Why the War in Iraq Was Fought for Big Oil - CNN.Com

Why the war in Iraq was fought for Big Oil - CNN.com http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/19/opinion/iraq-war-oil-juhasz/

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iReport Why the war in Iraq was fought for SHARE THIS Print Big Oil Email By Antonia Juhasz, Special to CNN More sharing Recommend 14k April 15, 2013 -- Updated 1142 GMT (1942 HKT) Recommend

U.S. Marines in northern Kuwait gear up after receiving orders to cross the Iraqi border on March 20, 2003. It has been 10 years since the American-led invasion of Iraq that toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein. Look back at moments from the war and the legacy it left behind. For more, view CNN's complete coverage of the Iraq War anniversary.

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1 of 11 21.4.2014 12:05 Why the war in Iraq was fought for Big Oil - CNN.com http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/19/opinion/iraq-war-oil-juhasz/ The Iraq war, 10 years on

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS Editor's note: Ten years ago, the war in Iraq began. This week, we

Juhasz: Opening up Iraq to focus on the people involved in the war and the lives that changed foreign oil companies was main forever. Antonia Juhasz, an oil industry analyst, is author of several goal of Iraq War books, including "The Bush Agenda" and "The Tyranny of Oil." Plans for Western oil exploration in Iraq were drawn up years (CNN) -- Yes, the Iraq War was a war for oil, and it was a war with before 2003 invasion winners: Big Oil. Bush administration pressured Iraqi government to pass law allowing foreign firms in It has been 10 years since Operation Iraqi Freedom's bombs first

Chuck Hagel in 2007: "People landed in Baghdad. And while most of the U.S.-led coalition forces say we're not fighting for oil. Of have long since gone, Western oil companies are only getting course we are." started.

Before the 2003 invasion, Iraq's domestic oil industry was fully nationalized and closed to Western oil companies. A decade of war later, it is largely privatized and utterly dominated by foreign firms.

From ExxonMobil and Chevron to BP and Shell, the West's largest oil companies have set up shop in Iraq. So have a slew of American oil service companies, including Halliburton, the Texas-based firm Dick Cheney ran before becoming George W. Bush's running mate in 2000.

The war is the one and only reason for this long sought Antonia Juhasz and newly acquired access.

Full coverage: The Iraq War, 10 years on

Oil was not the only goal of the Iraq War, but it was certainly the

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central one, as top U.S. military and political figures have attested to Part of complete coverage on in the years following the invasion. Iraq, 10 years on "Of course it's about oil; we can't really deny that," said Gen. John Abizaid, former head of U.S. Central Command and Military Baby Noor: Unfinished miracle Operations in Iraq, in 2007. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Soldiers and American doctors Greenspan agreed, writing in his memoir, "I am saddened that it is saved the life of Baby Noor at politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the the height of the war. Seven years later, CNN's Moni Basu Iraq war is largely about oil." Then-Sen. and now Defense Secretary returns to Iraq to discover her Chuck Hagel said the same in 2007: "People say we're not fighting fate. for oil. Of course we are." Where are they now? For the first time in about 30 years, Western oil companies March 19, 2013 -- Updated 1333 GMT (2133 HKT) are exploring for and producing oil in Iraq from some of the Get updates on Jessica Lynch, world's largest oil fields and reaping enormous profit. And Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Bremer and more while the U.S. has also maintained a fairly consistent level of Iraq oil imports since the invasion, the benefits are not finding their way through Iraq's economy or society.

Photos: 100 moments These outcomes were by design, the result of a decade of April 11, 2013 -- Updated 0159 GMT (0959 HKT) U.S. government and oil company pressure. In 1998, It has been 10 years since the Kenneth Derr, then CEO of Chevron, said, "Iraq possesses American-led invasion of Iraq. huge reserves of oil and gas-reserves I'd love Chevron to Look back at 100 moments from the war and the legacy it have access to." Today it does. left behind.

Exclusive: Hans Blix on 'terrible mistake' in Iraq Open Mic: On Baghdad's streets March 19, 2013 -- Updated 1124 GMT (1924 HKT) In 2000, Big Oil, including Exxon, Chevron, BP and Shell, Iraqis step up to CNN's Open spent more money to get fellow oilmen Bush and Cheney Mic and share what their lives into office than they had spent on any previous election. are like 10 years after the U.S. invasion of their country. Just over a week into Bush's first term, their efforts paid off when the National Energy Policy Development Group, chaired by Cheney, was formed, bringing the Iraq suffocating in a cloak of sorrow March 18, 2013 -- Updated 1129 GMT (1929 HKT)

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administration and the oil companies together to plot our collective energy future. In March, the task force reviewed lists and maps outlining Iraq's entire oil productive capacity.

