The world has lost Iraq's oil

[AntiFascist]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2004-10-05-iraqi-oil_x.htm

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The costs and benefits of America's occupation of Iraq vary, according to proponents and opponents, except when it comes to oil exports. The U.S.-led invasion has resulted in the loss of an average of 2 million barrels a day of Iraqi oil from world markets. That is a significant number with huge consequences for economies around the globe.

Instead of rosy promises by the neoconservatives of the Bush administration who pushed for the invasion — partly on the premise that they would turn it into America's private gasoline-pumping station — the contrary has occurred.

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For Iraqis, the consequences are economically tragic and emotionally humiliating. The U.S. has openly admitted that its 140,000 troops have lost control of major chunks of Iraq. In his most recent comments, Secretary of State Colin Powell acknowledged that the insurgency in Iraq is "getting worse." The most immediate impact is on Iraq's oil industry, which insurgents have targeted as a way of opposing the U.S.-led occupation and hobbling the interim government ahead of planned elections. Rightly or wrongly, the tactic is working.

Pipelines and oil terminals from the northern fields near Kirkuk to the southern export terminals near Basra are being blown up daily by various groups of insurgents. At last count, the northern pipeline that carries oil to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan has been blown up 37 times in 12 months. Terminals in the south have been attacked at least 10 times, in effect shutting down all exports of crude oil.

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What's worse is that a large chunk of the oil revenues is not accounted for because of graft, theft, mayhem and the near-total absence of transparency within the transitional government of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, according to aid agencies, which say they cannot see where the money is going. Oil traders go further. They say large amounts of oil are being stolen and smuggled onto ships, with Iraqi officials and traders splitting the returns. The Iraqi people and economy see no "trickle down" effect.

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[teryang]

1. They never had control

while the statute of Saddam was being pulled down by Chalabi thugs, Iraqis were spitting, shooting and shouting at Americans just a block or two away.

It's all part of the plan:

from http://www.prouty.org/

<In 1948, just after the creation of the state of Israel, the port of Haifa was closed, and those pipelines went dry. Iraq was forced to find another way to the sea and essential shipping. Later the expanding oil production of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait required an outlet to the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. They built the largest oil pipeline in the world - i.e., TAP-LINE.

Later, when Israel felt it necessary to invade Lebanon "to protect its northern border," it encountered TAP-LINE when it closed the port of Sidon. That enormous oil transportation system was closed to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and they have had to create an alternative to their markets in Europe.

These pipelines from Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia remain closed. Needless to say, this Israeli action stirs up the Arab world and decreases the availability of oil for us all. As a result, Israel's "Lebanon policy" and its Syrian "proxy war" are not exactly the result of "terrorist" activities alone. Even Syria has closed the alternative Iraqi oil outlet that once ran across its territory until it too was closed in 1975.

If anyone is looking for the cause of this never-ending turmoil in these Middle Eastern countries, he might do well to read such sources as the "ARAMCO Handbook" or other publications that contain the facts and not contrived, fanciful alternatives. Old pilots have long memories. >

L. FLETCHER PROUTY
Alexandria