Each and every day there is the stench of death in the streets of Baghdad. Everyday the people go into the street and find family and friends unceremoniously lying in the gutters, their bodies hideously mutilated. The bodies have holes in them where torturers drilled into their bodies while they were still alive. Genitals have been mutilated and pulled off with pliers or cut off with scissors. They have been impaled with pipes and rebar and rifle barrels. Some have no ears, some are missing noses. This isn’t a once in a while thing, it happens everyday. Sometimes there are 14 bodies, a slow day. Sometimes fifty or sixty bodies are left out on bloody streets, a grim reminder of the ethnic hatred between the Sunni and Shiite Muslims.
Is this the “freedom” that we promised to bring to Iraq? Is this our shining example to other Muslims? So where does our responsibility end? Where did it start? Who is directly responsible for all of this death? George Bush? Certainly George W. Bush bears much of the blame. If you look at the entire events that led up to this catastrophe and honestly ask yourself who else, a number of people can also be blamed. Saddam Hussain himself for not letting the UN Inspectors have free reign when he knew that Bush and Company were surely going to invade (even though that might not have stopped this administrations plans). The majority in Congress that voted for the Authorization of Force in Iraq can also be held accountable. According to a number of sources, Saudi Arabia and the major oil companies are also complicit. The Mainstream Media can be put under a microscope for failing to put our government’s assertions that Iraq was a criminal state under closer scrutiny instead of hawking the party line. The media can also be held accountable. We can also blame some of the American People for treating this run up to war somewhat like a “sporting event”. Many in America seemed to have a voyeuristic predilection toward this war, as if the American Military was putting on a huge display of unstoppable force with themes such as “Shock and Awe” designed to titillate the senses. There is enough blame to fill The Grand Canyon, but we should try to get past that. I believe that this administration should be held accountable, but that isn’t the major priority.
The major priority that faces America in regard to Iraq is the sectarian violence. We can have no solution in Iraq while the people are being decimated by religion-based murder. While our troops are on the ground in places like Haifa Street and Sadr City, the local Sunni or Shiite Militia, when they take a break from fighting each other, take a few shots at the American Forces and the Iraqi Army and police. The Iraqi Police and Army work overtime, by day they fight alongside US forces and by night they fight alongside their favorite militia. Meanwhile the phony government inside the Green Zone prepares to take a two month vacation in order that they may give their time on Earth a two-month extension. Who is at fault is this? Could it be Bush and Cheney who installed the Shiite-led government?
That brings us to this Shiite government. The Sunni don’t want to participate. Iran now has a good foothold in Iraq because of their Shiite commonalties. You would believe that this does not please the United States, but you would be mistaken. If the United States can stop a direct seizure of Iraqi land and sovereignty by Iran, the United States is not totally against Iranian influence. There is a reason for this. The reason is oil. This is how the US and its OPEC friends play out the oil card.
The world is awash with oil. They want you to believe it isn’t. They want you to believe that oil is scarce. The reason for this mindset they offer is that scarce oil is more expensive than plentiful oil. When nations compete for every barrel of crude, the price goes up. Iraq has the second largest oil reserves in the world, and possibly more oil than Saudi Arabia by some estimates. Iraq has historically never been able to get its oil to foreign markets because of interference by OPEC and Big Oil. Saddam wasn’t taken out because we want Iraq’s oil; he was taken out because OPEC and BIG OIL did not want Saddam to flood the market with cheap oil. Cheap oil is anathema to Exxon-Mobil and the rest. Take this into account, The United States still produces oil. The major oil companies own this US oil. When OPEC brings the price of oil up, the American oil companies share windfall profits. There is not much profit to be made on cheap oil; this is one reason why Exxon/Mobil has had the most profitable year of any company in the history of the world. Now does this war become a bit more understandable? Saddam was a maverick in the midst of OPEC. He alone could play with the price of a barrel of crude. The truth is that Iraq has over 500 oil sites in the country and of that, they are only pumping out of 137. They are pumping less now with this war raging.