Planning for a military invasion was soon under way. Bush's first Treasury secretary, Paul O'Neill, said in 2004, "Already by February (2001), the talk was mostly about Arwa Damon, who first arrived logistics. Not the why (to invade Iraq), but the how and how quickly." in Baghdad in 2003, tells the stories of Iraqis still reeling In its final report in May 2001 (PDF), the task force argued that from a war in which they had no say. Middle Eastern countries should be urged "to open up areas of their energy sectors to foreign investment." This is precisely what has been achieved in Iraq. Hans Blix: War was terrible mistake March 19, 2013 -- Updated 0836 GMT (1636 HKT) CNN Exclusive: The former Here's how they did it. head of U.N. weapons inpections in Iraq on the The State Department Future of Iraq Project's Oil and Energy tragedy of the Iraq War. Working Group met from February 2002 to April 2003 and agreed that Iraq "should be opened to international oil companies as quickly as possible after the war." Iraq war: 5 lessons learned Fareed Zakaria looks at what Arwa Damon: Iraq suffocates in cloak of sorrow can be learned from the war, 10 years after it began

The list of the group's members was not made public, but Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum -- who was appointed Iraq's oil minister by the U.S. occupation government in September 2003 -- was part of the group, Did Iraq give birth to Arab Spring? according to Greg Muttitt, a journalist and author of "Fuel on the Fire: March 18, 2013 -- Updated 1016 GMT (1816 HKT) Oil and Politics in Occupied Iraq." Bahr al-Uloum promptly set about Ed Husain assesses the trying to implement the group's objectives. impact that the toppling of Saddam Hussein had for the 2011 revolutions. At the same time, representatives from ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Halliburton, among others, met with Cheney's

Opinion: Media's failure still stings

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staff in January 2003 to discuss plans for Iraq's postwar industry. For March 11, 2013 -- Updated 1729 GMT (0129 HKT) Howard Kurtz says the media the next decade, former and current executives of western oil still labors under the burden of companies acted first as administrators of Iraq's oil ministry and then the mistakes it made in 2003 as "advisers" to the Iraqi government. about the Iraq war.

People say we're Before the invasion, there were just two things standing in the way of Western oil companies operating in Iraq: PTSD nation not fighting for Saddam Hussein and the nation's legal system. The March 17, 2013 -- Updated 1452 GMT (2252 HKT) invasion dealt handily with Hussein. To address the latter CNN's Arwa Damon looks at oil. Of course we the psycological impact of the problem, some both inside and outside of the Bush last decade on the Iraqi are. administration argued that it should simply change Iraq's population. Then-U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel in 2007 oil laws through the U.S.-led coalition government of Iraq, which ran the country from April 2003 to June 2004. Instead the White House waited, choosing to pressure the Phantom WMD newly elected Iraqi government to pass new oil legislation itself. March 10, 2013 -- Updated 1736 GMT (0136 HKT) CNN's Nic Robertson looks at Did Iraq give birth to the Arab Spring? the WMD report used to justify the invasion.

This Iraq Hydrocarbons Law, partially drafted by the Western oil industry, would lock the nation into private foreign investment under the most corporate-friendly terms. The Bush administration pushed Voices: How the war changed you the Iraqi government both publicly and privately to pass the law. And From newsmakers to families in January 2007, as the ''surge" of 20,000 additional American troops of troops, the effect of the Iraq was being finalized, the president set specific benchmarks for the war changed lives in a variety Iraqi government, including the passage of new oil legislation to of ways. "promote investment, national unity, and reconciliation."

But due to enormous public opposition and a recalcitrant parliament, Losing a leg, and almost love the central Iraqi government has failed to pass the Hydrocarbons A photographer chronicles an Law. Usama al-Nujeyfi, a member of the parliamentary energy Iraqi army veteran's story of losing a leg, and how was able committee, even quit in protest over the law, saying it would cede too to reunite with his fiance. much control to global companies and "ruin the country's future."

In 2008, with the likelihood of the law's passage and the prospect of Photos: On the Iraq frontlines

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continued foreign military occupation dimming as elections loomed in the U.S. and Iraq, the oil companies settled on a different track.

