I thought this war was about capturing Osama bin Laden (remember him?). Or was it those Weapons of Mass Destruction? No, wait, I remember -- it's about bringing freedom and democracy to Iraq! Right? Or crushing a world wide network of terrorists? Or was it to wipe out poppy-growing terrorist Iranians in Afghanistan, or... Oh, forget it. Just don't say it's about oil.

Correction for my last post ~ MIKE CORBEIL ~

Wherein I wrote, "And presence should go around Bzzzzzzz is in agreement with what Bzzzz-of-Mind claims", it should read 'BBzzzzzzzz should NOT go around Bzzzzzz …".

"Support our troops and bring them home now. Let GM, Ford, Blackwater and Dick Cheney pay for the oil with their blood, not that of our children."

I missed this earlier, so please let me say...Amen. The sooner the better.

To see Dick, George, Wolfie, Rummy and a few others take a patrol (composed of volunteerrs from the White House) into a hot zone would just about be worth emptying my bank account for.

Our military has been fighting for freedom? Give me a break. Most informed readers have been aware that the "war in the middle east" has always been about oil. Let the right wing wackos teach that fact to their children before the kids take off and join some military to save America from the terrorists. If this bit of insight ever does hit the press in America, hopefully the public at large will take a different attitude toward 9/11. This bit of news dating back to the first Bush era makes 9/11 investigation imperative for the next President. But it will all be shoved under another rug.

Much of this is old news. It can be looked up in archives online.

lillulu June 23rd, 2008 11:53 am
"Thomas More, Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, so your statement about the "two smoking holes" in New York is meaningless."

You misunderstand. The "two smoking holes" was what Dick Vader, Wolfie and Rummy used to justify the attack they had planned years before. Congress bought the arguments along with most of the country in the aftermath of the attack on 9-11. Thats how they got the support they needed.

So I'd argue that without those "two smoking holes" there would never have been an attack on Iraq so I'd say they certainly weren't meaningless . Without them there would have been no possibility of obtaining the legal approval they needed for the attack.

These wars are about colonizing the Middle East, taking it over, dominating it, in the western 'tradition'. Controlling energy supplies is a very big part of that.

Resistance does not make occupation a "war."

The only true enemies of the neoliberal oligarchs are economic self-determination and truth.

"If they turn on the radars we're going to blow up their goddamn SAMs [surface-to-air missiles]. They know we own their country. We own their airspace... We dictate the way they live and talk. And that's what's great about America right now. It's a good thing, especially when there's a lot of oil out there we need."
[— U.S. Brig. General William Looney
Washington Post, August 30, 1999 ]
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2002/08/19083.shtml

Thomas More, Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, so your statement about the "two smoking holes" in New York is meaningless.

Michael Moore made all of this extremely clear in Fahrenheit 9/11, including the issue of the pipline.

Presence-i delight when i see your postings. Have you ever read Ken Wilber? 1 magazine i might recommend to anybody reading this would be What Is Enlightenment? the mag explores various areas of the human condition, current and historical. Makes for excellent reading, because its publishers have journalists that write for the mag from every walk of life.

Where Does Israel Get Oil?
If you're selling, they're buying.
By Daniel Engber
Posted Friday, July 14, 2006, at 6:19 PM ET

The leader of Hezbollah declared "open war" against Israel on Friday following the bombing of his offices in Beirut, Lebanon. The president of Iran has announced that if Israel were to expand the hostilities by attacking Syria, that would represent "an attack on the whole Islamic world and the regime will face a crushing response." Given the grim state of Arab-Israeli relations, where does Israel get its oil?

From Russia and former Soviet republics. Israel produces only a couple thousand barrels of oil a day, which means it relies on the global market for more than 99 percent of its consumption. It's difficult to name all of the country's suppliers—in 2004, Israel's minister of national infrastructures admitted that "Israel's situation is complicated. We don't have diplomatic relations with most of the countries from which we import oil." But over the past 25 years, significant fuel imports have come from Angola, Colombia, Mexico, Egypt, and Norway. In more recent times, the Israelis have turned to Russia, Kazakhstan, and some of the other -stans for the bulk of their oil.

Israel has long sought a local source of oil, especially since the oil crisis of 1973. Having a nearby supplier would increase Israel's energy security and reduce the cost of its imports. Iran filled that need for a while: Starting in 1968, the Israelis used a pipe called the "TIPline" to import Iranian oil from the Red Sea. But the shah was overthrown in 1979, and Iran shut off the tap. (These days, Israel lets the Russians use the TIPline to pump oil in the opposite direction.)

The Israelis gained access to another local source when they took control of Egyptian oil fields in Sinai after the Six-Day War. When Israel agreed to return the fields in 1979, they wanted broad assurances about their access to oil imports. The peace treaty with Egypt stipulated that "Israel shall be fully entitled to make bids for Egyptian-origin oil not needed for Egyptian domestic oil consumption." An accompanying document outlined a deal with the United States that ensured Israeli oil supplies in times of crisis.

Egypt continues to provide oil, but its importance as a supplier has diminished as Israel's appetite has grown. In 1995, Egyptian oil accounted for one-third of Israel's fuel imports; by 2000 that fraction had shrunk to one-eighth. While Israel was forced to look elsewhere for oil, it maintained a warm relationship with Egypt, at least regarding energy. In 2005, the two countries signed an agreement on the trade of natural gas.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to seek nearby suppliers. In the lead-up to the war in Iraq, there was some talk of restarting an abandoned pipeline that runs from Mosul, Iraq, to Haifa. In order for this to happen, Israel would need to somehow wrangle the support of the Syrians, since they control part of the route.

The Israelis have also tried to ramp up their own fuel production. A few weeks ago, they got some press for developing a new way to extract energy from the country's large reserves of "oil shale."

Got a question about today's news? Ask the Explainer.

Explainer thanks Scott Lasensky of the United States Institute of Peace.
Daniel Engber is an associate editor at Slate. He can be reached at danengber@yahoo.com.

"But look for the deeper truth. How did this invasion get such bipartisan support in Congress?"

Do you think it might possibly be the two smoking holes in New York at the time? A short time to forget the tenor after 9-11. Congress bought what most of the country bought. Its not complicated.

For others I can see why his Marine pedigree would bother you and I'm very happy you aren't anti-American.

ubrew12:
Charles Krauthammer:
"Since the moratorium was instituted, we've had two wars in the Middle East, and in between a decade of garrisoning troops in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and the UAE to preserve the peace and keep untold oil riches out of the hands of the most malevolent of our enemies. "

Translation? Our troops have died for oil. Straight from the neocons mouth."
________________________________________________
The military exists to serve the wealthy war profiteers. They are sent to foreign lands to guard (and give up their lives for) the financial interests of their rich war profiteering masters.

I've heard Venezuela has gold and other riches besides oil. No wonder the war party in the U.S. want Venezuela as an enemy.

Pascal,

You may be interested in CAP, Canadian Action Party (www.CanadianActionParty(.ca)), which is again led by Constance, aka Connie, Fogal, who is [sharp]-witted, very alert, attentive, aware and active of many important issues, and so on. It is the sole political party in Canada that corresponds to what you say needs to happen, for the troops to be withdrawn and returned home, so that they no longer bleed, die, suffer PTSD, and so on, for the sake of the ruling elites profiting from energy and other natural resources. Not even the federal Green Party of Ca has provided any worthwhile words on this, but CAP has been doing it for a while now and needs support to be able to have candidates MPs.

