% of the CO2. This is more than our fair share. My point is simple, finding evil enemies is a pretext for "O" to grab more than the share of the oil-Life so our "I" can continue its ways.
On the lighter side, did you hear this one about O - Organizations?
"We shall not EXXONerate Saddam Hussein for his action. We will MOBILize to meet this threat to vital interests in the Persian GULF.
Until an AMOCOble solution is reached, our best strategy is to BPrepared. Failing that, we are ARMOring to kick your ass."
-- Attributed to George W. Bush, Sept 17, 2002
On the darker side, this war is about O and I, our lust for black gold that I predict will bankrupt the U.S. economy by 2046 (See Figure 1). You may say it is longer. You can point out that since WWI people have said the reserves will run out. But, if we look at what "O" is saying about "L" then "I" see this scenario of 10 oily dates:
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Fig 1: Ten Oily Dates to Remember about the Iraq War - compiled by Boje:
© 2002 - David M. Boje, Ph.D. Oct 19 2002
More info at PeaceAware.com |
How many think oil will last forever? How many think this war is about oil reserves? It is time to demand OIL Freedom.
"By campaigning to make our country independent of Mideast oil while creating millions of jobs in the new clean energy economy. Americans understand that our reliance on Mideast oil increases our vulnerability to terrorist attacks, wars, and economic turbulence. They know that oil isn't behind all of the problems in the Middle East but that it exacerbates enough of them to demand a response" (email to PeaceAware list by Karin Rosman, 3 Mar 2003).
Our OIL Freedom will cost $150 billion. That is that it will take to convert USA infrastructure to power fuel cell cars and it will take another $150 billion to develop clean energy technologies, like solar, wind and biomass to generate hydrogen fuel. $300 billion is less than one year's military budget of $396.1 billion (FY 2003).
There are those in the military who do not want war. Any general worth his weight in oil prefers peace over war. Norman Schwarzkopf, the US general who commanded allied forces during Dessert Storm, joined a growing number of senior US military figures on August 18, who are opposed to a unilateral invasion of Iraq and said President Bush “should not go it alone” (Times, Aug 19). "Gen. Brent Scowcroft, who served as national security advisor to Bush's father during the Gulf War, bluntly expressed his doubt about a unilateral war against Iraq"; "Gen. Wesley Clark, a former NATO military commander before Congress, added. "If we go in unilaterally, or without the full weight of international organizations behind us, if we go in with a very sparse number of allies, if we go in without an effective information operation ... we're liable to supercharge recruiting for al-Qaida," (Alternet, Oct 17 2002; Wall Street Journal, Aug 15, 2002). But, like Vietnam, it looks like something is pulling us into war. On Oct 9th, US troops returned fire on two Kuwaitis, Anas Ahmad Ibrahim al-Kandari, 21, and Jassem Mubarak al-Hajri, 27. During the gun battle, one Marine was injured, and the second died in surgery. "This was an unprovoked attack," a US source said (Herald Sun, 10 Oct). I regret that loss of all life.
My research suggests that the proposed Iraq war is about US dependency on oil, not about national security or weapons inspection (Boje, 2002c, Propaganda and Data about the War). I believe we have a Congress that is too beholden to corporate oil contributions; our foreign policy is about securing rights of way, through war, for pipeline and extraction companies. We in the U.S. are greedy for Iraq oil reserves. Oil dependency will soon change, but the oil lobby won't change until we separate corporate money from politicians. The irony is we could easily change our own consumption habits and reduce our dependence on Middle East oil. For example, Kevin Bixby, Director of the Southwest Environmental Center (email Feb 12 03) asserts:
According to Amory Lovins, it would require only a 2.7 mile per gallon increase in the average fuel economy of the U.S. fleet of cars and light trucks to save the equivalent of ALL the oil we currently import from the Persian gulf. Congress rejected a bill to mandate such an increase last year. Apparently it is not in someone's interest to wean ourselves of oil yet, even though the auto manufacturers see the handwriting on the wall and are pursuing hybrids and fuel cell vehicles.
May I speak frankly: 'Oil is electing our presidents, senators, and congress. Oil is scripting our energy policy. Oil is directing the war in the middle east.' And again, let me remind you the "I" in OIL stands between Organizations and Life on this planet. When we change the "I," war will cease. There is a root cause to the war on Iraq, OIL. .
The hidden stakes in the war against terrorism can be summed up in a single word: oil. The map of terrorist sanctuaries and targets in the middle East and Central Asia is also, to an extraordinary degree, a map of the world's principal energy sources in the 21st century -- It is on behalf of America's Chevron, Exxon, and Arco; France's TotalFinaElf ; British Petroleum; Royal Dutch Shell and other multinational giants, which have hundreds of billions of dollars of investment in the region (Viviano, 2000)
It was UNOCAL who supported the Taliban of Afghanistan in order to get a pipeline from the Caspian region oil and gas reserves through Afghanistan to the burgeoning markets of South Asia, South-East Asia and the Pacific (Nafeez, 2002: 49). UNOCAL contracted University of Nebraska to train the Afghanistan to lay pipe (p. 48). This is why the Clinton administration was talking to the Taliban about pipelines. As Rohrabacher puts it, "I am making the claim that there is and has been a covert policy by this [Clinton] administration to support the Taliban movement's control of Afghanistan" (Rohrabacher, 2001; as cited in Nafeez, 2002: 51). When UNOCAL decided that the Taliban could not secure control to stabilize the nation so the pipeline could be sustained, the oil men looked for an option. And this same strategic planning about energy secured by dealing with terrorists was continued by the Bush presidents, long before September 11 (Nafeez, 2002: 77). And the administration's strategic oil schemes continued in Iraq.
I predict there will be an energy revolution, and we will look back upon our current War Machine with some embarrassment. It is good news. A confluence of transformative forces is converging to vault us into awareness of the next economic revolution, one we have yet to name. Our next revolution will be more far reaching than the industrial or Internet economy. Our new revolution will be much more profound because it will change how we work and live. We are crossing a threshold that will usher in a new economic era. The newest war is how the oil industry and the oil presidency is resisting the emergence of whole new energy industries. Powerful corporate empires and an oil-addicted America are resisting the coming energy revolution by energizing the war machine. The Texas oil oligarchy wants it black gold.
