Oil Will Keep the U.S. in Iraq

 In Congress, Global Activism, Iraq, Middle East, oil, Peace, Veterans, War

This is a re-publication of a published letter to the editor from the Washington Post
Sunday, June 17, 2007; Page B06

The June 10 front-page article “Military Envisions Longer Stay in Iraq” provided much useful information regarding a planned long-term U.S. military occupation in Iraq, but it failed to give a reason why 40,000 or more U.S. troops might be there for decades.

The answer is surely oil interests. Last month Congress passed a bill continuing funding for the Iraq war with a “benchmark” provision threatening suspension of reconstruction funds if Iraq’s government fails to enact a law opening up its oil industry to privatization, something no other oil-rich Middle Eastern country has done. Predictably, this idea is vigorously opposed by many in the Iraqi parliament and the oil workers union.

No one should be shocked to learn that U.S. elites plan a long military presence in Iraq on behalf of oil interests; even less surprising will be the American and Iraqi peoples’ resounding rejection of such a project. People in Iraq and the region already think the United States is there because of oil. Is there any logical reason to think this will change, and that four years of fierce resistance to our occupation will magically dissolve, especially as our long-term plans become clear?

KEVIN MARTIN
Executive Director
Peace Action Education Fund

Silver Spring

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Comments
  • RONALD L. WALDRON
    Reply

    The United States & Israel will use Nuclear Weapons to Dominate the World.BUT labeled “American imperialists” that our enemies always claimed we were.
    Why this administration has been unconcerned about an exit strategy from Iraq from the very beginning. We won’t be leaving. Once they conquer Iraq, the United States will create permanent military bases in that country from which to dominate the Middle East, including neighboring Iran.

    The Electronic high tech “Brains” are all ready
    established in Israel, for complete surveillance .Satellite tracking systems, both optical and radar, are among the most sophisticated and expensive military sensor technologies(Surveillance
    system command center). Monitoring such from the largest U.S. Embassy compound being built in Iraq. Why there. No accountability to American people. Weak Enforcement of international Law.

    Occupation will continue and expand to engulf all
    of the Middle East, while they fight each other.

    Given history and the importance of Middle East oil, Iraq has become what Eqbal Ahmad used to call “the geopolitical center of the struggle for world power.”

    It is difficult to believe that with the U.S. establishment having all but conceded defeat in Iraq, and with the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group having signaled that the United States needs the help of its rivals Iran and Syria – as well as Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and other influential Middle Eastern nations – to contain the Iraqi civil war, the U.S. and Israel are still pursuing the war and building permanent military bases in the disintegrating nation. Yet, this is precisely what the Pentagon is doing.

    Whether the U.S. retains five or 15 “enduring bases,” its goal is clear: to keep its military hand on the “jugular vein” of global capitalism – as former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Maxwell Taylor described Middle East oil. This requires an intimidating infrastructure of deadly high-tech fortresses and the warriors that go with them.

    All U.S. troops must be brought home if there is to be a chance for peace in Iraq. If the region’s nations are to have any hope of finally exercising self-determination, and if the United States wants to regain the trust and support of the international community, its military bases must be closed – quickly and permanently.

    It all depends on how submissive the rest of the WORLD is. Right now there is no notable objection.

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