Re: [A-List] Oil Addiction: The World in Peril - 5

["tony black" <tal@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

George,

The Iran/Iraq war was clearly a US proxy attack on Iran....An attempt to
undo the 1979 revolution. The author seems blithely unawares that Hussein
was initially..and throughout the Iran/Iraq War...a US / CIA asset; a
puppet.

As for the 1991 Gulf War....This was almost entirely provoked by the US
through its pressure upon Kuwait to steal Iraq's oil, call in early
outstanding loans to Iraq etc, and all targeted at Iraq at time (following
the Iraq/Iran war) when the country was nearly bankrupt. Repeated attempts
by Hussein to engage the Int'l community to intercede and mediate the crisis
were completely rebuffed - at the behest of Washington (as were diplomatic
efforts to forestall the 'war' itself)..The case goes on and on (i.e. the
setup by US Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, giving Iraq the green light
to invade Kuwait) etc, etc,...The US patently intended to attack Iraq for a
whole variety of reasons including: Hussein's increasingly nationalistic
stance, the need to devise a new post -Cold War bogyman, the need to offset
the troubling demand for the expected post-Cold War 'peace dividend', a good
photo op for the Pentagon, pressure from Israel, the oil, etc...The ensuing
invasion destroyed, of course, the entire country...The 'allies' lost less
than 200 combatants(!) (a third of whom were killed by friendly fire or in
accidents) while the Iraqis lost in the neighbourhood of 200,000...As I say,
the Gulf Massacre....Later losses due to 'sanctions' and the total
destruction of the country's infrastructure ..and continuous bombing for
over a decade...resulted in, conservatively, at least another million or so
deaths.

My comment, thus, was directed at the author's almost complete eliding of
the US responsibility for both conflicts (very much like what happened with
even some 'progressive' writers w.r.t. the 'killing fields' of Cambodia, and
what has recently happened with most of the left w.r.t. the 'genocide' in
Rwanda) ....i.e. Chomat heaped the responsiblity for these almost entirely
on the back of Hussein, choosing to disregard the aforementioned facts,
merely offering up the present assault seemingly as part of his 'progressive
credentials'...I'm sorry, but that won't wash. Eliding the facts of history
just so long as one is prepared to wax indignant on the injustices of the
newest, ongoing conflict...well, that's one of the oldest tricks in the
Orwellian / imperialist, apologist handbook...Revisionist history is
revisionist history, no matter the context.

Tony






----- Original Message -----
From: "George Dargus" <argus1000@xxxxxxxx>
To: "The A-List" <a-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2005 11:30 PM
Subject: Re: [A-List] Oil Addiction: The World in Peril - 5