Bypassing parliament, the firms started signing contracts that provide all of the access and most of the favorable treatment the Hydrocarbons Law would provide -- and the Bush administration helped draft the model contracts. A photographer captures one of the first battles of the Iraq war. Why women are less free after Iraq War

Upon leaving office, Bush and Obama administration Home and Away officials have even worked for oil companies as advisers A look at U.S. and coalition casualties in Iraq and on their Iraq endeavors. For example, former U.S. Afghanistan Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad's company, CMX-Gryphon, "provides international oil companies and multinationals with unparalleled access, insight and knowledge on Iraq."

The new contracts lack the security a new legal structure would grant, and Iraqi lawmakers have argued that they run contrary to existing law, which requires government control, operation and ownership of Iraq's oil sector.

But the contracts do achieve the key goal of the Cheney energy task force: all but privatizing the Iraqi oil sector and opening it to private foreign companies.

They also provide exceptionally long contract terms and high ownership stakes and eliminate requirements that Iraq's oil stay in Iraq, that companies invest earnings in the local economy or hire a majority of local workers.

Iraq's oil production has increased by more than 40% in

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the past five years to 3 million barrels of oil a day (still below the 1979 high of 3.5 million set by Iraq's state-owned companies), but a Most Popular full 80% of this is being exported out of the country while Iraqis Today's five most popular stories struggle to meet basic energy consumption needs. GDP per capita Handcuffed captain defends delay in evacuating has increased significantly yet remains among the lowest in the world sinking South Korean ferry and well below some of Iraq's other oil-rich neighbors. Basic services such as water and electricity remain luxuries, while 25% of the Saudi Arabia to build world's tallest tower, population lives in poverty. reaching 1 kilometer into the sky

NASA discovers Earth-sized planet that may Share your story of the Iraq War sustain life

The promise of new energy-related jobs across the country has yet to A mother's grief: 'My daughter's in the water' materialize. The oil and gas sectors today account directly for less than 2% of total employment, as foreign companies rely instead on Anti-Semitic fliers in eastern Ukraine denounced imported labor.

In just the last few weeks, more than 1,000 people have protested at ExxonMobil and Russia Lukoil's super-giant West Qurna oil field, demanding jobs and payment for private land that has been lost or More from CNN Video damaged by oil operations. The Iraqi military was called in to Ukraine crisis takes a respond. 'grotesque' turn

Fed up with the firms, a leading coalition of Iraqi civil society groups and trade unions, including oil workers, declared on February 15 that Russia: Ukraine heading for civil international oil companies have "taken the place of foreign troops in war compromising Iraqi sovereignty" and should "set a timetable for withdrawal." Russian fighter jet provokes U.S. ship Closer to home, at a protest at Chevron's Houston headquarters in 2010, former U.S. Army Military Intelligence officer Thomas Buonomo, member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, held up a sign Is Bashar al-Assad Winning that read, "Dear Chevron: Thank you for dishonoring our service" Syria's War? (PDF).

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Yes, the Iraq War was a war for oil, and it was a war with losers: the More from CNN Iraqi people and all those who spilled and lost blood so that Big Oil could come out ahead. Bring in the lawyers for Flight 370 families

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zeeeeeeek • a year ago It took CNN 10 years to realize the Iraq War was a War for Oil ? 527 • Reply • Share ›

Warren Grant # zeeeeeeek • a year ago Yeah for a "News" service, they seem a bit slow on the uptake. What this shows nicely though is how strongly US corporations control US Foreign policy and the US Government itself. It combines nicely with the article a day or so ago concerning how the CIA was more or less told to find evidence to justify the war, rather than to find out if there was any evidence of WMD. Big Oil got Bush and Cheney into power, then lied to justify the invasion, then blew trillions on the war (much of which went into the hands of Halliburton of course), killed thousands of US servicemen, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, got Al Qaida involved in a country that they had not been present in previously. We need a new set of trials a la Nuremberg quite clearly. I think the US has been reduced to having the "Illusion of Democracy" rather than a true Democracy these days. The biggest shame and greatest crime is the loss of all the US military personnel who died to improve the corporate bottom line for all of the Oil companies and military contractors involved. Worse yet, all that effort, all those deaths (both military and civilian) have done less for the US economy, it seems the profits have just been pocketed by the big players. Plus of course those billions upon billions that were spent needlessly by a government that didn't have them, and have now contributed very heavily to the current economy.

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