The Oil and Iraq rationale for this war is being written about in the non-mainstream press, and by a few concerned and outspoken scholars. In this paper, I integrate a set of writings on the relation between oil and the proposed Iraq war (Barns, 2002: Burchill, 2002; Chomsky, 2002; Gonsalves, 2002a, b; Jacobs, 2002; Klare, 2002a, b; Nafeez, 2002; Pal, 2002; Paul, 2002; Sampson, 2002; Tehranian, 2002, Viviano, 2001). The list of people pointing to the war for oil connection continues to grow (see www.PeaceAware.com Links for Peace).
My thesis is that only when the American public reduces its dependency and addiction to an oil-based life style of gas guzzling Sports Utility Vehicles (SUV), throws the oil lobby and oil PAC money out of Washington D.C., and outlaws oil campaign money, will we ever seen an end to American-sponsored oil wars. When this county uses its university science and technology to develop alternatives to the global oil economy, then the OIL wars will stop. The alternatives are available, the world oil reserves are dwindling. It is time to stop resisting a change to an energy economy, whose time is past due.
Several corporate empires fuel the oil war by electing oil
presidents (Hebert, 2000). Bush received $1.5 million from the oil industry
(Gore got
got less than $100,000). Other estimates are $1.7 million for Bush and $133,710
for Gore (Planet
Ark). Enron contributed $736,800
directly to George W. Bush. Enron also donated $888,265 to the Republican
National Committee during the 2000 election (footnote
3, Boje, 2002a).
This is nothing new the Seven Sisters elected presidents and beat the war drums all century long. The seven sisters of oil include Exxon/Mobil, Shell, British Petroleum, Texaco, Chevron, Gulf, & the latest sister, Enron (filling a vacancy in the family left by mergers). OIL is also the automobile industry. New transportation technologies and energy sources have been imagined and will soon break through to be real-ized in our consumer society.
I do considerable research on Enron (See Enron site). During this first Bush administration Enron received waivers from regulations by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission headed by Wendy Gramm who was later appointed to Enron’s Board of Directors. James Barker, the first Bush president’s Secretary of State and former Commerce Secretary Robert A. Mosbacher became consultants for Enron to develop overseas projects after the Gulf War. Retired Army Lt. General Thomas Kelly, who often gave the Pentagon's daily briefing during the Gulf war, was a member of Enron's board of directors.[i]Following the April 14th three day victory tour by former American president George Bush Sr. and his wife Barbara to Kuwait in 1993, Secretary of State Baker, ex-chief of staff John Sununu, and former Pentagon briefer Gen. Thomas Kelly stayed on in Kuwait a couple days with two other administration officials, and two of Bush’s sons (Marvin and Neil) to set up Enron’s 600 million dollar Kuwaiti Electricity Company.[ii] And just one month after leaving government office Barker hustled a billion-dollar contract to rebuild a war-damaged Kuwait power plant, a deal that reportedly net Baker a million dollars and General Kelly between 400.000 and $1.4 million (Grad, 1993: 3; Grady, 1993: A19; Boje, Theatres of Capitalism Book, in press). Enron was a major contributor to both the Bush and Gore parties.
More on Enron - Enron gave $2.44 million in all, $1.76 million to President Bush and his fellow Republicans. Enron and a number of its executives, including Lay, had contributed more money to Bush over his political career than anyone else, an amount exceeding $550,000. Enron gave $100,000 to Bush's inaugural committee, and Lay added another $100,000. Kenneth Lay gave another $290,000 to the Bush presidential campaign. Enron Corporation gave 45% of its soft money to Gore’s Democratic presidential campaign. 30% of Enron PAC money went to Democratic campaigns, and the balance to Republican.
OIL buys more than presidential elections. No fewer than 71 senators and 188 congressmen have been on the Enron gravy train (Rich, 2002). Texas senator Phil Gramm’s wife was on the Enron Board of Directors and Texas senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson’s husband was a partner in Enron’s law firm.[iii] Vice President Cheney and the Energy task force met with Enron representatives six times before the release of Bush's energy policy proposals. In the words of two reporters: “We've got an Enron government" (Burger & Kennedy, 2002: 8).
I submit that the OIL has a vested interest in trying to hold back progress, to resist alternative energy sources, and play king of the energy hill. I submit to you that the O's oil presidency and O's oil lobby have vested interests in keeping our consumer society (our I) oil-based, lest alternative energy sources disrupt O's corporate rule over Life (L) on this planet. Yet it is we who feed the oil economy with every tank full of gas. The oil industry is resisting its ongoing deconstruction, its transmutation into new forms that are not as amenable to central corporate state control. Oil will soon give way to alternatives. Just as coal gave way to oil, oil is now giving way to the next energy source. Why must it always take place with war?
Ironically, this is about the liberation of the free market to usher forth competitive forces to usurp the oil monopolies. If we really had free markets, oil would no longer be king of the energy hill. Peace in the Middle East will come when the oil presidency signs the Kyoto agreement and stops evading fuel emission standards, and stops setting up puppet governments Iran and Iraq.
Why did President Bush refuse to sign the Kyoto agreement? Currently, our US percentage of CO2 emissions is 24% (more statistics on US dependency on fossil fuel). Peace will come when the American public buys hybrid, electric, and fuel cell cars. The technology is available; we can reduce our dependency on the glut of Middle East oil and gas, but turning the market loose on alternatives.
Why did Bush and Cheney decide to go after the Alaska Natural Wildlife Refuge oil reserves and then on to Iraq's reserves? Maybe they see the consequences of the "I" between "O" and "L." The "I" is our life style dependent upon oil above all other options.
This is more than just Bush, Cheney of the Seven Sisters of Oil, this is about You and Me (I).