Sounds like quite a mountain to climb, but if the climb isn't begun, then it also never will be achieved and troops will continue to bleed, die, ... etcetera for the sake of profiteering elites who think no more of the troops and us citizens than Henry Kissinger was purportedly quoted saying about soldiers; that, to him, and ilk, the soldiers are only 'dumb animals' useful for serving (without knowing) the interests of only the ruling elites. I don't know if he actually said that, but it's clear that it's how the ruling elites treat our soldiers, as well as all of the rest [us], as much as they can get away with anyway; and much they have.

I also suggest reading the article linked in my first post and by John Foster of PoliticalAlternatives(.ca), the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives based in Ottawa. The article provides a link to the full press release, which is still short, but another link is for a full report in PDF and 17 pages long. It's entirely about the rather whole GWoT being for Middle Eastern and Central Asian oil and natural gas resources. It provides what Margolis wrote and FAR MORE.

I am Canadian and 62 years old. Some of my friends' sons and daughters have been killed and wounded while stationed there with the Canadian Armed forces. Now the American government has admitted that these deaths have been for the sake of SUV's, Exxon, and cheap energy. All that other stuff about "democracy" and "poor women having to go around in burkas" and "smoking out" Bin Laden from his caves is being shown to be a pack of lies. "Your children died so people in the US can have a Hummer in their driveway". What a slap in the face to grieving parents! We are being played for suckers and I am not laughing. If Exxon and etc. want oil and gas from Iraq and Afganistan, let them hire mercenaries like Blackwater et al and have these hired guns die. I am disgusted that my government is allowing our children to be killed for lies and American profiteers. Support our troops and bring them home now. Let GM, Ford, Blackwater and Dick Cheney pay for the oil with their blood, not that of our children.

The new oil contracts, forced down the throats of a regime under siege, give substance to the "It's all about the oil" slogan. I consider myself fairly well informed, but did not know the details of what happened 36 years ago. This important story needs to be told over and over to counteract the crap about WMD and Saddam's human rights violations. So thanks Eric Margolis.

Has anyone seen stories this clear in the main stream newspapers or TV news shows?

"...however DR-M. seems to forget the strong relationship between the U.S. and Ca, and that it's only been becoming worse since the 1980s, if not earlier. It's increasingly worse with each of the last several PMs, and Canada is fully complicit in the criminal war on Afghanistan."
(from Mike Corbeil)

I don't forget, I neglected to mention it. Canada is fully complicit in the Afghan occupation. We have no business being there, and certainly no business killing people and labelling them "terrorists" or "the new Taliban." There was a word for imperialist auxiliary troops in centuries past--they were called mercenaries.

Also, we may have passed on drinking the kool-aid for Iraq but we still have a naval vessel in the Gulf, where it has no business being, sucking up tax dollars. Nobody I know agrees with this, I don't recall it being debated in our House of Parliament. Montreal had one of the most anti-war demonstrations in the West before Iraq was attacked by the US and the Coalition of the Coerced. But the point stands--we have lost the aura of "peacekeepers", we have a conservative Prime Minister nothing short of creepy, and now have the stench and blood of imperialism on our hands too, not that we have much of a weapons industry or armed forces per se.

fanman--I remember a time in the early 70's when it was possible to travel overland from Europe through Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, to India, and back via Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon, which I did, a miracle that all the doors were open then. Since then wars, civil wars, and a shitload of foreign meddling now make the trip unthinkable.

Colonialism truly is such an ugly thing. As Josef Conrad (the writer) put it in "Heart of Darkness" regarding the French and British in Africa:

"They were no colonists; their administration was merely a squeeze, and nothing more, I suspect. They were conquerors, and for that you want only brute force—nothing to boast of, when you have it, since your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others. They grabbed what they could get for the sake of what was to be got. It was just robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a great scale, and men going at it blind—as is very proper for those who tackle a darkness. The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much."

DR-Montreal

Democracy died a long time ago except to live in our fantasies.

To szczekoski,

I agree with 100%. Eric Margolis is a very clever bull-shit artist.
He is puting several poisonous pieces of chocolate in a plate full of sweets. He is nothing but a water carrier for the power-that-be.

Re Malfoyd's comments about Margolis' articles appearing in a "good quality" Canadian paper. Actually, they don't. They appear in the Toronto Sun, which is pretty well the lowest-brow daily in the country, complete with page three "Sunshine Girls" and other such various nonsense.

This isn't to say that this is bad. On the contrary, it's brilliant, as it makes our progressive views available to a very conservative and otherwise unworldly demographic, precisely the people that need to be disabused of the White House's lies so that they can take better informed political positions and change their votes accordingly (at least in terms of voting against pro-Bush Canadian parties).

I suspect that his decision to present this information as a revelation is a conscious one to better compel his given audience. To them, it is news. To us it's not. But then we're not Sun readers, are we? So don't knock on Margolis for appearing redundant, a view which many here seem to have. Be thankful that he's reaching out to the unconverted.

Correction for my last post.

Wherein I wrote, "And presence should go around pretending that DnG is in agreement with what Absence-of-Presence-of-Mind claims", it should read 'And Presence should NOT go around pretending ...".

And this is why Canadian soldiers are giving their lives? Let the Americans clean up the mess they leave all over the world. Of course it was the oil and this was obvious from day one. Ask the oil companies and the market speculators.

It's really great that the rest of the world is getting to see plenty of truth in the mass media. Of course it would be much better if US citizens also got to see the truth. But we'll take what we can get. We look forward to the great progress of an enlightened world majority that lacks US participation. US participation is no longer needed.

Domination of oil is a pillar of America's world power, says our Eric.
But who gave America this power? And is it real?

The funny thing is that America on its own is no match for the rest of the world. A bankrupt nation with 5% of the world's population believing that it controls the world is fanciful, deranged, cloud cuckoo land.

Time for America to have a reality check, stop wearing its oversized boots before it gets gangrenous blisters.

www.dangerouscreation.com

The life of George Wanker Bush has been one of petulant mediocrity and overwhelming and repeated failure. On September 10, 2001, Wanker's popularity numbers were swirling at the bottom of the toilet; he was widely and correctly seen as lazy, incompetent and stupid and would surely be a one term president. At one minute after midnight on September 12, 2001, Wanker had repeatedly told himself (and was being told by many, many others) that he was on the verge of genuine and undeniable greatness, that he was going to go down in history alongside Washington, Lincoln and FDR as one of the truly great and historic presidents of this nation. The defeat of the ragheads and the wogs by muscular Christianity and the might of American arms would assure this. THAT was the prime cause of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. All the other reasons, including oil, genuine as they are, followed in the wake of this moral midget's thirst for greatness and a glory that would prove not to be fleeting.

" kahalab June 22nd, 2008 10:21 pm

...

And, of course, the first Gulf War was about oil as well. Do you think the US and the other coalition members would have been there if the national product of Kuwait was broccoli instead of oil? Of course, if it had been broccoli then Kuwait would have never been invaded in the first place."

IT MAY HAVE BEEN ABOUT OIL, but about who's oil is another matter! Saddam Hussein wasn't invading Kuwait to grab it's oil, and I've heard of two possible reasons. (Iraq has so huge reserves of oil that the reserves under Kuwait would surely not have mattered much to Saddam Hussein, who was not unaware of the huge tapped and untapped reserves Iraq still possessed.)

Anyway, the two reasons that I've heard of for possibilities are:

*) Kuwait was stealing Iraq's oil using the slanted drilling technique developed in Alberta prior to that war; apparently anyway; or,

*) Kuwait ethically was part of Iraq; it's Britain and maybe the U.S. that had separated Kuwait from Iraq and for exploiting the oil reserves in that part of what used to be a larger Iraq.

