Bush Didn't Bungle Iraq, You Fools - THE MISSION WAS INDEED ACCCOMPLISHED

[helderheid]

Bush Didn't Bungle Iraq, You Fools
THE MISSION WAS INDEED ACCCOMPLISHED
by Greg Palast
for The Guardian

20 March 2006

Get off it. All the carping, belly-aching and complaining about George Bush's incompetence in Iraq, from both the Left and now the Right, is just dead wrong.

On the third anniversary of the tanks rolling over Iraq's border, most of the 59 million Homer Simpsons who voted for Bush are beginning to doubt if his mission was accomplished.

But don't kid yourself -- Bush and his co-conspirator, Dick Cheney, accomplished exactly what they set out to do. In case you've forgotten what their real mission was, let me remind you of White House spokesman Ari Fleisher's original announcement, three years ago, launching of what he called,

"Operation
Iraqi
Liberation."

O.I.L. How droll of them, how cute. Then, Karl Rove made the giggling boys in the White House change it to "OIF" -- Operation Iraqi Freedom. But the 101st Airborne wasn't sent to Basra to get its hands on Iraq's OIF.

"It's about oil," Robert Ebel told me. Who is Ebel? Formerly the CIA's top oil analyst, he was sent by the Pentagon, about a month before the invasion, to a secret confab in London with Saddam's former oil minister to finalize the plans for "liberating" Iraq's oil industry. In London, Bush's emissary Ebel also instructed Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum, the man the Pentagon would choose as post-OIF oil minister for Iraq, on the correct method of disposing Iraq's crude.

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http://gregpalast.com/

[xultar]

1. So is * pumping the oil putting it into barrels and shipping it out?

Because I was under the impression they hadn't started stealing the oil yet.

[helderheid]

3. according to the article:

"
And what did the USA want Iraq to do with Iraq's oil? The answer will surprise many of you: and it is uglier, more twisted, devilish and devious than anything imagined by the most conspiracy-addicted blogger. The answer can be found in a 323-page plan for Iraq's oil secretly drafted by the State Department. Our team got a hold of a copy; how, doesn't matter. The key thing is what's inside this thick Bush diktat: a directive to Iraqis to maintain a state oil company that will "enhance its relationship with OPEC."

Enhance its relationship with OPEC??? How strange: the government of the United States ordering Iraq to support the very OPEC oil cartel which is strangling our nation with outrageously high prices for crude.

Specifically, the system ordered up by the Bush cabal would keep a lid on Iraq's oil production -- limiting Iraq's oil pumping to the tight quota set by Saudi Arabia and the OPEC cartel.

There you have it. Yes, Bush went in for the oil -- not to get more of Iraq's oil, but to prevent Iraq producing too much of it. "

[Geek_Girl]

6. This is what I've been thinking for a while now

It's about controlling the flow of oil to benefit oil companies. This is why oil companies have seen record profits.

[xultar]

7. Stealing oil makes much more sense to me. They are theives. Liars.

I don't get go to war and put alid on it. I mean WTF. What? huh? What? hum? My mind just doesn't get that. IT DOES NOT COMPUTE...I'm going BSOD. I can't get that. I won't let my mind go there. I can't understand it. I just won't.

What?

Stealing makes so much better sense. I mean stealing. Saying the troops died to strengthen OPEC ties means our troops died to protect the interest of the nation that produced the 9/11 terrorists.

I just cant get this.

It does not compute.

[helderheid]

13. I know! I am speechless.

[Canuckistanian]

14. Keeping the lid on keeps the price high

They have enough interests in the existing oil production to keep raking in the dough.

And they have all the reserves in Iraq as backup. Or future development.

Sweet deal.

These guys (the oil guys) plan for the long run, unlike their political counterparts.

[helderheid]

15. nailed it!

[SammyWinstonJack]

10. I would like to say I am shocked but I am NOT!

[anarch]

4. doesn't matter...they have basically established long term control

even if there are inconvenient production problems (insurgents and so forth) at the moment. Don't believe for a minute that, even if there is a massive troop reduction sometime in the future, the U.S. will ever abandon their bases in Iraq. It's all pretty clearly spelled out in the PNAC, and these guys are sticking to the plan, and will probably continue to do so unless we can put a stop to it. There's a whole lot at stake for them...if anyone ever got hold of Cheney's Energy report, I bet this would all become much clearer (and more terrifying) to everyone.

[ronnie624]

30. The invasion and occupation of Iraq

IS the theft of Iraq's oil. The U.S. did not invade for the purpose of "pumping the oil putting it into barrels and shipping it out". Possession of the world's remaining energy supplies offers tremendous strategic advantage over perceived potential enemies...China and Russia for instance.

We seem to be "gearing up" for major conflict in the coming years which will probably be fought over dwindling resources not the least of which is oil. Our future seems bleak and I believe it is guaranteed to be quite eventful, so hang on tight.

It is such a shame that those in power would prefer a blood bath instead of cooperation with others to solve the looming problems that will confront all of humanity in the coming years.

[BlueEyedSon]

2. 1. OIL 2. "political capital" 3. bankrupt the country 4. permanent bases

5. enrich buddies with no-bid contracts 6. eliminate civil liberties that are not essential in "wartime"

yeah, mission accomplished

[Hubert Flottz]

5. No Bush was Reich!

Everyone else in the world was "Wrong!"

[opihimoimoi]

9. No Bush is/was a SAINT...the whole lot are EVIL PIGs who come to steal

your corn. your beets, your strawberries, your cabbage, your potatos, and even your flowers

Now they come for your future earnings too.