> Okay, Tony. Maybe you are right. But then what his your view on the
> Iran/Iraq war?
>
> George
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "tony black" <tal@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: "The A-List" <a-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2005 10:27 PM
> Subject: Re: [A-List] Oil Addiction: The World in Peril - 5
>
>
> >I have enjoyed and continue to enjoy Chomat's work, but I am compelled to
> > comment that his review, such as it is, of the Iran / Iraq War and of
the
> > 1991 Gulf War (the 1991 Gulf Massacre) is at best politically naive; at
> > worst a complete travesty...
> >
> > Tony
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Bill Totten" <shimogamo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > To: "A-List" <a-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2005 2:32 AM
> > Subject: [A-List] Oil Addiction: The World in Peril - 5
> >
> >
> >> by Pierre Chomat (Universal Publishers, 2004)
> >>
> >> translated from the French by Pamela Gilbert-Snyder
> >>
> >>
> >> Part I. Man's Egosystems
> >>
> >> Chapter 5. The Oil Addicts go to Market
> >>
> >> How did our excessive appetite for ergamines become a problem for
> > humanity? Only
> >> ten years ago, this question would not have received much attention -
> > although
> >> many countries had already taken up arms to satisfy that appetite.
> >>
> >> One would think that the world's disadvantaged, way off over there
> > somewhere -
> >> the ones we barely know about - must look at the way we live and wonder
> > how
> >> anyone can behave so carelessly. Perhaps they are amazed that we take
> > airplanes
> >> at the drop of a hat, sometimes just to satisfy some vague curiosity.
Or
> > that we
> >> like to show off our superiority by parading around in SUVs, perched
high
> > above
> >> the rest. Or that we live in huge houses while they, for the most part,
> > have to
> >> be content with shelters lacking all conveniences. Or that we
illuminate
> > the sky
> >> over Las Vegas with millions of electric lights, just for fun. Or that
we
> > roar
> >> around on snowmobiles over the hideouts of hibernating bears, badgers,
> >> and
> >> squirrels in national parks where we pretend that Nature still reigns
> > supreme.
> >> Or that we make a deafening noise with our leaf blowers, just to push a
> > few dead
> >> leaves off into the street.
> >>
> >> We may be ready to admit in the West that we have taken our energy
> > consumption
> >> way too far. We may even be ready to admit that our mania for
automating
> >> everything around us has become downright eccentric. But it seems we
> >> still
> > have
> >> trouble accepting that our oil-addicted lifestyle is threatening our
very
> > future.
> >>
> >> The abundance of the petroleum reserves we have discovered so far has
led
> > us to
> >> believe that energy is Nature's gift to Man. These incredible reserves
of
> > power,
> >> stored within the Earth for so long as if waiting just for us, have
> > certainly
> >> given us some strange habits. We have been unable to adequately grasp
> >> just
> > how
> >> much we really use them and how precious they are. We have not relied
> > solely on
> >> Nature's renewable energy sources - wind and water - for many, many
> >> years.
> > By
> >> relying on the Earth's stores of fossil materials, which can be renewed
> > only
> >> over millions of years, we are living beyond the means of our globe!
> >> Worse
> > yet,
> >> most of the industrialized nations now depend on far-off
> > hydrocarbon-producing
> >> nations to meet their domestic energy needs, which have become
> >> gargantuan.
> >> Western Europe and Japan have been in this situation for some time. The
> > United
> >> States, which once had its own rich reserves of oil and natural gas,
has
> > also
> >> reached this stage.
> >>
> >> The industrialized world has placed itself in a situation of
dependency.
> > Its
> >> strength is based on weakness!
> >>
> >> The first danger we face due to this paradoxical dilemma is an ongoing
> > one: our
> >> society, high on energy, has to continually mobilize its modern-day
> > centurions
> >> in the constant search for oil. The slogans of my dream come to mind:
> > "Find the
> >> oil and bring it to us! Wherever it may be!" and "I Vroom, Therefore I
> > Am!"
> >>
> >> Another more insidious - and equally alarming - complication is that
the
> >> ergamine, as it dies, does not vanish without a trace. The carbon
dioxide
> > gas
> >> that it releases, which we negligently allow to escape into the
> > atmosphere, is
> >> not just "passing through"; it is here to stay! We will talk more about
> > this in
> >> the chapter entitled "The Earth's New Cloak".
> >>
> >> Sometimes countries that claim to be rich, despite not having easy
access
> > to the
> >> fuel needed to maintain their industrial standing, adopt very
aggressive
> > energy
> >> policies toward the oil-producing nations. I saw this firsthand,
between
> > 1975
> >> and 1978 in the Middle East. At that time I was closely involved in the
> >> development of the petroleum reserves of Iran, but my work took me also
> > often to
> >> Iraq. This gave me the opportunity to witness the implementation of the
> >> industrialized nations' geopolitical strategies in and around the
Persian
> > Gulf.
> >>
> >> The Gulf region may seem to some to be nothing more than an immense
> >> market
> > for
> >> ergamines. But the Middle East is much more than oil. Some of
> > civilization's
> >> oldest and most inspiring historical sites are located in this region.
> >>