"I" can be part of the Energy Revolution. We can stand between O and L. On October 2nd "I" agreed to pay El Paso Electric $1.92 extra per month for each 100kWh block of energy consumed. I know it is greenwash, but I am helping to finance wind-generating energy. I know it will not stop the war on Iraq. The greenwash newsletter told me that by participating in the El Paso program, I "will not notice any difference" in my electric service (September 2002 Connections News Letter Vol. 13 # 9 p. 1). The newsletter tells me our "renewable energy will be combined with energy generated from conventional fuels" as if you could somehow separate the electric pulses coming from wind turbines from those of less renewable origin (Tuttle, 2002). By paying a surcharge, I "help preserve our environment" and finance the Hueco Mountains wind turbines in Texas (east of Huron City). I know this is greenwash, a way El Paso Electric can pretend to be spearheading the energy revolution, when the lion's share of its energy is in non-renewable energy sources. Yet, I also feel I must do what I can to reduce my consumption of oil by investing in alternative energy, signing up for fuel cell call, or just riding a bike to work. New Mexico could bring back tax incentives for solar and wind power. We could do this if this really was a free market economy, instead of one controlled by monopoly oil power.
This war is about global energy inequity, and the refusal of the American consumer to change our oil-based life style. It is about the I that refuses to acknowledge the Other in peace. It is about the relation between the rich "I" and the poor "I." The poorest 10% of Americans earns more income than two-thirds of the world population (global inequity). As our oil runs out, we go after other country's oil reserve.
Is the Oil running Out? Some professors in the Business College say never. Others point to the fact, "The planet is currently consuming a billion barrels of oil every 12 days" (Ruppert, 2003). I say it will happen sooner than 'I' thinks. At our current rate of consumption, we will exhaust US oil reserves in ten years, and the world supply is estimated to last just 43 years at current rates of production and consumption. Mr. Pal (2002) charts our situation in comparison to Iraq; we will run out in 10.5 years whereas Iraq's reserves will last 128.9 years (stats come from oil industry figures, BP). Maybe we need non-oil industry stats, but so far they put them out. Using their stats, we can easily see why OIL is something nations are going to WAR over.
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Table 1. Number of Years a Country's Oil Reserve is expected to last
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Source: Pal, 2002 - Calculated using data from http://www.bp.com/downloads/1086/bp_stats_history.xls
Table 1 suggests, Iraq, Kuwait and United Arab Republic, "are likely to last longer than the oil reserves of any other country" (Pal, 2002). By 2020, according to recent Department of Energy calculations, "the United States will need to import 17 million barrels of oil per day" (Klare, 2002b).
Behind the Spectacle facade of heroic war patriotism and fear of terrorism is our oil and gas industry, our oil presidency, and our quite selfish reason for the War on Iraq, our dependency on oil. This me-first attitude that Nelson Mandela, the most revered world leader alive today, may have had in mind when he declared the U.S. is "a threat to world peace" (Mandela, 2002). Mandela also called Cheney, the leader of the War lobby, a "dinosaur." The dinosaur did not adapt to change; the oil industry and oil presidency is not adapting to the energy revolution. The American people do not want this war. Senate, Sen. Robert Byrd, D-West Virginia says the proposed war resolution sought by the White House is just far too broad and is an abdication by his colleagues of their constitutional duty:
"He [President Bush] shall use all the military forces of this country in whatever ways he determines, wherever he determines, whenever he determines and for as long as he determines -- that's the way it's written, lock, stock and barrel," Byrd, the chamber's senior Democrat, said. "Congress might as well just close the doors, put a sign over the doors and say, 'Going fishing.' " (CNN Oct 9 2002; See Text of Byrd's remarks to the senate on the Bush war resolution; commentary by Peace and Social Justice Center).
On October 18th I heard New Mexico gubernatorial candidate, David Bacon speak about the relation between Iraq and Oil. I will paraphrase the session:
Bush and Cheney are oil men. All they can see is that Iraq has the second largest oil reserves in the world. But this is a short term fix to the depletion of oil and natural gas in the U.S. and in the world. The world will run out of oil and gas in another 43 years. David Bacon, the Green Party candidate spoke at length about the relations between New Mexico, Iraq and natural gas. New Mexico has the largest untapped natural gas reserves in the United States. Rival candidates for governor, Richardson and Sanchez, want to continue to lease these reserves to the oil cartel at a 10% royalty rate, rather than develop the gas reserves as New Mexico State revenue and use that money to finance education. Someone who saw the Bacon, Sanchez, Richardson debate commented, that the big moment for him was when Bacon asked his opponents, if they would entertain the idea of raising the lease rate even a little bit. They both replied not at all. Bacon's plan is to have the state of New Mexico develop the natural gas reserves on unleased state land, and to take over the leased lands as leases expire. But the opposition candidates do not want to go against the oil lobby of New Mexico. When the oil lobbyists give candidates money they expect something in return. In New Mexico, lobbyists expect to take the 90% of leases worth billions and pay the state 10%. As one spectator said, "that is like selling your kids education at ten cents on the dollar."
I asked David Bacon, "can we find out the names of the big oil and gas companies that are paying us ten cents on the dollar for the value of these oil leases?"
Bacon replied (paraphrasing)... You can contact the New Mexico Mining and Minerals Department. It should be public record. Then Bacon explained that New Mexico with its untapped natural gas reserves could be the wealthiest state in the union, instead of nearly the poorest. All we have to do is get the oil lobby money out of state and national elections. Then we could develop the natural resources for New Mexico, and use that not only to finance better pay for teachers and a better education for all, but it would pay for transition from an oil economy to sustainable energy (wind farms, bio diesel, etc.). New Mexico could be the richest state in the union if it were not for the oil and gas lobby's' influence on elections.
Fecteau (2002) summarizes these points, as follows:
Bacon said New Mexico was squandering its natural gas reserves by granting leases "at 10 cents on the dollar" to private companies. "We're sitting on a gold mine," Bacon said. "Our state-owned natural gas reserves are the second largest in the nation. They're worth literally billions of dollars. If we capture those reserves and put them into our educational system, we'll have more money."
I asked David Bacon, would you expound a bit on the connection between oil and Iraq?
Bacon replied (paraphrasing), The first oil shock was in 1973. After than, the oil cartel went after every oil reserve in the world. Iraq currently has about $300 billion in oil and gas contracts with France, Russia and China. The war is about the US installing a government-in-waiting after the Iraq war that will reassign those contracts to the big oil cartel. Those contracts are worth $1.1 trillion dollars.