Now you may understand why the anarchy in Iraq does not concern some nations as much as it should. The longer Iraq is divided and fighting between Iraqi’s goes on at fever pitch, the longer Iraq does not produce oil and glut the market. The reason we went to war in Iraq was not to get their oil, but to stop them from producing oil. Peak oil is a myth. I’ll have to admit it was an idea that I once believed until I found out that the oil companies wrote the report that founded the idea of peak oil. The cold unvarnished truth is that Cheney and his Big Oil friends have manipulated this war from its inception until now, all to increase oil profits.
Now we have a nation drenched in blood. This problem won’t go away until our government really wants it to go away, and at this point in time they are happy with the status quo. American soldiers are dying for Big Oil. The Iraqi’s are dying for a resource that the rest of the world doesn’t want them to benefit from. This war and the reasoning behind it, is one of the most despicable things that the human race has ever been involved in. There are so many people that should be in jail for murder that the number boggles the mind. The truly sad part of this entire mess is that I’m not the only one saying this. The facts are that almost everyone connected with foreign policy knows that what I’m saying now to be true, and they have known it for a long time. How they never believed that the truth would finally come out is beyond me. Maybe they believed that if the truth were to come out that nobody would care. I care, and I believe that most decent people care.
Every day in Iraq, US Soldiers die for oil profits. Iraqi children become orphans for oil profits. Iraqi men fail to return home after going to the market for food and their women and children weep. This scene in Iraq will be played out thousands of times until someday the violence stops. What will be the legacy of this war? Eventually the citizen’s of this nation will understand the depths that some people sank to for profit. I can only hope that it doesn’t destroy the fabric of our nation. The other result will be an entire generation of Iraqi people that remember the United States as the harbinger of death and destruction. They will remember us as the people that savaged their lives. They will remember also, the way that the Sunni’s and Shiite’s killed each other with no regard for Allah, and they will stay bitter. The Sunni will hate the Shiites and vice versa. We will see a flood of terrorists come out of Iraq, bitter and set on vengeance. This will be the legacy of our involvement in Iraq.
Some want us to leave Iraq. I am one of them. I also want the people that caused this war and the people that set the policies after the invasion to pay for their treachery. This can’t be left unpunished. I also believe that we owe the Iraqi people something for their suffering, and that it should come out of the deep pockets of Big Oil. We need a bipartisan task force to look into these allegations. Those with connections to the oil industry should be excluded. We need to talk to the nations that border Iraq and with them, work out the best ways that we can stop this sectarian violence.
We also need to impeach those that caused this. This is something that is non-negotiable. We can not leave the people that brought this problem forth to stay in power. We can not leave them unpunished so that those who follow into government may see what happens when government is used to line the pockets of the few. This is a large agenda. It won’t happen unless Americans demand it. That we must do, for we are all culpable in some degree.
http://liberalpro.blogspot.com
Tim was banned from the site for posting private email from the publisher to him on his blog, and then attacking the publisher and the site in emails and articles. OEN has no responsibility to publish articles from people who attack the site.
Tim's accusations that he was banned for his political positions are untrue. Check his articles. He repetitively wrote about and had published exactly the things he claimed he was banned for doing.
Former Chairman of the Liberal Party of America, Tim is a retired Army Sergeant. He currently lives in South Carolina. A regular contributor to OpEdNews, he is the author of Kimchee Kronicles and is currently at work on a new novel.
Even the phoney tensions with Iran are for the increase of Oil Prices in the rigged Open Markets. The Rigged Open markets where as you've figured out that the Oil companies buy the crude from themselves and pass on the doubling or more in the price to us the consumer.
People forget when looking at Iran that they benefit mutually with the oil companies in the boosting of Oil Prices. As does Russia, Venezuela and the other Nation states selling oil not beholden to international Oil company contracts to extract the Oil.
BP oil and IRANIAN oil have a historical connection that goes uninvestigated by Media. The British Sailor capture and the rise in "tensions" mutually benefitted all parties involved.