I doubt that the latter was the reason for Saddam's invasion of Iraq, and given that Kuwait was certainly allied with the treasonous U.S. and its criminal allies of the West, it would not surprise me at all that they were in on the "game" of stealing from Iraq's oil reserves from Kuwait. After all, the West would then have access to not only the oil reserves under Kuwait, but also those under Iraq, if Saddam had been overthrown and the oil reserves privatized, but which remained part of U.S. planning even if Saddam wasn't overthrown with the first U.S. Gulf War.

===================================

I agree with the person (fanman or farnman?) who posted that DR-Montreal's post is good, however DR-M. seems to forget the strong relationship between the U.S. and Ca, and that it's only been becoming worse since the 1980s, if not earlier. It's increasingly worse with each of the last several PMs, and Canada is fully complicit in the criminal war on Afghanistan.

For more, see my first post above and for the article by John Foster of PolicyAlternativs(dot)ca, which is for the Canadian Centre on Policy Alternatives and based in Ottawa, of June 18th, originally. It's about the proposed oil and natural gas pipelines proposed for passage through Afghanistan, something Canadian MPs and other officials secretly met about back in (I believe) April; having met secretly over this and not said a word about it to Canadians. I provide additional information in that post, but this article by John Foster is the key point; although there's also a reference to, with some excerpts from, an article by a commodore of the British MoD and posted August 9, 2001, entitled, 'Afghanistan and the "New Great Game"'; with the source of the link stated just before the reference to the article.

FULLY COMPLICIT Canada has been made by its criminal political (and corporate) elites! Still better than in the USA, if you're not First Nations Person of Canada, that is. But still and fully complicit in the USA's crimes that DR-Montreal refers to.

HEH, it finally worked, after five tries, altough I had to edit the above post to add what I was wanting to post, and then minus the opening line in the above post; but which wasn't edited out, given it's [deserved].

And below is the closing of the initial content I wanted to include.

Well, I also got to now see that there's an article linked under 'External Links' in the Wikipedia page and about the "geopolitics of Afghani hash", which I hadn't seen before. Should make interesting reading and some memories come forward from the last taste, around 1975. Hmmm, good "stuff"; good for the health too, for both body and mind. Great product derived from a transformation of "Mother" Nature's herb called mari.... Oh, mari, mari, quite contrari, you shouldn't be illegal at all; you're one of "Mother" Nature's greatest herbs and meds.

Excuse my brief interruption. Memories ya know.

End of that closing, and now, lastly, DAMN LOUSY IS WP!

WORDPRESS IS A TEAM OF A-HOLES!

Funny, that was accepted by WP, but a critically valid article linked to globalresearch.ca and totally relevant to the article by Eric Margolis wasn't accepted. DUH! Like I said, a-holes!

Well, while I gave it four tries already, I'll try it yet one more time with an additional modification to the content. The following was the post I've been trying to make, minus some modications to try to get it to be accepted by a-hole WP.

"Afghanistan: A pipeline through a troubled land",
by John Foster, June 22 2008, originally June 18th,

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9416

I haven't read Eric Margolis' article yet, but read another for which a link was provided at www.globalresearch.ca today and for which the source is CCPA, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. It's about the oil [and] gas pipelines proposed for of course the West's elites, primarily, but Afghanistan.

(Here was the link to the original article that didn't pass a-hole WP's filtering.)

(And I'm referring, below, to the original article linked in the GR article, which is only the link.)

That page provides a brief excerpt of the first two paragraphs of the press release, for which there's a link to the full release, and then a PDF download link for the full report, along with links for three maps; although the .jpg files for the maps aren't working for me with MS Paint, which reports a problem with formatting of the file.

The report was actually "written by international energy economist and former lead economist of PetroCanada John Foster" and he "describes the U.S.-backed pipeline as turning Afghanistan into "an energy bridge" between Central and South Asia".

According to the above-linked page, the three proposed pipelines are:

*) "Map 1: Proposed Central Asian Gas Pipelines";

*) "Map 2: Proposed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Gas Pipeline"; and,

*) "Map 3: The Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) Gas Pipeline".

Actually, 'Map 3' doesn't specific the word 'proposed', so I wonder if it's been decided, by the elites, that this one is a certainty.

According to the full press release page, the TAPI pipeline is to "transport natural gas 1,680 kilometres from southeast Turkmenistan through southern Afghanistan, to Pakistan and India".

Who ever said that war is not a RACKET?! Whoever did sure lives in fantasy worlds.

Last year, or the year before, I learned that Afghanistan has been found to also have a considerable amount of both or either oil and gas resources of its own, while having also learned that it is quite rich in MINING RESOURCES. The Wikipedia page on 'Afghanistan' lists a number of the latter resources.

(Wikipedia link removed, in case it was also a filtering problem; ODDLY, but then WP is managed by idiots anyway, so ...!)

Under the subheading of 'Geography', there's the following paragraph.

"The country's natural resources include gold, silver, copper, zinc and iron ore in southeastern areas; precious and semi-precious stones such as lapis, emerald and azure in the north-east; and potentially significant petroleum and natural gas reserves in the north. The country also has uranium, coal, chromite, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, and salt.[1][26][27][28] However, these significant mineral and energy resources remain largely untapped due to the effects of the Soviet invasion and the subsequent civil war. Plans are underway to begin extracting them in the near future.[29][30]"

Under the 'External Links', there's one to the CIA's World Fact Book and it listed several of Afghanistan's natural resources.

Actually, that says that the country produces '0 bbl/day' and has that amount for reserves; while saying '19.18 million cu m (2005 est.)' is what the country has for natural gas production, what the country also consumes, and that there are '47.53 billion cu m (1 January 2006 est.)' for reserves. So, and if these numbers are right, then I guess this natural gas would not be sought by Western corporations; unless they wanted to take ownership to try to profit from poverty-stricken Afghans, or the no longer poor there. And I now no longer see a reference to the country's mine reserves.

That page has seriously changed since the last time I looked at the CIA's Fact Book around a year or more ago, for I believe it then said that it was believed or known that Afghanistan had oil reserves. And at the top of the page, it says that the last update was on June 19, 2008; I just noticed.

Btw, under 'External Links' in the Wikipedia page I just noticed a link to a British MoD article entitled, "British Royal College for Defense Studies analyses and proposes a war in August 2001". Before 9-11, heh?! Yeah, at the bottom of the page for that article it says, 'Page Modified: 9th August 2001', just a few days after Bush was told that terrorist attacks were being prepared against the U.S., or if not Bush, then certainly Condoleeza Rice, but who would've surely told the Bush-Cheney team about this; I expect anyway. The article is actually entitled, 'Afghanistan and the "New Great Game"' and is by 'COMMODORE NOMAN BASHIR'.

It's only a 'SUMMARY' article, but the second paragraph says something very important.

"While Taliban were able to re-unify the country and bring some degree of order by demobilization of the militias, their policies have generally been regarded as medieval based on tribal traditions. The international community has sought to isolate Afghanistan and regards Taliban as posing a threat of Islamic extremism. However, a closer analysis reveals that Taliban are inward rather than outward looking. They have also signalled readiness to engage constructively with the international community."

EMPHASIS is intended, by me, on the last two sentences of that quoted text. BUT the third paragraph is also very important and is very specifically related to what Margolis' article is about.

"The emergence of resource rich newly independent states in Central Asia and Caspian region evoked a simultaneous interest from amongst regional and extra-regional countries to compete for the resources. The competition has focussed primarily on providing routes for outflow of the hydrocarbons from these landlocked states. Additionally, the area considered as heartland of Eurasia is strategically significant to the states aspiring for regional and global primacy."