Clearly Bacon's plan is to reduce our dependency on oil and to move to sustainable energy sources. The tragedy is that we do not need to be so hyper-dependent upon oil that the only recourse is yet another war. Alternative sources of energy are being blocked by the oil and gas industry and by politicians elected by their money. We could easily produce enough solar power to no longer concern ourselves with Middle East oil. Tax incentives would revitalize solar panels, instead of letting oil and utility companies buy up low cost providers, so the technology is out of reach to the average household. We could repeal the 1937Harrison Drug act that prohibits industrial hemp production; it was a ploy by Pierre DuPont and William Randolph Hearst to keep their wealth in tact (See Industrial Hemp info). They ran lurid news stories linking violent crime to marijuana use, and pushed for the 1937 law. Solar, fuel-cell, wind-power, and hemp could be developed to take the place of oil; the time is coming when this will happen; the oil lobby will not be able to hold back the energy revolution.
The Bush-Cheney energy strategy reports makes is clear that in a decade our oil and auto industries will go through a major revolution and U.S. consumers will have to give to change oil-based life styles (see Cheney, National Energy Policy Report, 2001). The White House Energy Report says, “ANWR [Alaska Natural Wildlife Refuge] oil production could equal 46 years of oil production from Iraq” (Cheney Report on Energy, 2001: Ch 5, p. 9).
Instead of opening up energy alternatives to oil, the oil men do what they have always done. When George Bush Jr. and Richard Cheney took office their pre-election drafted plan called for them to go after the Alaska Natural Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) oil and gas, then to go after Iraq. The report began as a Cheney think piece, 12 years ago, and was funded by "Gulf Oil, the chemical and munitions industries, and Rockwell International, the defense and aerospace conglomerate" (Jacobs, 2002).
ANWR - Currently, Senate Bill 388, the National Energy Security Act, introduced by Senator Murkowski (R-AK), if passed, would open ANWR to gas and oil drilling. Vice President Cheney’s Halliburton Company (the world’s largest oil service company--since 1995) has many Alaska ventures that would profit if the ANWR were opened to drilling. In January 2002, Bush’s Interior Secretary Gail Norton announced that oil drilling wouldn't harm polar bears on ANWR's coastal plain, rejecting two studies showing that it would; she also imposed a gag order on all Fish and Wildlife Service employees preventing them from making public comments on the Refuge, and disparaged the agency's research showing oil drilling in the refuge to be incompatible with wildlife (see ANWR note 1).
The Oil Presidency - On October 7th, President Bush gave a speech on Iraq that masks the root causes for the Iraq War: "Oil and Empire." The Professors for Peace Web site has a deconstruction of Bush's speech (quotes are from Institute for Public Accuracy):
Bush: "The world has also tried economic sanctions and watched Iraq use billions of dollars in illegal oil revenues to fund more weapons purchases, rather than providing for the needs of the Iraqi people."
Toensing: "Yes, and all the while, the U.S. and Britain were undermining the logic of sanctions and inspections by speaking of regime change, giving the regime no incentive to cooperate."Mahajan: "The government-instituted food ration program in Iraq has been widely praised, characterized as 'second to none' by Tun Myat, current U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq. Money that comes in under the Oil for Food program cannot, despite constant allegations, be used for weapons purchases -- all proceeds from such sales are deposited to an escrow account in New York which is controlled by the U.N. Sanctions Committee. The government of Iraq cannot touch any of this money."
Bush: "We did not ask for this present challenge, but we accept it. Like other generations of Americans, we will meet the responsibility of defending human liberty against violence and aggression. By our resolve, we will give strength to others. By our courage, we will give hope to others. By our actions, we will secure the peace, and lead the world to a better day."
Phyllis Bennis, author of the just-released book Before & After: U.S. Foreign Policy and the September 11 Crisis and a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies: "President Bush's speech ignored Congress, and instead was aimed at U.S. public opinion (where his support is dwindling) and international allies in the U.N. (where the U.S. is significantly isolated). It was designed to divert attention from the real reasons for this coming war: oil and empire. It is a war designed to rewrite the political map of the Middle East, and is not dependent on the particular threat posed by a particular dictator. The crimes of the Iraqi regime are serious and longstanding -- back to the days of massive U.S. economic and military support, and U.S. provision of the biological seed stock for the anthrax and other germs President Bush warned us about. But launching a massive bombing campaign against Baghdad, a city of more than 5 million inhabitants-- grandmothers, kindergarten classes, teenagers -- will not secure human rights for those living and dying under those bombs."
Iraq is the 4th Oil War. Oil wars are fought to perpetuate the suicidal Energy Economy Spectacle, to keep the global economy in tow to the Energy Sisters (Exxon/Mobil, Shell, British Petroleum, Texaco, Chevron, Gulf, & the latest sister, Enron) can be atop the global corporate predatory pecking order. Oil wars are fought because the oil-addicted nations of the world can not bear to change their consumer life styles. If this Iraq war happens, it will be the 4th oil war in 50 years. Kroth (2002) argues that Iraq is a tragic projection of Bush Jr., to avenge Bush Sr.; "After all, he tried to kill my dad!"
When President Bush said Saddam Hussein 'tried to kill my Dad,' what is projected in that remark is that George Bush senior attempted to kill Saddam Hussein first. He made numerous attempts, and in his zeal he killed 186,000 Iraqis in Operation Desert Storm, but he missed Saddam.
The following is a summary of the seven wars fought in past 50 years in Middle East (see Tehranian, 2002); At least 4 are Oil Wars
- 1953 -1st OIL WAR - Iran nationalized its oil industry in 1951, and in 1953, a CIA supported coup replaced a democratically elected government with the Shah's dictatorship.
- In 1951 the government of Premier Mossadegh nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. A U.S.-directed coup overthrew Mossadegh. Iran's highly profitable oil was turned over to a four-nation consortium. The U.S. share was 40 per cent. (David Horowitz, Free World Colossus, pp. 187ff.)
- 1967 - Egypt, Syria, and Jordan pre-emptively invaded Israel. They were roundly defeated.
- 1973 - Egypt's Anwar Sadat took Israel by surprise on Yom Kippur and made advances in the Sinai. Israelis pushed back the Egyptian forces close to Cairo.