These guys are just what you want IF YOU WANT the PEEPS to suffer at while the Pubs experience a Financial Gain.

They have a fuck the Future and fuck the Earth Philosophy...if ya could call it that.

Blame the Pubs who backed the dude...blame Cruella who helped steal Forida, blame Rove as he studies how to Fool in order to Rule...

Come, sharpen your spears...we go hunt .... and stay away from Cheney...he is too old to hunt safely anymore....

[Hubert Flottz]

12. They're all a crew of Hitler Wanna'bees!

They would gladly do what Monica did, if it paid a dollar!

[opihimoimoi]

24. Their lips have Blisters from blowing horns all over the Texas and beyond.

O Lordy, what the heck have we here in the Bush/Cheney name...?

Persistent BS

[sheelz]

8. I think this "incompetent " mindset started years ago.

By google bombing of "Bush is a miserable failure." I'm afraid the "incompetent" label is going to stick for good. Furthermore, it can be used against us and let's Bush off the hook.

[Ufomammut]

11. Anyone unfamiliar w/Palast needs to check into his work...

Brass knuckle jab o' truth to the solar plexus. If I recall, he was the first to report the "felon list" ruse of the 2000 Selection, where upon ABC wanted to "pick it up," Greg obliged and told them to run with it, and a few days passed, and still no story. Greg contacted ABC, and they told him that they had contacted Jeb Bush's office regarding the allegations, his people naturally denied any wrong doing, and that sufficed for the lame-ass ABC propagandists, and they dropped the story.

Oh, and, yeah, the whole "incompetence" angle ...well, there's already another long thread concerning that strategically fostered ruse.

[Disturbed]

16. Bush Regime Iraq Successes (Phase 1)

"The terrorists want to control the oil. Our way of life will be at risk". George W. Bush (Nov. 2005)

Bush Regime Iraq Successes (Phase 1)

1. Saddam will no longer sell Iraqi oil via the Euro.

2, A military foothold in the ME. Other than Saudi Arabia.

3, No countries will be able to buy Iraqi oil that the U.S. disapproves of.

4. The Multi-Intl. Oil Corps are reaping great profits.

5.The Military Industrial Complex is a booming Industry.


Phase 2?

“Iraq: Permanent US Colony”

Iraq: Permanent US Colony
By Dahr Jamail
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Tuesday 14 March 2006

"Why does the Bush Administration refuse to discuss withdrawing occupation forces from Iraq? Why is Halliburton, who landed the no-bid contracts to construct and maintain US military bases in Iraq, posting higher profits than ever before in its 86-year history?

Why do these bases in Iraq resemble self-contained cities as much as military outposts?"

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031306A.shtml

[helderheid]

17. #1 is a BIG success to this administration

[Disturbed]

19. Amending success list.

Bush Regime Iraq Successes (Phase 1)

1. Saddam will no longer sell Iraqi oil via the Euro.

2, A military foothold in the ME. Other than Saudi Arabia.

3, No countries will be able to buy Iraqi oil that the U.S. disapproves of.

4. Slowing production of Iraqi oil garners more profits to US Oil Corps.

5.The Military Industrial Complex is a booming Industry.

[helderheid]

27. that's how I first heard of him too.

[Xenotime]

18. Too bad he can't see past his own ignorance...

he would sleep better at night.... And they say pugs are happier? HA! F#CK YOU!

[jokerman93]

20. BAM!

Bull's eye!

[helderheid]

25. Mr. Palast nailed it.

[Roland99]

28. But he comes across too fanatical with all of his snide adjectives & such.

[helderheid]

29. perhaps

[progressoid]

21. Yup. Sad but true.

[sasha031]

22. this is so sickening

it's not like we didn't know, but seeing it again in print, and the truth we will never leave.

[lobo58]

23. It's the OIL?

I'm a little bit confused by Palast's point. Is he saying the invasion and deposing of Saddam was all about getting to Iraq's oil?

Why would that matter? Prices are set in relation to supply. Just lifting the UN sanctions would have allowed Iraq's oil to hit the market and drive prices down. There is plenty of oil to out there, no danger of running out--it is the price of oil that is critical. The price of oil would have fallen further and faster had the sanctions been lifted and Saddam allowed to carry on. Has someone stolen the oil beneath the ground in Iraq? Are oil profit being diverted to accounts elsewhere?

Robert Ebel presented a Prepared Witness Paper to Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality in their investigation of oil for food. (http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/Hearings/05142003hearing925/Ebel1459.htm)

In this statement, written in May of 2003, he said, "But in all this, the United States must take great care in conducting itself in a way that does not allow critics of the war to be able to say, 'See, I told you so, it really was all about oil.'"

This does not strike me as the same as saying, "It was all about the oil", as Palast suggests he said.

Ebel also said, in the same statement: "The referenced U.S. resolution addresses this question by The UN has stated that no Iraqi oil can be exported unless there is a new authority in Iraq to serve as the legal agent for the oil, and until the UN Security Council recognizes that new authority."

So, though Ebel raises some good points about the rules of occupation, and how much of the money raised from oil the US is able to legally claim, there is no suggestion that the oil (or the oil profit) is being stolen.

So I's have to say Palast is simply lying again, throwing some crap against the wall and hoping some sticks.

[newyawker99]

26. Hi lobo58!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[PVK]

31. Some good background on this here in the LA Times.

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/oil/2003/0422xfactor.htm