The real reason America went to war with Iraq
Solidarity Federation | 11.11.2003 11:20 | London
In the late 1990s a group of right wing politians and business people got together to found the Project for the New American Century. They set out to map how the United States and its corporations could profit from its sole superpower status. Amongst its plans were regime change in Iraq. When George Bush became president many of these politicians who had set up the PNAC became part of the administration - including Donald Rumsfield (Defence Secretary), Dick Cheney (Vice President) and Paul Wolfowitz (Deputy Defence Secretary).
Iraq was seen as a prize because it has the world's second largest oil reserves - more than 10% of the world's existing stock. Kellogg, Brown & Root (KB&R), a subsidiary of the US energy company Halliburton has won a $600M contract for initial repairs to Iraq's olifields and a further $600M contract for the pumping of oil. Vice President Dick Cheney is a former Chief Executive of Halliburton. KB&R also has the contract for running military camps in Iraq - part of a 10 year deal with the US military that has already netted $830M for the company. Iraq's national oil company has been put in the charge of Philip J. Carroll, the former chief executive of Shell Oil, USA. The three biggest oil companies ExxonMobil, Shell and BP earned almost $16Bn (£10Bn) in the first three months of 2003 as the drive to war pushed up oil prices to $35 a barrel. Exxon reported the biggest quarterly corporate profits in history at $7Bn. Shell, BP and ChevronTexaco, also notorious for its close links with the Bush administration are now shipping oil out of Iraq.
Chevron Texaco's profits have quadrupled in recent months as a recsult of war inflated oil prices. Presidential Executive Order 133303 passed by Bush this summer exempts US oil companies from any liability for environmental. human rights or other abuses related to their handling of Iraqi oil.
The other main beneficiary has been Bechtel, one of six US companies privately invited to bid for the reconstruction of Iraq. They won a contract worth initially $680M, but estimated to rise to as high as $100Bn. Betchel has a series of links with thew Bush administration and those who pressed hardest for war within it. Betchels' chairman and Chief Executive Riley Betchel was recently appointed to President Bush's export council. Jack Sheehan, a senoir Vice-President of Betchel is a member of the Defence Policy Board, the Pentagon advisoory council that lobbied hard for war. George Shultz a former US secretary of State and another Betchel board member was chairman of the Committee to Liberate Iraq, a pro war group with close ties to the White House. Betchel has been put in charge of repairing power and water systems in Iraq.
President Bush has called for a free trade area in the Middle East and it is clear that US companies are leading the process. The Bush administration wants an Iraq obedient to its economic interests. By the time the Iraqi people have any say in choosing a government their occupiers will have made the key economic decisions.
http://www.newamericancentury.org/
Chevron Texaco's profits have quadrupled in recent months as a recsult of war inflated oil prices. Presidential Executive Order 133303 passed by Bush this summer exempts US oil companies from any liability for environmental. human rights or other abuses related to their handling of Iraqi oil.
The other main beneficiary has been Bechtel, one of six US companies privately invited to bid for the reconstruction of Iraq. They won a contract worth initially $680M, but estimated to rise to as high as $100Bn. Betchel has a series of links with thew Bush administration and those who pressed hardest for war within it. Betchels' chairman and Chief Executive Riley Betchel was recently appointed to President Bush's export council. Jack Sheehan, a senoir Vice-President of Betchel is a member of the Defence Policy Board, the Pentagon advisoory council that lobbied hard for war. George Shultz a former US secretary of State and another Betchel board member was chairman of the Committee to Liberate Iraq, a pro war group with close ties to the White House. Betchel has been put in charge of repairing power and water systems in Iraq.
President Bush has called for a free trade area in the Middle East and it is clear that US companies are leading the process. The Bush administration wants an Iraq obedient to its economic interests. By the time the Iraqi people have any say in choosing a government their occupiers will have made the key economic decisions.
http://www.newamericancentury.org/
Solidarity Federation