- 1979 - Iraq with the support the West, Soviet Union, and the conservative Arab states invaded Iran. A bloody war ensued lasting for eight years from 1980 to 1988. Nearly 1 million were killed; another million were maimed. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait paid some $60 billion to support Iraq.
- 1990 - 2nd OIL WAR - Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the second Persian Gulf War of 1991. Iraq's defeat led to UN economic sanctions, U. S. imposed no-fly zones in southern and northern Iraq, and a protracted war of nerves between the Anglo-American and Iraqi forces.
- U.S. Brig. General William Looney, who directed the bombing of Iraq in the late 1990s - If they turn on their radars we're going to blow up their goddamn SAMs [surface-to- air missiles]. They know we own their country. We own their airspace... We dictate the way they live and talk. And that's what's great about America right now. It's a good thing, especially when there's a lot of oil out there we need.
- 2001 - 3rd OIL WAR - 9-11 - terrorist attacks on the US and invasion of Afghanistan and the fall of the Taliban regime. The war ensured a route other than Iran for the transport of Central Asian oil to the sea. Afghanistan. Began with Soviet invasion in 1979 and the Mujahedin resistance movement. Supported by the United States arms, Saudi petrodollars, and Pakistan military leadership, the Mujahedin finally drove the Soviets out in 1989. Taliban conquered 90 percent of Afghanistan by 1995 and became the base for the Al Qaida.
- "Chevron, which has successfully developed the Tengiz oil fields in the Caspian Sea in neighboring Kazakhstan, is well poised to expand into Uzbekistan. Shell has recently completed oil explorations in the country. In Turkmenistan, on Afghanistan's northern frontier, ExxonMobil owns a 40% stake in the Burun oil field. UK-based Trinity Energy committed to investing over $400 million for gas exploration in Uzbekistan over the next 40 years" (Green Press).
- "Prior to September 11, United States policy toward the Taliban was largely influenced by oil. In a new book published in Paris, "Bin Laden, la verite interdite" ("Bin Laden, the forbidden truth"), former French intelligence officer Jean-Charles Brisard and journalist Guillaume Dasquie document a cozy relationship between George W. Bush and the Taliban. The book quotes John O'Neill, former director of anti-terrorism for the FBI, who thought the U.S. State Department, acting on behalf of United States and Saudi oil interests, interfered with FBI efforts to track down Osama bin Laden... Because of the instability in the Persian Gulf, Cheney zeroed in on the world's other major source of oil, the Caspian Sea, whose resources were estimated at $4 trillion by U.S. News and World Report." (Marjorie Cohn, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, 2001).
- 2002 - 4th OIL WAR - Proposed war on Iraq by Bush administration.
- "Halliburton, the largest US oil services company, is among a significant number of US companies that have sold oil industry equipment to Iraq since the UN relaxed sanctions two years ago. From 1995 until August this year Halliburton's chief executive officer was Dick Cheney, US secretary of defense during the Gulf war and now Republican vice-presidential running mate of George W. Bush" (Green Press).
Ahmad (2002) observes that Iraq remains in a continuous state of war. Oil Wars make money for the oil industry and weapons industry; both industries sell to both sides. There are reasons why the oil corporations want access to the oil reserves of Iraq. Burchill (2002) suggests the War on Iraq has two goals:
(1) economic: huge profits for energy corporations, construction firms, arms producers, as well as petrodollars recycled to US treasury, etc; and
(2) it's a lever of global geo-political control. For those trying to understand the motives behind US behavior towards Iraq, it is impossible to underestimate the importance which oil has in the minds of Washington's strategic planners.
I have a few reasons to add.
The oil industry is a our king maker. Oil money elects presidents and vice presidents who promise the American public that they can have all the oil they need for their SUVs. "In all, Big Oil gave $26 million to Bush, Cheney and their fellow Republicans in the 2000 election campaign" (editorial). War makes money for oil and weapons corporations.
War is a way to keep the American media focus away from Enrongate. Without a war, Enrongate would be for Bush, what Watergate was for Nixon. The Oil Whitehouse is run by Oil and Gas executives and former Enron executives; five Bush administration executives worked for Enron (see list). Bush had two deals with Enron and ran an energy company that is in an Enron-type scandal (Boje, 2002a). Vice President Cheney ran the largest oil services provider in the world (now under investigation for accounting trickery). This is the oil presidency, one that sees economic opportunity in warring on Iraq.
A United States-led attack that ousted Saddam Hussein would mean a bonanza for US oil companies long banished from Iraq. Oil deals between Iraq and France, Russia and other countries would be scuttled and world petroleum markets reshuffled, industry officials and leaders of the Iraqi opposition say. (Morgan & Ottaway, 2002).
The Oil War is also a way to deflect American attention away from our economy. Nagourney and Elder (2002) reported the results of NY Times/CBS poll (released Oct 6) in which most Americans say the economy is in the worst shape in nearly a decade.
The number of Americans who approved of the way Mr. Bush has handled the economy — 41 percent — was the lowest it has been in his presidency... Two-thirds of Americans say they approve of the United States using military power to oust Mr. Hussein. A majority of Americans say that Mr. Bush has a clear plan to deal with Iraq; by contrast, a majority say the White House does not have a clear plan to deal with terrorism at home.
On October 7th, Senator Domenici (New Mexico) said we should not blame Bush for the recession, and must support the Iraq war (8.11.2002).
IRAQ War and Oil - Iraq has 112.5 billion barrels of oil reserves (2nd only to Saudi Arabia and 11% of the world's total reserves). The U.S. Energy Department estimates Iraq has 22 billion barrels in undiscovered oil reserves.
Shouldn't we be having a vigorous debate about the oil politics fueling this conflict? After all, the five permanent member of the United Nations Security Council are all scrambling for economic control of Iraq's oil reserves (Gonsalves, 2002a).
Oil has always been an important factor in the USA - Iraq conflict (Pal, 2002).
Oil has something to do with the push by the oil presidency to go to war (Morgan & Ottaway, 2002; Mackay, 2002). Iraq is second only to Saudi Arabia as the world's most profitable oil and gas source. Bush had a plan about Iraq invasion before becoming president (Mackay, 2002). Why? Eisenhower believed it was because of corporate interest in the oil resources:
In a staff discussion 44 years ago, President Eisenhower described "the campaign of hatred against us [in the Arab world], not by the governments but by the people". His National Security Council outlined the basic reasons: the US supports corrupt and oppressive governments and is "opposing political or economic progress" because of its interest in controlling the oil resources of the region. (Chomsky, 2002).