The whole article, which is only four paragraphs is worth reading, but I won't excerpt more from it; for my point is that there was never any way to justify war on the Taliban. I had that view after 9-11, when Bush first said that the Taliban were associated with Osama Bin Laden and that he was in Afghanistan. My view become all the more definite the moment Bush said that the Taliban themselves had had nothing to do with the 9-11 attacks; but even if they had, then it would've been due to the U.S. having committed serious injustices against them, and they would then need to be known and correctly addressed or resolved, not through war! So, today, we know from a reporter who questioned the FBI about them or the U.S. having not charges placed or established against Osama Bin Laden for the 9-11 attacks, and the reporter got the legal process answer, that it's the DoJ that decides whether or not charges are justified and to be applied. Hence, we can deduce that either they never believed that he was involved in the 9-11 attacks, or they do, but prefer to be complicit with him by protecting him, for his dear friends of the Bush family, the Saudi royal family of Bin Ladens. That furthermore means that even if none of the Bush administration was involved in the carrying out of an 'inside job', so false flag, attack on the U.S., they have definitely made themselves complicit criminals.

Have a lovely evening, and day tomorrow. Mine won't be any different, for I've learned nothing I haven't known and otherwise believed for many years already; only having learned that the CIA Fact Book has changed since the last time I looked at it on or for Afghanistan.

DR-Montreal - Great post.
I remember traveling Europe by bicycle in the early 70's when it was still not only OK, but in fact GREAT to be an American abroad... even with the mess in Viet Nam. Guess the thinking world had not quite caught on to the full measure of the game then. My first venture into an "abberant" country was when I crossed into Yugoslavia only to be greeted by machine gun toting border guards. I thought "WTF"..."where am I and what are these people worried about?" Nevertheless I had a wonderfull time in Yug and the young people were just marvelous and very politicaly savvy. I could not help but detect a very discernable uneasyness in expressing their political beliefs though. They were visably distressed and what I considered to be "paraniod" about the power of the STATE. I kept seeing these pompous portraits of a smug and self-serving preening peacock know as "TITO" in virtually every shop/restaraunt/public building/post office/and even home which I entered. I thought to myself, "how can a people be frightened of a buffoonish putz such as this?"
Living through the last 7 years in the USA I NOW have a totaly new understanding of their sense of uncertainty and paranoia. Even though they(then) or I (now) may not be personally threatened by the criminal element so firmly in place in government, on a subliminal level the corruption and the disease infects every cell of the body. There is a real sense of "uncleanliness" an inability to get clean spirituallty, when your entire existance is permiated with a viral contageon. Over and over I keep thinking back to to the final scene in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" where the pod people were everywhere. To me that is an apt analogy to where I see the US at present. Some people are truly aware of the horrors, to be sure, but it is amazing just how many pod people are still roaming the streets (with a flag lapel pin, of course).

"BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's Cano Limon-Covenas oil pipeline has been closed by rebel bomb attacks carried out on Saturday and Sunday, a source at state petroleum company Ecopetrol told Reuters."

I wonder if Colombia's Freedom Fighters have 'Occidentally' found Dick Cheney's juggler vein.

That these wars were about oil and gas and pipelines to carry oil and gas was known before the wars even began - just ask the 10 million people worldwide who protested the wars before hand. Of course, it was also about making the people who own shares in energy companies and military contractors rich (that is, members of the Bush regime and their close personal contacts) and expanding the US empire. Any of the moral and humane arguments were all hypocritical lies used to sell the war.

As for the comment about the US helping Britain overthrow the Iranian government after it nationalized oil. This was back in the 1950's. It was an operation run by Kermit Roosevelt who then became the head of Gulf Oil after they "obtained" the oil rights from the newly installed government of the Shah. So yes, it was about oil back then as well.

And, of course, the first Gulf War was about oil as well. Do you think the US and the other coalition members would have been there if the national product of Kuwait was broccoli instead of oil? Of course, if it had been broccoli then Kuwait would have never been invaded in the first place.

That it's been about oil is so "even a moron with half a brain knows it" obvious that it's amazing that anyone even tries to deny it. Everyone knows what it's about, whether they admit it or not.

Like it or not Margolis has clout, even for those posters here that dismiss Canada as inconsequential. I think he is rather late with his expedition to the obvious but nevermind, he is a barometer of world opinion--why? Because he has some international cred, with a military background (in the U.S.), and when he feels free enough to finally say what he undoubtedly knew years ago.. well then it is news, even if it is yesterday's for most of us.

World opinion matters, and he, and Gwynne Dyer, another military analyst (a Canadian even), influence world opinion, and it matters, since the US has caved in and allowed a group of thugs to play a very dangerous game of "chicken" with the world...

Guess what? The "world" does not like it, and it is very strange to be in bed with the Chinese and Russians, but compared with this criminal cabal in Washington the old adage "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" has startling new relevance. The U.S. is reviled globally. Dubya's game of RISK ended up a total fiasco, millions dead, and I really doubt the US--in spite of the millions down there that feel the revulsion the rest of us outside feel--can repair its constitution, and rejoin the civilised West where torture and rendition are considered thuggish, illegal, and a terrible stain on your national honour. It may be too late.

What WE out here want an is end to is this gun held to the planet's head in the form of massive U.S nuke delivery capability, and Israeli nukes, and a rogue regime that is run by a mendacious psychopath, or by a malevolent "neo-con" Weltanschauung that pulls the strings of this war-criminal president. If war with Iran happens, it will be the worst global disaster since the German war of aggression on Poland in 1939... only worse.

You poor Americans starve while the weapons industry arms up in 2008, spending almost as much on "national defense" as the rest of the world combined? Against who? YOUR country is the global terrorist, the rogue state that we all fear. You can't possibly beleive the propaganda, once again, that a country like Iran (like Iraq before it) is any threat to anyone? It's about oil and power. It is the new Great Game. And it is going to be worse than the last round because the "blowback" from the darker-skinned natives you presume to fuck around is going to be beyond your worst nightmares. Your gas price hike is the tip of the wedge. It will get much much worse unless you remove the criminal cabal in Washington. The world, collectively, loathes this man more than any "leader" since Hitler.

Margolis irritates me at times, with his marine pedigree, his name-dropping, and conservative aura... but he can nail a truth and has been around. If the world sees the US in a way such that professional commentators can at last say what they think, it is not something necessarily hopeful to me--it could easily drive the maniacs in Washington and Tel Aviv to unleash the unthinkable.

And no, I am not anti-American. I invite all would-be US imperialist foot-soldiers to come to Canada as with Vietnam. Why be a stooge for a regime with no honour for an oil-grab scheme? Our Conservaative government will be tossed out of office soon and new legislation will allow you to escape persecution for yet another unjust, illegal, imperialist U.S. "undeclared" war against a third world country. It will allow you to avoid having the searing stain of playing a part--direct or supportive--in the most sickening war crimes against innocent men, women and children imaginable. It could even save your life. It is something you could be proud of.

The offer is also extended to people, lefties like myself, who can't handle the new crypto-fascist regime that has appeared there, the heavy police presence and violent suppression of legitimate peaceful protest. Seriously, it may not get better. Soon, at least.

Think about it.

DR-Montreal

New words to Gilbert and Sullivan's uneven but ambitious work, appropriately named "Utopia Ltd"

Act 1 Finale: Zara, the daughter of the king of Utopia, introduces the "flowers of progress" from not Great Britain in this version, but the USA. I am sure Gilbert would see how the US has usurped 'Great Britains' role, and would have done a better job with the words. Its quite a common practice to bring some of the words up to contemporary situations. The music is some of Sullivan's best. The US representatives [ a bunch of shady characters] are going to educate the Utopians about how to be part of and emulate the empire. I

Zara:
When U S blows the trump of war and Persia trembles.
The army of the conquerors zombies assembles.

