07.24.08
Iraq/Afghanistan lowdown
RG
http://www.ericmargolis.com/archives/2008/06/at_last_some_tr.php
June 23, 2008
At last, some truth about Iraq and Afghanistan
Paris – After a sea of lies and a tsunami of propaganda, the ugly
truth behind the Iraq and Afghanistan wars finally emerged into full
view this week.
Four major western oil companies, Exxon, Mobil, Shell, BP and Total,
are about to sign US-brokered no-bid contracts with the US-installed
Baghdad regime to begin exploiting Iraqs oil fields. Saddam Hussein
had kicked these firms out three decades ago when he nationalized
Iraqs foreign-owned oil industry for the benefit of Iraqs national
development. The Baghdad regime is turning back the clock.
This agreement comes as talks are continuing between the Washington
and its Baghdad client regime over future US basing rights in Iraq.
After some face-saving Iraqi objections, it is expected that Baghdad
will sign a compact with Washington giving US forces control of Iraq
and its air space in a manner very similar to Great Britains colonial
arrangement with Iraq.
Interestingly, the same oil companies that used to exploit Iraq when
it was a British colony are now returning. As former US Federal
Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan recently admitted, the Iraq war was
all about oil. VP Dick Cheney stated in 2003 that the invasion of Iraq
was about oil, and for the sake of Israel.
Meanwhile, according to Pakistani and Indian sources, Afghanistan just
signed a major deal to launch a long-planned, 1680 km long pipeline
project expected to cost $ 8 billion. If completed, the
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline (TAPI) will export
gas and, later, oil from the Caspian Basin to Pakistans coast where
tankers will transport it to the west.
The Caspian Basin located under the Central Asian states of
Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakkstan, holds an estimated 300
trillion cubic feet of gas and 100-200 billion barrels of oil.
Securing the worlds last remaining known energy Eldorado is strategic
priority for the western powers. China can only look on with envy.
But there are only two practical ways to get gas and oil out of
land-locked Central Asia to the sea: through Iran, or through
Afghanistan to Pakistan. For Washington, Iran is tabu. That leaves
Pakistan, but to get there, the planned pipeline must cross western
Afghanistan, including the cities of Herat and Kandahar.
In 1998, the Afghan anti-Communist movement Taliban and a western oil
consortium led by the US firm Unocal signed a major pipeline deal.
Unocal lavished money and attention on Taliban, flew a senior
delegation to Texas, and also hired an minor Afghan official, one
Hamid Karzai.
Enter Osama bin Laden. He advised the unworldly Taliban leaders to
reject the US deal and got them to accept a better offer from an
Argentine consortium, Bridas. Washington was furious and, according to
some accounts, threatened Taliban with war.
In early 2001, six or seven months before 9/11, Washington made the
decision to invade Afghanistan, overthrow Taliban, and install a
client regime that would build the energy pipelines. But Washington
still kept up sending money to Taliban until four months before 9/11
in an effort to keep it on side for possible use in a war or strikes
against Iran.
The 9/11 attacks, about which Taliban knew nothing, supplied the
pretext to invade Afghanistan. The initial US operation had the
legitimate objective of wiping out Osama bin Ladens al-Qaida. But
after its 300 members fled to Pakistan, the US stayed on, built bases
which just happened to be adjacent to the planned pipeline route and
installed former Unocal consultant Hamid Karzai as leader.
Washington disguised its energy geopolitics by claiming the Afghan
occupation was to fight Islamic terrorism, liberate women, build
schools, and promote democracy. Ironically, the Soviets made exactly
the same claims when they occupied Afghanistan from 1979-1989. The
cover story for Iraq was weapons of mass destruction, Saddams supposed
links to 9/11, and promoting democracy.
Work will begin on the TAPI once Taliban forces are cleared from the
pipeline route by US, Canadian and NATO forces. As American analyst
Kevin Phillips writes, the US military and its allies have become an
energy protection force.
>From Washingtons viewpoint, the TAPI deal has the added benefit of
scuttling another proposed pipeline project that would have delivered
Iranian gas and oil to Pakistan and India.
Indias energy needs are expected to triple over the next decade to 8
billion barrels of oil and 80 million cubic meters of gas daily.
Delhi, which has its own designs on Afghanistan and has been stirring
the pot there, is cock-a-hoop over the new pipeline plan. Russia, by
contrast, is grumpy, having hoped to monopolize Central Asian energy
exports.
Energy is more important than blood in our modern world. The US is a
great power with massive energy needs. Domination of oil is a pillar
of Americas world power. Afghanistan and Iraq are all about control of
oil.