According to the Center for Public Integrity, the top 100 officials in the Bush White House have put the majority of their personal investments, up to $144.6 million, into the old-guard energy sector (Gonsalves, 2002b).
Just as importantly, access to Iraqi oil would also make the US less reliant upon - and therefore less supportive of - the regime in Saudi Arabia. The geo-political dynamics of the Middle East would be transformed. If Russia and France maintain their inside track on Iraqi oil, then US corporations will be partially shut out from an enormous resource prize. No US administration is likely to accept that scenario (Burchill, 2002).
The US imports between 2 million and 3 million barrels of oil a day from the Middle East. In fact, the 112 billion barrels of oil reserves that Iraq possesses focuses the mind very clearly in favour of putting a friendly regime in place in Baghdad (Barns, 2002).
Vice President Cheney, after consultation with Enron, has an energy strategy to lesson US dependence on imported oil by 2020. There was an go-get-the-Iraq oil plan written before Bush took office; it is called the National Energy Policy Report, 163-page released May 2001. It is also known as "the Cheney report." According to the report the US oil consumption of 50% imported product will jump to 2/3rds by 2020. The Cheney report recommends drilling for oil and gas in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
As the United States prepares for war with Iraq, a report commissioned early in George Bush's presidency has surfaced, showing that the US knew it was running out of oil and foreshadowing the possible need for military intervention to secure supplies.. [the report] details an alternative basis for the US "war on terrorism", as well as the apparent basis for much of the Bush Administration's present foreign policy, its so-called oil agenda (SMH Oct 7, 2002).
And despite all the talk of drilling in Alaska, the report makes one thing clear: Most of America's future oil supplies will have to come from the Persian Gulf countries, which alone possess sufficient production potential to meet ever-growing US energy requirements. Thus, the report calls on the White House to place a high priority on increasing US access to Persian Gulf supplies (Klare, 2002b).
What is the corporate motive? The Iraq war lets the top five oil and gas corporations move in on Iraq reserves (i.e. Exxon-Mobil, Royal Dutch-Shell, British Petroleum-Amoco, Chevron-Texaco and TotalElfFina). "These fields may harbor the world's largest remaining reservoir of unmapped and unclaimed petroleum" and the oil/gas corporations are in a frenzy as the "most promising fields to oil firms in Europe, Russia and China" get first pick on an estimated 44 billion barrels of oil, contracts worth an estimated $1.1 trillion. (Klare, 2002b). The old guard oil and gas spectacle corporations want Iraq reserves and do not want the U.S. to develop energy alternatives.
US and UK companies long held a three-quarter share in Iraq’s oil production, but they lost their position with the 1972 nationalization of the Iraq Petroleum Company (Paul, 2002).
In a 1998 speech at the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, Chevron CEO Kenneth Derr candidly remarked: "Iraq possesses huge reserves of oil and gas - reserves I'd love Chevron to have access to." He then voiced his support for the current sanctions regime. Condoleezza Rice, perhaps the president's most influential national security adviser, was a board member of Chevron before going to work in the White House. Chevron even named one of its supertankers in her honor (Gonsalves, 2002a).
If Saddam were toppled, the Western oil companies led by Exxon expect to have much readier access to those oil reserves, making them less dependent on Saudi oilfields and the future of the Saudi royal family. The US President and Vice-President, both oilmen, cannot be unaware of those interests... The Anglo-American coup in Iran in 1953, which toppled the radical Mossadeq and brought back the Shah, enabled Western companies to regain control of Iranian oil: but the Iranian people never forgave the intervention, and took their revenge on the Shah in 1979. The belief that invading Iraq will produce a more stable Middle East, and give the West easy access to its oil wealth, is dangerously simplistic (Sampson, 2002).
When Iraq's oil comes fully back on stream, as many as 5 million barrels of oil (or 6.5%) could be added to the world's daily supply. The implications of this for existing suppliers, the global spot price, economic growth, OPEC and the world's consumers are enormous (Burchill, 2002).
And here's the rub: The Iraqi dissidents chosen by Washington to lead the new regime in Baghdad have threatened to cancel all contracts awarded to firms in countries that fail to assist in the overthrow of Saddam. "We will review all of these agreements," said the head of the London office of the Iraqi National Congress (a dissident umbrella group backed by the United States), and those signed by Saddam Hussein will be considered invalid unless endorsed by the new government. Not surprisingly, US oil firms are expected to be awarded most of the Hussein-era contracts voided by the successor regime (Klare, 2002b).
Oil companies hope to gain production rights over these rich fields of Iraqi oil, worth hundreds of billions of dollars (Paul, 2002).
For U.S. oil interests, conquest of Iraq would be a good insurance policy against a possible loss of Saudi Arabia (Tehranian, 2002).
"Iraq exported 69% of its oil to the US a year ago, but the figure has dropped to only 16% since the end of May" due to the calls by Bush administration to go to war with Iraq (Tran, 2002). The oil companies are also resisting the Iraqi surcharge of 20 to 50 cents on each barrel.
Source: EIA Country Analysis Brief - Iraq
IRAQ War and HALLIBURTON - Vice President Richard B. Cheney was CEO of Halliburton Company (1995 to 2000) which is the world's largest provider of services the oil industry, the fifth-largest military contractor, largest non-union employer in the US, and is under investigation by the SEC for accounting trickery. Yes, the accountant was Arthur Andersen, who agreed to count cost overruns as revenues, though clients would probably not pay for them. This added $89 million to the 1998 revenues and $234 million in another year.
Halliburton also has numerous alleged human rights abuses including the use of forced labor in Myanmar Burma (also in Angola). Halliburton also did business with Iran and Iraq through its subsidiaries which Cheney was CEO (Lynch, 2001). Doing business with Iraq was supposed to be illegal for U.S. corporations after the Gulf War, but is done anyway through partnerships, through subsidiaries, and even legally under the veil of the U.N.-run Iraq-oil-for-food program. Halliburton did business with Iraq worth $73 million:
According to oil industry executives and confidential United Nations records, however, Halliburton held stakes in two firms that signed contracts to sell more than $73 million in oil production equipment and spare parts to Iraq while Cheney was chairman and chief executive officer of the Dallas-based company.,,, The Halliburton subsidiaries joined dozens of American and foreign oil supply companies that helped Iraq increase its crude exports from $4 billion in 1997 to nearly $18 billion in 2000 (Lynch, 2001).