Tis then this the generals eyes and medals gleam in seeming perfection.
He represents a military scheme for the racketeers protection.

Chorus: [ Exuberantly ]
America! America! America!

Zara: [ Introduces Dick Cheney ]

A complicated gentlemen allow me to present,
Of all the arts and faculties the terse embodiment.

He's a great Arithmetician who can demostrate with ease,
That two and two are three or five, or anything you please.

An eminent logician who can make it clear to you,
The black is white when looked at from a proper point of view.

A marvelous philologist who'll undertake to show,
that "yes" is but another and a neater form of "no".

Chorus: [ Exuberantly ]
Dick Cheney! Dick Cheney! Dick Cheney!

Dick Cheney:
All declarations that I give are like the word of god.
And demonstrate my will to power, and all else go to sod.

I say they hide their weapons when defences are no more,
When they are weak from sanctions we can blast with shock and awe.

Zara: [ Introducing President Bush ]
what these may be Americans, perhaps you'll hardly guess,
They're types of US physical and moral cleanliness.

This is the president, of purity so slick,
He'll clean the congress from moral stain, because he is so thick.

Chorus: Yes! Yes! Yes!

Zara: [ nice waltz tune ]
His congress glows as patriots, supports the troops and contract trash.
New funds are passed and sent away, to purify the cash,

The democrats we do acclaim, the rich folks latest toy.
On anything you like to name, no talents they'll employ.

[Introduces Nancy Pelosi]
This is a leading democrat, she won't say boo or tush
She'll clean the congress from moral stain, and purify the cash.

[Introduces Wall street political financier]
A company promotor this, with special education,
Which teaches what mortgage means, and also sub-primation.

To speculators he supplies a good financial scheme,
Time was when laws could stop this, but he's on the legal team!

Financier:
Yes! Yes! Yes!
Time was when laws could stop this but I'm on the legal team!

Supendous loans to companies, Ive largely advocated,
In real estate and Enron shares I've freely speculated.

Through internet and bubbles bold, successfully I've floated,
And sudden falls before the drop I've occassionally quoted.

And soon or late I always call for an insider quotation,
No schemes too great and none too small for tax-free liquidation.

Chorus: Yes! Yes! Yes!

Zara: [Introduces General Paetrous]

And lastly I present Great Americas proudest boast,
Who pre-empts, invades, and turns foes into burnt toast.

And if you ask him in respectful tone,
He'll show you how to strip nations to the bone,

General:
I'm General Paetrous, the USA army bold
I'll teach you how we anglos rule the world.
And terrify the simple Arab.

And how the anglo race has delt, the Arab, missiles and planes have felt,
With phosphorus and depleted Uranium, We've dropped bombs over all of them.

If to our rapacity you'd like to join in some capacity,
Tear up international laws, and make evidences fake
Join our troops, you'll never want for oil to take.

Though we're no longer nice at heart, Yet we can act and play a part,
And thanks to radio and TV, We're never called a criminal.

Chorus: What never?
General: No, never
Chorus: what never?
General: Well , hardly ever, We're never called a criminal.

Chorus:
Then, give 3 cheers and one cheer more
For the hirelings of their media core.

[worshipfully]
Sieg Heil, Sieg Heil!
Ye types of Americas Power,
Ye Heaven enlightened band
We bless the day, and bless the hour,
That brought you to our land.

l am shocked and appalled l was sure we were there to bring the joy of truth, justice and the promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Well what do l know?

For confirmation of this article, see Greg Palast's book, ARMED MADHOUSE, in which is delineated actually TWO Bush/Cheney Administration Iraq Attack Plans made WELL BEFORE 9/11 - which incident may well be a false-flag superblack op to forward the warplans/powergrab via a 'new Pearl Harbor'. After all, it is now obvious that Bush and Cheney do not mind dead Americans so long as the killings advance their plans.

But NO plans were made to assist the Iraq people in the aftermath of the war (this is itself a war crime under the Geneva Conventions)... so much for the Bush/Cheney/McCain "concern" for the "freedom" of the Iraq people, who have only been given the freedom TO DIE OFF.

And McCain should be Publicly asked how many -Million- Iraq refugees would he as President admit to America during his Iraq War???

No plan of the aftermath was instituted by Bush (other than to leave Iraq to the tender mercies of the free market and free trade by Bremer/Kissinger- and Iraq has become THE PERFECT EXAMPLE OF THE ACTUAL RESULT OF "FREE" TRADE and "FREE" MARKETS and the RULE of the GUN), because Bush and Cheney really do not give two shits together about Iraquis. All their cronies and buddies are amply served by the attack and occupation itself - Big Oil, Zionism, Fundamentalism, Big Money, the Military-Industrial Complex, CorpoFascism, Republicanism, Chauvinism, NeoConservatism, Neo'Liberalism', etc... again, see ARMED MADHOUSE.

The Secret Cheney Energy Task Force, back in Year One (2001) of the Beast Bush("..and to the people of Iraq I say, DO NOT destroy the OIL WELLS {when we attack with Operation Iraq Liberation.. O.I.L.}" -Bush), targeted Iraq for destruction, desolation, and occupation for the total hijack-robbery of its oil... but Bush just can't come right out and say the truth of 'we need the oil, we take the oil, and we'll fuck over anyone in the way'. That is why it is necessary to keep the Cheney Cabal/Energy Task Force Top Secret all these years.

And to finance the war, Bush/Cheney and the NeoCons have Destroyed the value of the American currency, so... no taxes for the SUPERWEALTHY SUPERNATIONAL UBER-KLASSE, but the little people of America EAT IT by the Secret Tax of Devaluation of the dollar, arranged by the FEDERAL RESERVE. Tar and Feathers for NeoCons Greenspan and Bernanke are in order.

Bush... WORST... PRESIDENT... EVER! ANYONE who votes for Bush II/McCain, should be locked up in a madhouse for the good of the nation and the world, or what is left of it.

And a good metaphorical book for our situation might be Frank Herbert's DUNE, about total genocidal war on a desert world for the mining rights to the most precious substance of the universe, without which the transit of space would come to a halt. Our 'spice' is of course, oil. The Bushites would be represented in the book by the conniving, untrustworthy, evil Harkonnen nation-tribe, whose depraved Baron holds a despicable philosophy of raw power and perverted morality summed up in his Bush/Cheney-like comment:

"He who controls the Spice, controls the Universe!"

@markbinoz June 22nd, 2008 8:06 pm
What you say is true.

Was is for oil, or was it for Israel?

I remember having a debate with one who posts on ICH under the name Atheo. I argued that the invasion and occupation was for oil. He pointed out the zionist role. I ended up having to concede a lot of points:-
* the role of AIPAC having the ability to control campain donations through control of money through banks and businesses.
* free all expenses holidays for politicians and their entourages to Israel,
* the zionists in PNAC whose documents were copied to become official US policy.
* The role of Zionist Rupert Murdoch.
* zionists occupy key positions in each of the other large media organisations.

Atheo, in his own style conceded no points, but he should of. Because Bush, Cheney, Rumsfield and Rice all have major oil ties and investments. The whole thing would not have happened if it were not in their interests too.

"Four major western oil companies, Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP and Total are about to sign U.S.-brokered no-bid contracts to begin exploiting Iraq's oil fields. Saddam Hussein had kicked these firms out three decades ago when he nationalized Iraq's oil industry."

