OntheWilderSide

Troop escalation and Iraq oil grab by U.S. corporations will prolong the Iraq war, say Greens

New ‘blood for oil’ deal will give companies like Exxon Mobil, Shell, and Chevron lucrative contracts to drill for Iraqi oil — and will aggravate the Iraq civil war

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Green Party leaders warned that President Bush’s plan to send 20,000 more U.S. troops to Iraq will lead to an expanded civil war, more civilian and troop casualties, and a prolonged occupation.

“An indefinite occupation is obviously the White House’s plan, in light of news that the Iraqi government is about to push through a deal giving foreign oil companies like Exxon Mobil, Shell, and Chevron the right to exploit Iraq’s oil reserves,” said Fred Vitale, Michigan Green candidate for State Representative (District 3) in the 2006 election.  “High U.S. troop levels will be necessary for years to come to make it profitable for these corporations to drill for and export Iraqi oil.  Furthermore, rage in Iraq and throughout the Middle East will be inflamed as Iraqis witness the theft of their resources.”

The new law, which allows “production-sharing agreements” (PSAs) granting Western companies 30-year contracts to extract Iraqi oil, has been vetted by the U.S.  government, U.S. oil companies, and the International Monetary Fund (“Blood and oil: How the West will profit from Iraq’s most precious commodity,” The Independent,
January 7, 2007 http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2132574.ece.

The PSAs permit the oil companies to bleed 75% of the profits from Iraqi oil without requiring them to reinvest money in Iraq itself.  The deal reinforces the sentiment of most Iraqis that control over Iraqi oil was behind the invasion all along (Monthly Review, December 2006, http://www.monthlyreview.org/nfte1206.htm; this belief (contrary to U.S. propaganda about Islam, terrorist infiltration, and hatred of democracy) has been the main motivation for Iraqi resistance to U.S. forces.

“The ‘blood for oil’ deal proves what antiwar protesters have been saying since 2002, when President Bush announced his intention to invade Iraq and White House officials falsified information about WMDs and Iraqi connections with al-Qaeda,” said Rebecca Rotzler, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States and Deputy Mayor of New Paltz, New York.  “This was a war to gain political control of the world’s second largest
oil-producing nation, and it’s why the Bush Administration intends to maintain the occupation as long as possible.  It also suggests what was on the agenda when Vice President Cheney held his secret meetings with oil company representatives to determine America’s national energy policy.”

The Green Party of the United States has called for immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, and has urged Democrats in Congress to cut off further military funding for the occupation.  Greens have also endorsed impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney, citing massive and numerous abuses of power, including deception to justify the invasion of Iraq.

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