Financial Times of London, between September 1988 and last winter, Cheney, as CEO of Halliburton, oversaw $23.8 million of business contracts for the sale of oil-industry equipment and services to Iraq through two of its subsidiaries, Dresser Rand and Ingersoll-Dresser Pump, which helped rebuild Iraq's war-damaged petroleum-production infrastructure... Brown and Root, a Halliburton subsidiary, was fined $3.8 million for reexporting U.S. goods to Libya in violation of U.S. sanctions. (Reality Bites, Nov 13 2000). Brown & Root did $3.8 billion a year in Pentagon contracts.
When Dick Cheney was CEO of the oilfield supply firm Halliburton, the company did $23.8 million in business with Saddam Hussein, the evildoer "prepared to share his weapons of mass destruction with terrorists... in 1991, after the Gulf War, Cheney told a group of oil industry executives he was emphatically against trying to topple Hussein" (Ivins, 2002).
Cheney left Halliburton with a $34 million retirement package July/August 2000 when he became the GOP's vice-presidential candidate. As CEO he earned $65 million in stock options and salary.
President Bush is also being accused of accounting trickery, as well as insider trickery when he was director of the Harken Energy company. Bush sold 212,000 shares of Harken just before the financial bad news was release to other investors. Bash was a member of the board when accounting tricks were used to create $7.9 million in revenues through the sale of a subsidiary (Aloha Petroleum) using cash loaned by Harken insiders. the SEC force Harken to subtract out the Aloha revenues. Arthur Andersen was the auditor for the Aloha transaction.
Bush, Enron, and Iraq - The old guard energy industries (oil, gas, coal and nuclear) do not want solar or wind energy to topple their kingdom.
ALTERNATIVES - The Energy Department estimates that wind in the Dakotas alone could meet two-thirds of America's electricity needs and that Texas could meet the rest. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, 12,000 square miles in Nevada alone could produce enough solar electricity to power the nation! (Gonsalves, 2002b).
ENRON - Bush's energy bill ended up including $35 billion over the next 10 years for the oil, gas, coal and nuclear industries, which amounts to about $125 per American taxpayer, according to Bivens. "By contrast, wind production tax credits have, to date, cost each American about 19 cents" (Gonsalves, 2002b).
In, sum the War on Iraq, is the latest in a series of oil wars. Iraq is just part of the energy industry transformation, a transition of power and wealth that the oil lobby and oil presidency is actively resisting.
When Iraq is conquered and once again, the U.S. installs a puppet government, then 1.1 trillion dollars in oil reserve contracts will go to the seven sisters of oil; there will be done. The utility industries, to ol industry, and the auto industry are resisting the inevitable transformation. They do not want the American public to know that there are alternatives to petroleum. We can put up solar panels, change the laws restricting industrial hemp, put up wind mills, and change the emission standards on SUVs. There are solutions to Iraq that do not involve yet another oil war.
The sticky oily footprints are all over this latest oil war. The American public in New Mexico (in calls to our Senators and Congress people) opposes this war by a margin of 5 to 1.
================================
Congressman Joe Skeen, 2302 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC
20515-3102
joe.skeen@mail.house.gov
Las Cruces office 527-1771
Washington office 202-225-2365
Senator Jeff Bingaman, 703 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC
20510-3102
senator_bingaman@bingaman.senate.gov
Las Cruces office 523-6561
Washington office 202-224-5521
Senator Pete Domenici, 328 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC
20510-3101
senator_domenici@domenici.senate.gov
Las Cruces office 526-5475
Washington office 202-224-6621
Writing about Peace in Iraq
Barns, Greg (2002). Bush should stop eyeing Gulf oil and look to his allies. Sydney Morning Herald, September 25.
Beaumont, Peter & Faisal Israel (2002). Carve-up of oil riches begins. The Observer. Sunday November 3. http://www.observer.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4538509,00.html
Boje, D. M. (2002a). Critical
Dramaturgical Analysis of Enron Antenarratives and Metatheatre. Plenary
presentation to 5th International Conference on Organizational
Discourse: From Micro-Utterances to Macro-Inferences, Wednesday 24th -
Friday 26th July (London).
http://cbae.nmsu.edu/~dboje/papers/ENRON_critical_dramaturgical_analysis.htm
Boje, D. M. (2002c) Study Guide on Games of Power and Exercises in Theatrics of Power and Leadership for the Business College Classroom
Boje writing about spectacle and festival in the athletic apparel industry http://cbae.nmsu.edu/~dboje/AA/academicsstudyingwriting.htm#bojewriting
Boje, D. M. (2001l) "Global Theatrics of Capitalism." Contains examples of culture jamming art, missing absent referent photos, and analysis of relation between Athletic Apparel Industry spectacle of disinformation, and carnivalesque acts of street theater resistance. Appendix of 10 College of Business theatrics training experiential exercises
Boje, D. M. (2001e). Carnivalesque Resistance to Global Spectacle: A critical postmodern theory of public administration. Accepted for Publication for September issue of Administrative Theory and Praxis, special issue on Radical Organization Theory.
Boje, D. M. & G. A. Rosile (2000). Festival, Spectacle & Carnival - presentation to 2000 Academy of Management.
Bowering, George (1973). At War With the US. Vancouver: Talon.
Burchill, Scott (2002). Iraq, oil and Australia. Based on speech to Public Meeting held in Melbourne, Australia on 26 September.
Bush (1987). - NEED COPY OF -> "George Bush, the Iran Arms Deals, and Oil." Article for Pacific News Service, December 20, 1987. Published in the Oakland Tribune (December 22, 1987), and the Baltimore Sun (December 27, 1987). Judged to be the fifth most under-reported news story of 1987 by "Project Censored" of the Journalism Department, California State University at Sonoma.