That is not true. Saddam used Iraq's wealth to BUY Iraq's own resources from western oil companies. Those oil companies were PAID sufficient money for resources that rightfully belonged to Iraq, in any case, and they gladly accepted the deal. The problem with that is that, have sold Iraqi oil resources back to Iraq, the oil companies started eying them off once again.

Now the oil companies are to once again be GIVEN these oil resources. Talk about having your cake and eating it too.

* Got it for nothing.
* Sold it to Iraq.
* Now they get it for nothing again. Lucky them.

"That aint workin...
Thats the way you do it!
Money for nothing
and your chick for free..."

The war is about oil - partly. But look for the deeper truth. How did this invasion get such bipartisan support in Congress? Why does the executive director of AIPAC, Howard Kohr say, in Jan 2003, that-

"quietly lobbying Congress to approve the use of force in Iraq" was one of "AIPACs successes over the past year"? (see The Israel Lobby by Mearsheimer and Walt p242)

Why were former Israeli prime ministers Benjamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak and Shimon Peres, as well as the then current Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, actively pushing America to invade Iraq (see The Israel Lobby by Mearsheimer and Walt p234)? I don't know of any other country twisting America's arm to invade.

Now ask why White House neocon advisers, invasion advocates and leading bogus intelligence spinners, Perle, Feith and Wurmser, as members of a right-wing Israeli think tank, 5 years before the invasion, advised the incoming Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu to-

"focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq-an important Israeli strategic objective in its own right".( 'Clean Break' report June 1996, as per ref. The Israel Lobby by Mearsheimer and Walt p239).

For Israel, certainly, AIPAC leader, Howard Kohr, can claim "success".

" As American analyst Kevin Phillips writes, the U.S. military and its allies have become an "energy protection force." Fair enough as a speculative analysis with regard to the areas in question, but only after they first become an "energy acquisition force."

John Sullivan June 22nd, 2008 1:19 pm

Exactly. It is as apparent that this country (usa) has never been about "democracy" as the fact that the current Iraqi Occupation has always been about the "oil".

Last year, Turkmenistan saw the death of Saparmyrat Nyyazow, a.k.a. "Papa", who ran a dictatorship understood as the weirdest and most oppressive of the post-Soviet years. The "election" of Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow (Papa's dentist and reportedly also his bastard son) resulted in some openness in Turkmenistan, including removing Papa's image from the streets, the TV, and the vodka bottles, and ending the ritualistic Papa worship that was common until last year. The number of energy deals Turkmenistan has made since Papa's death has increased and there are concerns that Turkmenistan is making these deals but has no capacity to fulfill them. TAPI is included.

Europe is Turkmenistan's primary energy concern, with a pipeline planned beneath the Caspian Sea that will offer Europe a choice of something besides Russian gas. Europe is closer to Turkmenistan than is the US; so, Margolis's portrait of Turkmenistan's gas freely flowing to the US through Afghanistan and Pakistan -once those pesky insurgencies are resolved- is quite misleading and far too optimistic to be taken very seriously.

Margolis correctly says that TAPI is complicated by an Iranian pipeline deal, but he cannot conceal his disgust at Iranian attempts to exploit their own natural resources. The Iran deal is embraced by the entire region (including Afghanistan and India) and is far from "scuttled". The US-India "civilian nuclear energy deal" that flopped this year was meant to provide India with an alternative to Iranian gas. When the US urged India not to deal with Iran, India spurned the US and the nuclear deal has stalled since. So, India isn't exactly "cock a hoop over the new pipeline plan".

Margolis is misleading in saying that "nothing else" is involved here beside the US being interested in energy and having to protect these interests whether we like it or not. At the least, Margolis's viewpoint is Western-centric and meant to bolster support for TAPI, a non-practical, US brokered fantasy. If Margolis was really interested in Afghanistan's investment portfolio, he could have mentioned that the China Metallurgical Group last month signed a $3 billion deal for development of the Anyak Valley copper mines. The deal was Afghanistan's largest ever, twice the size of GDP for all 2007, and it will be underway long before TAPI. (Page, Jeremy. "Barren and bleak, a valley of death may be the $88bn key to a better life", London Times, 5/16/08).

Margolis is really saying that the "unworldly" Taliban are a "legitimate" target like al Qaida, and that "energy protection" is a fine cover under which to neutralize these targets along the "pipeline route" (which includes the Federally Administered Tribal Areas between Afghanistan and Pakistan). He slips these propagandistic phrases into a commentary on global energy and attempts to raise awareness of (the unpractical) TAPI as a solution to problems he pretends to be angry about. Margolis acts upset about the "ugly truth" of US imperialism, but without this truth, he would really begin thirsting for new material to use in his column.

It's always been about oil. Remember "Three Days of the Condor?" Redford, 1975?

"Joe Turner: What does Operations care about a bunch of damn books? A book in Dutch. A book out of Venezuela. Mystery stories in Arabic.

Atwood: Wait!

Joe Turner: What the hell is so important about...
[He stops as he sees the connection]

Joe Turner: Oil fields. Oil. That's it, isn't it? This whole damn thing was about oil! Wasn't it? Wasn't it?

Atwood: Yes, it was."

Ironically, good ole Dick Cheney was Ford's Chief of Staff in 1975, when TDOTC was released...

Malfoyd June 22nd, 2008 4:46 pm:

Some unquestionalby valid points. I'll certainly concede the probability of there being a considerable percentage of malcontents within the CD populace. In fact, I guess I'd have to count myself among them.

I suppose it's also true that our disgruntlement is sometimes misdirected, although I try my best to include at least some positive input for consideration, tempered with as much good humor as possible. In this case, I believe it's quite important to recognise that the petro-resources control issue involves much more than mere tanker transport to the West as its end stage. If I seemed to be tweaking Eric Margolis' nose a bit in saying so, it was certainly not without recognition of his many contributions.

In the more general defence of us malcontents, on the other hand, I have to wonder aloud where the world would be without us and our egotistical urges to be heard? Any governmental opposition to the status quo seems quite minimal.

More wood on the fire - that 911 was an inside, false flag job to kick off the party for bushCON and his oily buds.

We are witness's to history, front seat occupiers to man's insanity, that the golden rule is all that matters.

He who owns the gold (oil) makes the rules. The rest of us, just observers, witness's, bag holders, dupes, victims.

Someone stop this ride, I want to get off

Perestroika Pie

Share your plunder black Don, to be
time for new Mc glasnost wonder

Genghis ....
he would be so proud
but could he turn that oil to water?
or just spew new
lust to lust or dust to dust chants
in the fertile black water valley
where
terra not so firma any more...
so fleshy
it jiggles in rapacity
like a Dubai sexless city

and black lust and more fertile dust
can better ponder profit
while prophets ponder
new hope hummer harvest songs
and fresh new tones of change

Share your plunder black Don
time for new Mc glasnost wonder
time for perestroika pie

"Four major western oil companies, Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP and Total are about to sign U.S.-brokered no-bid contracts to begin exploiting Iraq's oil fields. Saddam Hussein had kicked these firms out three decades ago when he nationalized Iraq's oil industry. The U.S.-installed Baghdad regime is welcoming them back."

Woohoo! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!

Arvy,

Thanks for admitting his value on these issues.

Often I read unfair criticisms against people who have a good, positive messages, or give clear facts about the reality of what's going on.

It makes me wonder about the origin of those criticisms. When they are complaining about abuse of political power, I agree, but then when the same people complain about opposition to the abuse, I think maybe those critics are simply malcontents - ready to complain about anything.