Due to the, as of now, lack of comments on your article I will assume that these simple, hidden in plain sight truths are as yet unrealized by most for what they are.
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"Hoss" David P. (51 articles, 5 quicklinks, 14 diaries, 339 comments)
on Monday, May 14, 2007 at 3:03:36 PM
Sadaam just wasn't dancing to the right tune. Our government including the executive and legislative branches has passed laws exempting themselves from insider trading laws. Most all members own oil and weapons stocks. They are reaping obscene profits for worsening problems that they artificially created. High gasoline prices are mostly due to our insufficient refinery capacity. The oil companies are saving money by not building or properly maintaining refineries, and as their capacity goes down, the price of gas goes up. Follow this link below to see the real reason for war.
Tim, you are mistaken about the fact that Saddam wouldn't let the inspecters in. The inspecters were making the most complete search ever when GWB ordered them to leave because he was going to wage war regardless.
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Ron McCallie (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 74 comments)
on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 at 8:12:44 AM
The truth is, when Bush was leading up to the attack on Iraq, I was so incensed that I stopped watching what was going on at the time. I have never read that Bush brought the inspectors home, I thought they left because an attack was coming. I read nothing that said they had free reign to inspect anything they wanted to. Saddam still could have given them that freedom to inspect at the beginning but I know for a fact that Hans Blix was asked to leave a number of times and his inspections were stonewalled on occasion.
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Timothy V. Gatto (348 articles, 177 quicklinks, 38 diaries, 575 comments)
on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 at 8:14:22 PM
You claim peak oil is a "myth" promulgated by oil companies and then provide no documentation.
It is true that M King Hubbert, the first geophysicist to study peak oil (although he didn't call it that) worked for Shell at the time he delivered his paper (1956). But Shell didn't want to hear it. They tried to prevent him from giving his talk. Hubbert was continually DISbelieved by the oil companies. Even after his initial prediction came true (the United States in fact peaked at about 10 million barrels a day in 1970 -- this is fact, not "myth"), oil companies continued to dismiss his findings. And even today, oil companies, and their associates, continue to dissimulate on the issue of OIL EXTRACTION RATE and whether it can grow or not.
Oil companies in peak oil denial offer THE SAME ARGUMENT as you, Timothy. They say things like "the world is awash in oil." This is a true statement that evades the issue: can oil extraction rate continue to grow? Another word for this is the "reserves fallacy": it may in fact be true that there's over a trillion barrels of conventional oil left. There are hundreds of billions of heavy oil reserves and tar sands. But that's not the issue. The issue is AT WHAT RATE AND AT WHAT COST?
Peak oil simply states that any oil producing region will be able to grow its production only until a certain point. The promulgators of peak oil tend NOT to work for oil companies. Today, they are retired geologists, and acamedicians such as Craig Bond Hatfield, whom I happen to know and who wrote some of the earliest studies predicting that oil extraction rate would decline sometime around the second decade of the twenty-first century. The oil companies IGNORE people like Hatfield.
These are some current facts about oil production. You are free to continue to ignore them if you wish. If you don't "believe" peak oil, then you shouldn't prepare for it:
1. Oil supply stopped growing in May of 2005. Since then, extraction rate has bumped along on a plateau, even as prices have risen to try to dampen demand. This doesn't prove we are at peak. Certainty will only be a factor of time, what Matthew Simmons calls the "rearview mirror."
2. There is little-to-no spare capacity anywhere in the world except in Saudi Arabia, and even this is doubtful as their production rate has decreased over the last two years (though they claim these cuts to be "voluntary"). Spare capacity is a sort of reserve base for a sudden outage or crisis (ie Katrina). No one has been able to deliver in a time of need. This doesn't prove peak oil, either, but it is suggestive evidence.