Cheney, Richard (2001). Report on the National Energy Policy Development Group. Quote is from Ch 5, p. 9 http://www.whitehouse.gov/energy/
Chomsky, Noam (2002). Drain the Swamp and There Will Be No More Mosquitoes. Guardian/UK, September 9.
Dreyfus, Robert (2002). Tinker, Banker, NeoCon, Spy: Ahmed Chalabi's long and winding road from (and to?) Baghdad. Vol 13 (21). http://www.prospect.org/print/V13/21/dreyfuss-r.html
Fecteau, Loie (2002). Richardson, Sanchez Tout Their Experience Wednesday, October 16, 2002.
Gonsalves, Sean (2002a). Corporate Interest in Iraqi Oil. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 20 August 2002. Sean is a columnist with the Cape Cod Times
Gonsalves, Sean (2002b). Connecting the energy dots to Afghanistan. Alternet. September 5.
Hebert, Josef (2000). Oil industry backs Bush's presidency bid. Associated Press. http://www.amarillonet.com/stories/080100/bus_080100-35.shtml
Ivins, Molly (2002). Cheney calling for invastion of Iraq a bit off base. September 3. Naples Daily News.
Jacobs, Ron (2002). "Without Struggle, There is No Progress" Counter Punch. Oct 4 http://www.counterpunch.org/jacobs1004.html
Klare, Michael T. (2002a). Washington's Oilpolitik. Salon. July 18. Klare is professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass
Klare, Michael T. (2002b). Oiling the wheels of war. The Nation, October 7.
Korten, Daivid (2002). Living Economies for a Living Planet.
Kroth, Jerry (2002). Iraq as an American projection October 7, 2002. Counter Punch
Lynch, Colum (2001). Firm's Iraq deals greater than Cheney has said. Washington Post, Jun 23.
Mackay, Neil (2002). Bush planned Iraq 'regime change' before becoming president. Sunday Herald, 15 September.
Mandela, Nelson (2002). No
more Mr. Nice Guy. The Guardian. As reported by Gary
Younge
Thursday September 19, 2002.
Morgan, Dan & David B. Ottaway (2002). Bonanza awaits US fuel companies in Iraq. In Iraqi oil scenario, oil is key issue: U.S. drillers eye huge petroleum pool. September 15.
Nagourney, Adam & Janet Elder (2002). Public Says Bush Needs to Pay Heed to Weak Economy. NY Times. October 7, 2002 http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/07/politics/07POLL.html?pagewanted=print&position-bottom\10/07/02
Oil & Gas International (2002). Oil companies jockeying for primacy in a post-Hussein Iraq. http://oilandgasinternational.com/departments/world_industry_news/sep02_hussein.html
Pal, Parthapratim (2002). USA-Iraq conflict: The oil angles. Network Ideas. Sept 2.
Paul, James A. (2002). Iraq: the struggle for oil. Paul is directory of global Policy Forum, August.
Rohrabacher, Dana (1999). Statement of the Congressman, "U.S. Policy Toward Afghanistant," senate Foreign Relations Subcommitteee on South Asia, 14 April.
Ruppert, Michael C.l (2003). Dis-Integration. From the Wilderness http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/022803_dis-integration.html
Sampson, Anthony (2002). West's Greed for Oil Fuels Saddam Fever.Observer-Guardian, 11 August
Tehranian Majid (2002). The seventh oil war. The Iranian. September 18. Tehranian is professor of international communication at the University of Hawaii
Tran, Mark (2002). US slashes Iraqi oil imports. Guardian Unlimited. Tuesday August 20.
Tuttle, Chris (2002). Renewable Energy: Wind Power. Paper Presented at the Rural Utilities Service Electric Engineering Seminar. March 5-6, 2002. Dallas, TX.
Viviano, Frank (2001). Energy future rides on U.S. war/Conflict centered in world's oil patch San Francisco Chronicle. 26 September. http://www.chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/pol/wtc/vivianoenergyfuture.html
ENDNOTES
[i] One director, John Urquhart, earned more than $ 490,000 in consulting fees from Enron. Another netted $ 72,000 for advice on its European business. Two others worked for non-profits on the receiving end of Enron generosity. Then there were the obscenely large salaries that board members earned -- $ 300,000-plus in cash and stocks, nearly three times the average for big firms (USA Today, 2002).
[i] No author (1993). Beating the Bushes. Newsday. View Related Topics. August 30,, City Edition, Pg. 18
[ii] Hersh in the Sep 6 1993 issue of New Yorker alleges that Neil Bush is involved with two Houston-based oil equipment firms that are eyeing Kuwaiti contracts and that Marvin Bush stayed to talk business with the Ministry of Electricity and Water. Bush’s son Neil was part of yet another scandal, has mismanagement of the Colorado's Silverado Bank which also collapsed.
Unfinished Work
BOOKS:
Festivalism at Work: Toward Ahimsa in Production and Consumption by David M. Boje email dboje@nmsu.edu November 2, 1999; Updated September 7, 2000 Essay prepared for Jerry Biberman and Mike Whitty (Eds.) The Spirit and Work Reader University of Scranton Press, to be published 2000.
Sage http://www.sagepub.co.uk/shopping/Detail.asp?id=9826 or See Amazon.com listing for U.S. soft cover.
BOOK ON LINE - Spectacles and Festivals of Organization: Managing Ahimsa Production and Consumption. To be published by Hampton Press, 2001 (To access book, please use ID=aggie359 PASS=adventure).
Nafeez, Ahmed Mosaddeq (2002). The War on Freedom: How and why America was attacked, September 11th, 2001. UK: Institute for policy Research & Development (Media Messenger Books). See also http://www.globalresearch.org/view_article.php?aid=342536303
LINKS
Global Exchange background reports on Why we should not go to War against Iraq
Professors for Peace http://groups.yahoo.com/group/professors_for_peace/messages
Understanding America's War for Oil Target Iraq
Industrial Hemp info http://www.sodakhemp.org/votehemp/vote1.htm and http://shirtmagic.com/whyhemp.html and http://supak.com/hemp/hemp.htm and http://www.ida.net/users/donovan/mj_hemp/hemp.htm http://www.marijuana.reallybites.com/Industrial%20hemp%20Facts.htm
Main site http://www.zianet.com/boje/1/