Has it all come to this? The wars and invasions, the death and destruction, the exile and torture, the resistance and collapse? In a world of shrinking energy reserves, is Iraq finally fated to become what it was going to be anyway, even before the chaos and catastrophe set in: a giant gas pump for an energy-starved planet? Will it all end not with a bang, but with a gusher? The latest oil news out of that country offers at least a hint of Iraq's fate.
For modern Iraq, oil has always been at the heart of everything. Its very existence as a unified state is largely the product of oil.
When President George W. Bush launched the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, his overarching goals all revolved around the geopolitics of oil. He and his top officials were intent on replacing Saddam Hussein's regime with one that would prove friendly to American oil interests. They also imagined that, greeted as liberators by a grateful population, they would preside over a radical upgrading of Iraq's petroleum capacity, thereby ensuring adequate supplies for American consumers at an affordable price. Finally, by building and manning a constellation of major military bases in a grateful Iraq, they saw themselves ensuring continued American dominance over the oil-soaked Persian Gulf region, and so the energy heartland of the planet.
All of this, of course, proved to be a mirage. [...]
More of a 'pipe dream'.
[..] The Bush administration, which looked with alarm at Saddam Hussein's growing ties to Russia and China, invaded the country in part to reassert American dominance in the Persian Gulf region and diminish the role played by Moscow and Beijing. Today, Washington appears to welcome the growing role of Chinese and Russian firms in the rehabilitation of Iraq's dilapidated energy infrastructure.
Yeah, ya fucked that one up good, Georgie boy.
For devastated Iraq, of course, these last years were a disaster and real reconstruction of the country still remains a long way off. For the United States, gone are expectations of converting Iraq into a model Middle Eastern democracy, or of inserting a Western-trained, pro-U.S. regime in Baghdad. Nor is there any expectation that the state-owned Iraq National Oil Company will be completely privatized -- once the dream of Bush-era neocons. Nonetheless, the (re)emergence of a functioning Iraqi petro-state working closely with foreign energy firms to boost global oil supplies (with American troops, whether based in Iraq or neighboring countries, providing ultimate security) would be an outcome that could be sold to Congress and, presumably, a majority of the American public.
So it has finally come to this dismal possible end point: after all the blood and tears, all the death and destruction, almost all interested parties seem to be returning to the only vision of the country, however depressing, that has demonstrated any viability. In the future, Iraq is likely to be an oil-fueled petro-state with no function other than to service global markets and enrich local elites as well as the technocrats that assist them. This may be not be an inspiring vision -- especially for Iraqis who have suffered so much -- but it might possibly be the only reality available that will circumvent the horrific bloodletting of the past 30 years.
Instead of lying us into that clusterfuck with all the 'WMD' and 'mushroom cloud' bullshit, what if Bush had just come right out and said, "We're going to invade Iraq for its oil. We're going to get thousands of your sons and daughters killed, not to mention hundreds of thousands of sand niggers who aren't really human beings anyway and exist only to serve white folks, their betters, so you can drive your SUVs and thus further enrich the corporate ruling elite. We're going to have a permanent military presence there for generations to come in order to protect your God-given American right to live the sybaritic (If he'da known such a word. The speechwriters coulda made him practice it.) lifestyle of spoiled rich white people that you've become accustomed to, but on the cheap because you're not as rich as you think you are and live on borrowed money anyway. We're going to spend trillions of dollars, but we're going to borrow the money from China and run our criminal imperialistic war of agression off the books so you'll never see the cost until we can't pay the mortgage and the Chinks come to foreclose. Your kids and grandkids will get stuck with the bill, but I don't care because me and my peeps are rich and won't be affected by it, and you'll be dead and fuck the goddam next generation anyway, the ingrateful little bastards who'll bitch about what we did to them just so we could avoid seeing the writing on the wall. The oil is going to run out someday and we'd better be the ones to get it. Let's go get what's ours even if it puts the lie to everything we claim to believe in! Besides, you people are all suckers and I'm doing what my corporate and neocon masters want."
It wouldn't have made a bit of difference. With the Repug Congress, the corporate Bush-suckin' media, and half our country being ignorant wingtards at the time, we'd be exactly where we are now.
Bush coulda saved himself a lot of trouble just by being out front about his big oil grab. Too bad he doesn't know how to tell the truth, and it's not Repug and neocon policy anyway.
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