3. The largest oilfields in the world, all discovered 30-50 years ago, are in decline, some catastrophically. These fields tend to make up the largest portion of a region's production. China's giant Daqing is in decline. East Texas and Prudhoe Bay in the US have long been in decline. Burgan in Kuwait is in confirmed decline. The Cantarell field in Mexico, the largest in the western hemisphere and making up 60% of Mexico's production, recently went into a steep decline. Soon, MX will not be able to continue to increase imports to the US. The Saudi Arabian supergiant Ghawar is most likely in decline. Extensive analysis of Ghawar is underway at theoildrum.com. The last great oil producing region to be discovered, the North Sea, is in steep decline. This is very, very bad news. Not proof, but more alarming evidence.
4. Giant fields nowadays tend to drop off in production very steeply because of the way these fields are "developed." Reservoirs are pressurized with gases such as methane and CO2 (or nitrogen in the case of Cantarell), or they are pumped full of brine. Wells are drilled HORIZONTALLY through the "oil column" to maximize the contacts between oil and the well bores. These fields produce at prolific rates -- then they crash (see North Sea). It's akin to squeezing a wine flask as you guzzle the wine -- great flow, then gone. Also, off-shore oil tends to be produced quickly then dumped because of the sheer expense of maintaining platforms out at sea. It's all pump and dump, because you can't maintain flocks of "nodding donkeys" or stripper wells miles away from the coast.
5. Oil prices are at very high nominal levels, but instead of ramping up production to make a killing off these prices, oil companies are producing at the same or lower rates than two years ago and more. Neither is demand slackening, so it would seem. As a result, gasoline inventories in the US are at record low levels for this time of year. Fuel use is apparently pretty "inelastic." I'll bet it will get pretty "elastic" when fuel prices reach $5.00 per gallon.
6. There have not been many significant new discoveries over the last ten years. A major field was discovered in the Caspian (Kashagan) but it's a field with a lot of problems and won't be producing oil for several years. As I mentioned, the North Sea was the last great discovery, in the late 60s, as well as Cantarell and the North Slope of Alaska (Prudhoe Bay). Oil production rate WILL follow the discovery pattern, whether we like it or not. No new oil being discovered means declining production some few decades thereafter.
7. Regions like Canada and Venezuela are now trying like hell to increase their production rates by utilizing heavy oils that have not been profitable until recently (and even that marginally). Alberta's tar sands and the heavy Orinoco belt are incredibly capital-and-energy intensive. They require huge investments, resources, manpower, infrastructure for a DECREASED energy- output-to-energy input ratio. In short, they are beginning to roll their pennies and nickels because they no longer have enough dimes and quarters to satisfy worldwide demand.
8. Oil consuming nations keep growing. Populations keep growing. Demand keeps growing. Necessarily, then, we will reach a maximum point of consumption, because, as Jeffrey Brown puts it, "You cannot have unlimited growth against a finite resource base." This is as elegant and simple a description of peak oil as I've ever heard it put.
Sincerely,
Mike Bendzela
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Mike Bendzela (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 6 diaries, 18 comments)
on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 at 10:31:23 AM
My friend, I am not saying that one day we will not run out of oil, but not in my lifetime (I'm 56). This culture of panic is being used by the oil companies to boost tyhe price of oil, I know it, you know it. Before we run out of oil, the carbon in the air will kill us. You can think we are going to run out tomorrow and gladly pay anything they want you too, and don't buy into the fact that they started this war to manipuilate oil prices, frankly I don't give a damn.
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Timothy V. Gatto (348 articles, 177 quicklinks, 38 diaries, 575 comments)
on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 at 12:14:47 AM
Very well. You wish to use a false argument against me after I spent all that time patiently explaining the facts to you.
I repeat: When you say "we are not running out of oil" and "we're not running dry in my lifetime," you are reiterating the arguments of the OIL COMPANIES THEMSELVES.
How many times do you need it explained to you that peak oil is about THE RATE AND COST OF EXTRACTION, not about running dry?
If you don't believe in it, then don't prepare for. I'm through with you.
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Mike Bendzela (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 6 diaries, 18 comments)
on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 at 6:38:01 AM
"My friend, I am not saying that one day we will not run out of oil, but not in my lifetime (I'm 56)."
