It's Not About the Oil...
...Except when it is.
Yesterday, Ruth and several other Atriots referenced a Washington Post article at Eschaton. I hadn't hit the on-line edition of WaPo at that point, and then I got busy with my usual Sunday chores and didn't get around to Pravda on the Potomac until late yesterday evening. I can see why folks were genuinely het up by the article in question.
As he barnstorms across the country campaigning for Republican candidates in Tuesday's elections, Bush has been citing oil as a reason to stay in Iraq. If the United States pulled its troops out prematurely and surrendered the country to insurgents, he warns audiences, it would effectively hand over Iraq's considerable petroleum reserves to terrorists who would use it as a weapon against other countries.
"You can imagine a world in which these extremists and radicals got control of energy resources," he said at a rally here Saturday for Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.). "And then you can imagine them saying, 'We're going to pull a bunch of oil off the market to run your price of oil up unless you do the following. And the following would be along the lines of, well, 'Retreat and let us continue to expand our dark vision.' "
Bush said extremists controlling Iraq "would use energy as economic blackmail" and try to pressure the United States to abandon its alliance with Israel. At a stop in Missouri on Friday, he suggested that such radicals would be "able to pull millions of barrels of oil off the market, driving the price up to $300 or $400 a barrel."
...Some analysts, however, said that Bush is exaggerating the impact of Iraq's oil production on world markets. Iraq has more than 112 billion barrels of oil, the second-largest proven reserves in the world. But it currently pumps just 2.3 million barrels per day and exports 1.6 million of that, according to the State Department's tracking report on the country, still short of what it produced before the invasion.
That represents a fraction of the 85 million barrels produced around the world each day and less than the surplus capacity of Saudi Arabia and other Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, meaning in a crisis they could ramp up their wells to make up for the shortfall, analysts said. The United States also has 688 million barrels of oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, enough to counter a disruption of Iraqi oil for 14 months. [Emphasis added.]
In the run-up to the Iraq War we were assured that oil had nothing to do with the intended agression. It was about WMDs, er...toppling an evil dictator, er...bringing democracy to the Middle East, or something noble like that. Now, however, we have to stay...because of the oil.
And just like all the other reasons, this one is bogus, as the analysts cited in the article make clear. Yes, this was just a stump speech for a struggling GOP candidate in Colorado, but it makes clear once again how Bush and his minions are perfectly happy to lie about anything if it will keep their hold on power intact. What is especially horrific about this lie, however, is that it is being used to justify even more death and destruction, all so that we can continue to drive our SUVs to the supermarket two blocks away.
A pox on his house, and the houses of those aligned with him.
Yesterday, Ruth and several other Atriots referenced a Washington Post article at Eschaton. I hadn't hit the on-line edition of WaPo at that point, and then I got busy with my usual Sunday chores and didn't get around to Pravda on the Potomac until late yesterday evening. I can see why folks were genuinely het up by the article in question.
As he barnstorms across the country campaigning for Republican candidates in Tuesday's elections, Bush has been citing oil as a reason to stay in Iraq. If the United States pulled its troops out prematurely and surrendered the country to insurgents, he warns audiences, it would effectively hand over Iraq's considerable petroleum reserves to terrorists who would use it as a weapon against other countries.
"You can imagine a world in which these extremists and radicals got control of energy resources," he said at a rally here Saturday for Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.). "And then you can imagine them saying, 'We're going to pull a bunch of oil off the market to run your price of oil up unless you do the following. And the following would be along the lines of, well, 'Retreat and let us continue to expand our dark vision.' "
Bush said extremists controlling Iraq "would use energy as economic blackmail" and try to pressure the United States to abandon its alliance with Israel. At a stop in Missouri on Friday, he suggested that such radicals would be "able to pull millions of barrels of oil off the market, driving the price up to $300 or $400 a barrel."
...Some analysts, however, said that Bush is exaggerating the impact of Iraq's oil production on world markets. Iraq has more than 112 billion barrels of oil, the second-largest proven reserves in the world. But it currently pumps just 2.3 million barrels per day and exports 1.6 million of that, according to the State Department's tracking report on the country, still short of what it produced before the invasion.
That represents a fraction of the 85 million barrels produced around the world each day and less than the surplus capacity of Saudi Arabia and other Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, meaning in a crisis they could ramp up their wells to make up for the shortfall, analysts said. The United States also has 688 million barrels of oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, enough to counter a disruption of Iraqi oil for 14 months. [Emphasis added.]
In the run-up to the Iraq War we were assured that oil had nothing to do with the intended agression. It was about WMDs, er...toppling an evil dictator, er...bringing democracy to the Middle East, or something noble like that. Now, however, we have to stay...because of the oil.
And just like all the other reasons, this one is bogus, as the analysts cited in the article make clear. Yes, this was just a stump speech for a struggling GOP candidate in Colorado, but it makes clear once again how Bush and his minions are perfectly happy to lie about anything if it will keep their hold on power intact. What is especially horrific about this lie, however, is that it is being used to justify even more death and destruction, all so that we can continue to drive our SUVs to the supermarket two blocks away.
A pox on his house, and the houses of those aligned with him.
Labels: Election 2006, Iraq War
posted by Diane at 4:02 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home