It is best to accept honest statements, even if they aren't phrased exactly the way we would phrase them ourselves. Maybe we wish they would go further. Or maybe we think they should have emphasized different points.

The reality is that we need all the help we can get. Things are seriously wrong, and I'm truly grateful for anyone who will educate people about it.

George Montbiot recently made a bold attempt to make a citizen's arrest of the former US Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton for war crimes. It didn't work, and some criticized him for doing it a different way than they would have done it. But he did something. That's what matters. His actions will inspire others. That's important.

" Let's be realistic. Afghanistan and Iraq are about oil, nothing else."

Duh.

The nature of that threat--terrorism--doesn't compare with the threat offered by the Nazis, Japanese, and Russians. The Muslims are a miserable backwash hampered by a medieval religion and totalitarian governance. They are more a danger to themselves than to us.

And if it weren't for the oil beneath those sands is there anyone here that thinks our troops would be there now?

Anybody who needs to be told that it was about oil all along won't believe it not matter what.

No news here, but it needs to said again and again. Strip the system bare to see the abuse by naked power. As the world sinks slowly in its human morass, rich US oil investors are trying to make billions of dollars from the deaths and torture of millions of people. Anyone profiting, working for, or holding shares in these companies buying into Iraq,that is Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP and Total, is a complicit mass murderer and oil terrorist.

Malfoyd June 22nd, 2008 1:50 pm -- "But there sure are a lot of egotisical know-it-all malcontents doing the comments."

Oh c'mon. That's a rather egotistical remark in itself, don't you think. Critical comment is the name of the game here and I'm sure Eric is quite accustomed to it. Besides, if we didn't love him, we wouldn't bother helping him to clarify his analytical oversights, some of which are not unimportant. :^)

http://www.votestrike.com/

It seems to me that America overthrew a Middle East democracy for the British over oil - then we kept the Irani oil for ourselves.

i know what eric margolis is saying.......since the truth cannot be hidden anymore, you are going to hear people in high places talking abut the REAL REASON we went to war in iraq and afghanistan.....they will talk openly because they NO LONGER HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT BEING INDITED FOR HIGH CRIMES AND GOING TO PRISON.....since the iraq oil contracts have now been signed,they can talk as much as they want......

SallyUUKent (1:57) - some of that is true, but you used the phrase "...If we don't want to be practically enslaved to the Arabs, then we'd better get down to business ..." And overall, you are portraying the problem as predominantly a matter of FOREIGN threats (Saudis, China).

- As I'm sure you realize, the problem isn't the danger of "being enslaved to Arabs." It's being enslaved to our own big-business Establishment -- to the top 0.1% of our population, who set the whole direction of our national policy. Yes, there is indeed such a thing as the tyranny of Arab oil sheiks. But that is subordinate to (& fully integrated with) our own tyranny. The oil sheiks are only in power, due largely to our own support for them over the decades.

Eric Margolis, thank you for this to-the-point and articulate article. It pretty much sums up the facts.

As much as all this is true, the author fails to mention the fact that ever since the ban on Cannabis which could have saved us from all this hell on dependence on foreign oil, America has gone to one war for oil after another. When will the Left quit complaining and connect the dots? It\'s bad enough that even so-called progressives and liberals badmouth hemp as \"pot\". The day America overturns the ban on hemp and puts its focus and investment in plant oils in general along with wind, solar, water (and by the way, what about the Japanese auto inventions that rely solely on water and no petroleum?), etc ... is the day these wars for oil will die down. Until then, keep complaining and keep writing us off for trying to help get America out of its wars for oil lunacy.

New car "CITY CAT" soon to be manufactured in India. Exciting new compressed air vehicle. Check it out.

Good one Sally. The whole North American infrastructure is built around the automobile, which corporate America has managed to stylize as it's version of 'material freedom'. America is so bound to a material existence that it craves freedom from it, and the automobile has been the solution offered by corporations who want nothing other than to press more materialism. The automobile, the way it's used and promoted, creates conflict in the American psyche. 'Get away from it all in something you can't get away from'.

So yes, a whole new model for living life is needed, and the first step is to get rid of the corporations. Can't be done? You bet it can.

Good for Margolis and Dyer and CBC, my disgust is with US media, not Canadian. Most Americans don't watch or listen to Canadian news.

That these wars have been all about US domination of the Persian Gulf and complete control of its oil supplies is nothing new. That it's finally in print and out there for anyone to see is. Democracy never had anything at all to do with setting the Middle East aflame with war. It was all about domination of those countries and exploitation of their oil resources. Imagine if we no longer needed oil to fuel our oversized SUV's. Imagine if we could invest all of our resources to our best and brighest minds in order to create alternative, environmentally friendly and renewable fuel sources. Imagine completely divorcing ourselves from the tyranny of the Saudi oil sheikhs, who smile at us publicly and behind our backs wreak havoc on the world by their manipulation of oil supplies and prices.

We've become such slaves to oil that it seems as if we're completely in thrall to Saudi Arabia. It's bad enough that between them and China, our country has been largely sold off and that both of those countries, in effect, own us lock, stock and barrel, and if they ever wished to recoup the debts we owe them, it would break us financially and destroy our already tottering economy that Bush has, in 8 short years, managed to all but destroy.

It's time to reinvent the engine that powers our vehicles. The internal combustion engine isn't all that efficient when it comes to how it powers a vehicle. There are other alternatives that could be used that would be so much better and more efficient, and there are still the possibilities of inventing some new kind of engine that wouldn't require the use of oil/gas to fuel it. It just take the willpower to do it. If we don't want to be practically enslaved to the Arabs, then we'd better get down to business and find a way to get ourselves free from the tyranny of oil, and not a day too soon, either.

Shadow government NSA black budget operations? From "Bin Laden determined to attack inside the U.S." to "My Pet Goat"? Unaccounted for billions of dollars lost in Iraq and in the Pentagon's budget? No-bid contracts for oil operations in Iraq? Executive privilege or corporatocracy? Bringing democracy to Iraq? See Tom Engelhardt's "The Greatest Story Never Told" - http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/16/9653/

More on this. When the bombs were first falling on Baghdad, when the Pentagon planted 'military advisors' were monopolizing CNN and all the other US media, who was telling the truth on CBC, Canada's biggest network? Eric Margolis made regular appearances, alternating with Gwynne Dyer, another of Canada's best war journalists.

Common Dreams gives a good distillation of the real news, so that's why I come here. But there sure are a lot of egotisical know-it-all malcontents doing the comments. Why don't you get constructive and make a real contribution?

allthumz June 22nd, 2008 1:10 pm

Welcome to the party ... grab a drink and get ready for the Iran Plan...

They should just skip the slogan-of-the-decade (War on Communism, War on Japs, War on Hitler, War on Drugs, War on Terror) - and get to the essence:
War on Enemies

This way, the T-shirts and TV logos can last longer.

Way back when, at the start of the Iraqi invasion, Charlie Rose was interviewing someone (forgot name) who implied that the invasion was primarily about securing Iraqi oil. Charlie snickered and with a condescending laugh said (paraphrase)"You're not really saying this is about oil?", then promptly moved on to another question.

Five years later it's mentioned in the Toronto Sun? like it's news? "The ugly truth......finally has emerged"? Aren't journalists trained to inquire, investigate, suspect everything, and search for the truth? What the f*#k are they doing??

Meanwhile the Blackwater thugs are going to have their work cut out, www.iags.org/iraqpipelinewatch.htm

Some people here are never happy. Yes, what Eric Margolis is writing about is not news to people who have taken the trouble to keep up, but the string of facts he presents here will be news to many people who get their news from big media.