A boy walking along the road upon seeing an old man planting a small fruit tree exclaims "Old man! What are you doing? You will be dead long before that tree grows enough to feed or shade you!"
The old man turns to the boy and says "Young man, the world was not barren when I entered it. It is my privilege to plant seeds others may benefit from."
While I respect your insight, I believe that your attitude toward peak oil production is selfish and disrespectful.
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Cody Majors (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments)
on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 at 2:15:43 PM
"My friend, I am not saying that one day we will not run out of oil, but not in my lifetime (I'm 56)."
As the previous poster stated: "running out of oil" is NOT the issue. There will be a large amount of oil left in the earth for a very long time. This is due to the fact that it will become so energy intensive to retrieve that it will not be worth extraction. Why use two barrels of oil to extract one?
The inability to maintain the rate of extraction and production IS the issue. The easy oil is nearly gone. Why do you think we are drilling wells in some of the worst possible locations on the planet? Why do you think Canada's tar sands are being used in spite of the cost, intensive water usage and energy required to make it a viable fuel? Consider the economic dependency on growth and then factor in a decrease in oil production. The picture becomes ugly very quickly. This is the concern.
I hold no faith in society- especially free markets. The free maket will, in my opinion, be the very cause of this serious dillemma and make the worst possible outcome a reality.
The truth of this is simple. We are in for some very interesting changes. The more people attempt to hang on to "The American Dream" of cheap energy, the more suffering they will encounter.
You can continue to spew ignorance and paranoia concerning these issues- it will only feed the fire. Instead of your current path, why not study the fact. There is a great deal of research being done. Numbers, math- FACTS. These are available and open for interpretation. Although it is time consuming and anything but user friendly, the data is out there. Study the data and then post an argument. I feel certain your opinion will change and if not, I will listen to your argument. That is the beauty of science and facts.
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Alex (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 2 comments)
on Thursday, May 17, 2007 at 10:30:32 PM
I want to explain something to all of you here. I am not a scientist. I am not saying we will not run out of oil at some time. What I have done here is to try to bring you a different set of facts (some peoples "facts" are other peoples lies). I have just read a very interesting book by Greg Palast called "Armed Madhouse". He is a correspondant for the BBC and has been tracking down the truth for years. In this book he makes a very compelling case, relete with documents, facts and dialouge that makes what you say, very different than what he calls the truth. He claims that this Peak Oil theory is a giant myth designed to let the oil companies and OPEC drive up the price of oil year after year. He says that if the world knew just how much pumpable oil (not sand oil and heavy crude) is availible for extraction, oil would come in at about $12.00 a barrel. Read the book and ague with him.
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Timothy V. Gatto (348 articles, 177 quicklinks, 38 diaries, 575 comments)
on Thursday, May 17, 2007 at 10:54:02 PM
Jimmy Carter desperately tried to prevent the situation we are now in. Listen to his voice when he states:
For the fifth time I would have described the urgency of the problem and laid out a series of legislative recommendations to the Congress. But as I was preparing to speak, I began to ask myself the same question that I now know has been troubling many of you: Why have we not been able to get together as a nation to resolve our serious energy problem?
It sounds just like a father getting on to his son. He tried to warn us and failed. Reagan came in with the promise of riches for all... He led the way and the country followed. Well now we are going to have to pay the piper.
In spite of all of this, I have a simple solution. Stop buying fuel. Stop thinking that cheap energy is part of Manifest Destiny. Stop believing that is your god given right to drive and waste as you please. Stop believing in the American Dream. That will significantly reduce your expenditures and makes whatever scheme they are using completely irrelevant. Buying a bicycle is a start. (but you have to use it)
Oh, I see- you want your fuel and you want it cheap. You want to waste at will and do it without a significant impact on your bank account. hmmmmm....... that is a problem.
Most people in this country are over stretched financially as it is. Now that fuel prices are beginning to rise (rise as in not yet close to topping out) they want someone to blame and hold accountable. May I suggest a mirror?
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Alex (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 2 comments)
on Thursday, May 17, 2007 at 11:05:12 PM
