BY ATTACKING IRAQ, THE US HAS EYES ON THE COUNTRY’S OIL RESERVES
By Safa Haeri, IPS Edior
PARIS, 23 Sept. (IPS) As the United States, ignoring Iraq’s acceptance for the "unconditional" return of the United Nations arms inspectors, continue preparations for removing Saddam Hoseyn from power, political analysts in Washington, Europe and in the region debates on President George W. Bush’s motivations for attacking Iraq.
For those whom David Ignatius, the Editor of the Paris-based "International Herald Tribune" describes as "neo-imperialists", the Administration wants to redraw the political map of the region, "replacing the Ottoman order" by a new one based on American values of democracy, freedom, human rights and market economy, as reported in the influential daily "Le Monde" by Alain Frachon and Daniel Vernet on 19 September.
In the view of the "neo-imperialists", Iraq is to become another Japan or Germany and the "first domino" falling on neighbouring Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia etc.
This point was supported by Ms. Condoleezza Rice, President Bush’s National Security adviser, who told the "Financial Times" of London that the US will be "completely devoted" to the reconstruction of Iraq as a unified, democratic state in the event of a military strike that topples Saddam Hussein.
She signalled US willingness to spend time and money rebuilding Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hoseyn.
Reinforcing the Bush administration's message that the values of freedom, democracy and free enterprise do not "stop at the edge of Islam", Ms Rice underlined US interest in the "democratisation or the march of freedom in the Muslim world".
She said of reform in places such as Bahrain, Qatar and - "to a certain extent" - Jordan: "There are a lot of reformist elements. We want to be supportive of those."
But a leading Pakistani political analyst counter this view, arguing that the US "would not want democracies in the oil-rich Middle East because democracies tend to invest their profits in their own countries".
"To be certain, Iraq is not going to get a democracy. All that the US wants is a friendly dictator ruling over Iraq. A friendly dictator who keeps pumping large quantities of oil depressing world prices, doling out oil exploration contracts to US and its allies and recycle oil profits back to western financial institutions", Mr. Farrokh Saleem wrote in Pakistan’s "Friday Times of 20 September.
"President Bush has so far given two reasons to attack Iraq. First, America wants to establish democracy in Iraq; second, because Iraq has weapons of mass destruction (WMD). If, indeed, democracy is America’s concern, why not begin with America’s client states of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and Kuwait? Or, for that matter, why get the CIA to help the Venezuelan army topple the democratically elected president of Venezuela? (At 78 billion barrels Venezuela has the western hemisphere’s largest proven oil reserves)", he added.
For sure, oil is another strong motivation behind Washington’s plans, at a time that America’s dwindling domestic production increases its dependence on imported energy, mostly from Saudi Arabia, its "privileged partner" for the last 60 years, but with which the special relations have suffered badly since the 11 September terrorist attack on New York and Washington D.C.
"With proven reserves of 112 billions barrels and estimated reserves at more than 210 billions, the largest in the region after Saudi Arabia, no major oil company can ignore Iraq", summed up an Iranian oil expert, explaining that once Saddam deposed and a Karzai type of government installed in Baghdad, the United States could then "easily" reduce its dependence on the Saudi oil.
"It’s about oil, its pricing and profits", pointed out Mr. Saleem, observing that the United States "has lately been acting more as an empire than a nation".
But while some American strategists insist that America ought to make Iraq a new Germany or Japan, Mr. Saleem says this new empire wants "political control for the purpose of economic control of world resources".
"Oil happens to be the most precious of commodities and the American economy depends on three things: uniform flow of oil; pricing of oil; and, recycling of petro-dollars. There are two ways to gain access to oil: buying it just like every oil-deficit nation does or gaining political control over areas with proven oil reserves (that’s where Iraq and Venezuela come in)", he further noted.
"Iraq must have something that America wants (and dearly needs). Could that be oil? he asked, adding: "Iraq may have weapons of mass destruction (although there is little evidence of that) but so do Pakistan, India, Israel, Russia, France, China and Britain. Should they also be attacked?"
"Oil is important. But profits from oil are even more important. The US loves King Fahd of Saudi Arabia and the Sheikhs of Bahrain, Qatar, UAE and Kuwait because they all invest most of their oil profits back into the US (whatever is left is spent on buying US arms)", the analyst said.
"When would America attack Iraq? Not to forget that this is election year for the US House of Representatives. Come November and all the 435 seats will be up for grabs. An October war could help Republicans a great deal on the election front. That’s the American version of pre-poll rigging", Mr. Saleem concluded. ENDS US AND IRAQ OIL 23902