Margolis consistently writes the real story, and has a wide readership in a good quality Canadian paper.

So if the critics here really care about these issues, what's with the condescending criticism? Do they really want the few good writers, like Margolis, to keep quiet?

Once the Oil Companies are done with the Congress they have paid for, they will be looking for a buyer. Maybe the People can place a bid.

The United States has never been a democracy and has a long history of crushing democracies all over the world.

I use to think that the Taliban part of the war on terror was legit. After reading this, in particular the parts about the 1998 pipeline deal, the Taliban and Osama, I'm not so sure anymore. So the whole "war on terror" was about oil? God help Bush/Cheney.

I also have a different perspective on 9/11 now.

If you can control the oil and gas you can dictate the policies of disobediant governments. Look for evidence of big oil support of the Iraq invasion and you'll probably come up empty. picture yourself driving through Bagdad in a pick-up with an exxon-mobile logo on the door. Big oil has no interest in doing business in areas of conflict. Even if the wells are in remote secure areas, security of the pipe lines will be a problem. I'm not sure these contracts are doable in the near future.

By comparing Poppy Bush's 6 months or so buildup time for the Kuwait invasion to the less than 1 month interval between 9/11/01 and the 10/7/01 Afghanistan invasion, it was obvious at the time that there was a military operation in place waiting to go.

Eric Margolis, sorry, it is worth repeating.

Charles Krauthammer, argues for opening up ANWR to drilling in Nat Review Online's article: 'McCain's Energy Plan Only A Partial Fix' (NRO:http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/20/opinion/main4198661.shtml).

And there, he say's these sweet words:
"Since the moratorium was instituted, we've had two wars in the Middle East, and in between a decade of garrisoning troops in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and the UAE to preserve the peace and keep untold oil riches out of the hands of the most malevolent of our enemies. "

Translation? Our troops have died for oil. Straight from the neocons mouth.

'Freedom isn't free', and the particular freedom Krauthammer has in mind is your freedom to drive a Hummer to your neighbor's soldier-son's funeral. Question now: are those the same freedom's WE are willing to fight and die for?

"The ugly truth behind the Iraq and Afghanistan wars finally has emerged."
Give him the Investigative Reporter of the Year Award. Sorry, but this is really cutting-edge shit!

This is all about eliminating the competition. It quite simple really and was stated by an Exxon executive when he was asked why Exxon would not invest more money in providing more oil to existing world markets.

He stated that the Oil was worth more in the ground and that by maintaining control over the existing resources while at the same time not processing and shipping it, Exxon made more money as its share values incresed.

If tomorrow of a sudden Exxon suddenly is seen as the "Owner" of 30 billion barrels in Iraq, then they see the value of the company leapfrog by some 5 trillion dollars.

They do not want State owned Oil in Iraq, Iran or Venezuala to compete with them. Just as they wanted to see Russias oil monopolized by the same cartels.

If a Turkmenistan, a new Government in Iran, one in Iraq decide someday in the future they must renationalize because they are being looted, the US Government need simply proclaim them as terrorists and launch another of their preemptive wars. (See Africom)

Don't expect lower prices. Indeed a bit of terrorism and bombing of pipelines will be welcomed by the Exxons and the Shells and by extension the US Government.

The Government will use this to keep Americans in fear pointing out that it proof that the terrorists still want to kill Americans. The Oil Companies can simply watch as Oil futures rise after each attack.

If completed, the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline (TAPI) will export gas and later oil from the Caspian basin to Pakistan's coast where tankers will transport it to the West.

Eric, old boy, having caught up with that fact that it's about oil, you still don't seem to understand that it's about CONTROLLING the stuff, not the stuff itself. The tankers will deliver it wherever the controllers determine the highset profits are to be had. The pipeline just ensures that the decision making gets handled via the "right" controllers. Frankly, however, I wouldn't be too confident about totally secure control over that entire routing, expecially the Pakistan part of it.

It's tempting to say, "Ho hum, so what else is new?"

But actually, it's nice to see this obvious & long-evident truth in print. (Of course, it's only in a Canadian newspaper, so it doesn't really count.)

Inside the US corporate media, the '1984 doublethink' quality has become so intense & pervasive that you might see some reference to the idea that "it's all about oil" on an inside page of the NY Times or WaPo -- even while other articles & op-eds in the same issue of the same paper deny, implicitly or explicitly, that oil has anything to do with it at all.

We've been living under the rule of a bunch of flim-flam men and snake oil salesmen. Simple as that. P.T. Barnum said it best when he declared, "There's a sucker born every day."

Anybody who continues to fall for flim-flam men and snake oil salesmen is a sucker, plain and simple. Until we wake up, wise up and stop allowing people like this to take over our lives, we'll continue to have the same problems over and over and over again.

We allowed our current administration to slither into the White House and we've failed to make accountable those who put them there and those who have condoned their crimes, either implicitly or explicitly. If we don't do something to correct this situation before it's too late, we'll have only ourselves to blame for what lies ahead.

Oil " So "
9/11 trade towers fall at the speed of grity " So "
3000 New Yorkers Dead " So "
NY Fire Fighters Dead " So "
NY Police Dead " So "
Fear propaganda " So "
4000 GI Deaths " So "
70000 GI Injuried " So "
600000 Iraqis Dead " So "
2000000 Iraqis Displaced " So "
1 Trillion Dollars debt " So "
2 Illegal Wars " So "
Warrantless Surveilance " So "
Torture of Americans " So "
Torture of anybody " So "
Poor Vetren Health care " So "
Democrat sell outs " So "
Repulican Thugs " So "
$22/barell to 136/barell " So "
7 years of lies " So "
Cia outing of plame " So "
Constituional oath " So "

F–k Dick Cheny Tratitor Hang Him " So "

Oil " So "
9/11 trade towers fall at the speed of gravity " So "
3000 New Yorkers Dead " So "
NY Fire Fighters Dead " So "
NY Police Dead " So "
Fear propaganda " So "
4000 GI Deaths " So "
70000 GI Injuried " So "
600000 Iraqis Dead " So "
2000000 Iraqis Displaced " So "
1 Trillion Dollars debt " So "
2 Illegal Wars " So "
Warrantless Surveilance " So "
Torture of Americans " So "
Torture of anybody " So "
Poor Vetren Health care " So "
Democrat sell outs " So "
Repulican Thugs " So "
$22/barell to 1″ So "36/barell " So "
7 years of lies " So "
Cia outing of plame " So "
Constituional oath " So "

F–k Dick Cheny Tratitor Hang Him " So "

Oil " So "
9/11 trade towers fall at the speed of grity " So "
3000 New Yorkers Dead " So "
NY Fire Fighters Dead " So "
NY Police Dead " So "
Fear propaganda " So "
4000 GI Deaths " So "
70000 GI Injuried " So "
600000 Iraqis Dead " So "
2000000 Iraqis Displaced " So "
1 Trillion Dollars debt " So "
2 Illegal Wars " So "
Warrantless Surveilance " So "
Torture of Americans " So "
Torture of anybody " So "
Poor Vetren Health care " So "
Democrat sell outs " So "
Repulican Thugs " So "
$22/barell to 1" So "36/barell " So "
7 years of lies " So "
Cia outing of plame " So "
Constituional oath " So "

F--k Dick Cheny Tratitor Hang Him " So "

THE TORONTO SUN
It is a rag of a paper run by yes right wing union busting assholes. I refuse to even read it as it's only saving grace is a SunShine girl. Some tramp from where ever with her tits half hanging out. Nascar fans and North of highway 7 as we call it up here reads the crap you find in the Sun.