> >> The history of Persia is visible in its ancient glorious monuments. The
> > Chogha
> >> Zanbil ziggurat in the land of the Elamites, the palace at Persepolis,
> > and,
> >> nearer to our time, the Isfahan palaces and Shiraz rose gardens, where
> > Saadi
> >> wrote his poetry: all were extremely important to the development of
> > Western
> >> civilization.
> >>
> >> Thanks to Firdausi, Omar Khayyam, Saadi, Hafiz and some other Persian
> > writers,
> >> it is still possible to conjure up the memory of the palaces and
gardens
> > of
> >> ancient Persia.
> >>
> >> That castle once
> >> claimed to rival
> >> the whirling
> >> heavens.
> >>
> >> How many Kings
> >> have fallen
> >> prostrate
> >> at its doors?
> >>
> >> And on its ramparts
> >> now a ringdove sits
> >> and mourns.
> >>
> >> - Omar Khayyam {4}
> >>
> >>
> >> Iraq's history, even more than Iran's, is directly linked to our
Western
> > past;
> >> its history is that of Mesopotamia, where our culture had its first
> > stirrings.
> >> Traveling across that country, I could not escape the feeling that I
was
> >> traveling back in time. In Sumer, I could sense the bustle of the
world's
> > first
> >> cities, Ubaid, Ur, and Uruk, and I caught a glimmer of our present
> > civilization.
> >> Walking along the stone walls eroded by time, I "heard" the sound of
> > chiselers
> >> engraving the first lines of writing ever set down in the West. Thanks
to
> > them,
> >> the Sumerians and Akkadians still speak to us.
> >>
> >> In ancient Babylon, I imagined Hammurabi discussing his code of laws.
On
> > the
> >> banks of the Euphrates, I "saw" Queen Semiramis in her gardens
presiding
> > over a
> >> reception in honor of some mysterious emissary. I trod lightly, not
> > wishing to
> >> disturb her ...
> >>
> >> In 1978, Ayatollah Khomeini overthrew Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. His
> > Islamic
> >> revolution was largely the result of the years of exploitation Iran had
> > suffered
> >> at the hands of Europe and the United States.
> >>
> >> In 1980, a conflict between Iraq and Iran erupted in a war which lasted
> >> up
> > to
> >> 1988. It claimed millions of lives, all of them unfortunate citizens
> > reduced to
> >> dust to satisfy Saddam Hussein's policy of war, which not many Iranians
> >> or
> >> Iraqis, beyond the Sovereign of Baghdad's faithful few, even knew
about.
> > And yet
> >> this war was about oil. For, in fact, Saddam was seeking control of the
> > rich oil
> >> fields of Iran's Khuzestan province, which borders Iraq. In 1990, he
> >> tried
> > again,
> >> this time invading Kuwait. Given the importance of this tiny country's
> >> oil
> > to
> >> the Northern hemisphere, the United States and Europe could not stand
> >> idly
> > by
> >> and watch this act of aggression; they had to do everything they could
to
> > rout
> >> the Iraqi troops. Once again many Iraqi soldiers and civilians paid
with
> > their
> >> lives for this latest incursion on the part of their master. Perhaps
> > one-third
> >> of the Iraqi soldiers who took part in those battles now lie buried in
> >> the
> >> desert.
> >>
> >> Let us return later to those dramatic events, which were never clearly
> > explained
> >> to the world. Saddam Hussein's excesses were attributed sometimes to
the
> > actions
> >> of a power-mad individual, sometimes to an attack against an Islamic
> >> fundamentalist regime, sometimes to a great Satan. These judgments were
> >> obviously made with little reflection. The truth is not so simple. It
> >> lies
> >> elsewhere. The Iraqis, Iranians and Kuwaitis who died in these wars
gave
> > their
> >> lives for the control of oil.
> >>
> >> And when I hear the word "oil", I cannot help but think of the nations
of
> > the
> >> Northern hemisphere. They are the ones who give black gold its
excessive
> > value.
> >> Even though Saddam Hussein behaved with murderous aggression in seeking
> >> to
> >> secure more reserves of this fabulous elixir, we cannot completely
> > exonerate the
> >> West for its share of responsibility in these conflicts. All of us, in
> > Europe,
> >> Japan, and America, who benefit from the Middle East's hydrocarbons,
> >> share
> >> responsibility for what occurred there. The West's great interest in
the
> >> petroleum of the Persian Gulf was profoundly disrupting these
countries'
> >> histories. Oil confers great economic power on the industrialized
> >> nations,
> > but
> >> it also makes them just as powerfully dependent on the Middle East.
> > However,
> >> such dependency has also changed the entire direction of this region,
and
> > its
> >> peoples' way of thinking. The source of Saddam Hussein's murderous
> >> madness
> > lies
> >> at least partly in the West. That is where he acquired weapons for his
> > wars, at
> >> any rate.
> >>
> >> Then, in 2003, the West entered into another conflict with Iraq, a war
> >> instigated by the American government. Why, once again, would men risk
> > being
> >> blown apart by missiles in this region? Why was another American
general
> > bound
> >> for glory?
> >>
> >> When the plan to attack was announced, my first reaction was that this
> >> was
> >> completely unacceptable and the words of an Iraqi I had met in Baghdad
> > during
> >> the 1970s came to mind.
> >>
> >> "In the developing nations", he said, "the future is still mired in the
> > past.
> >> For years we have made great plans, formulated the best resolutions;
> > sometimes
> >> we have even written beautiful constitutions for our citizens. But
> >> history
> > does
> >> not respect them. We cannot leave our past behind because we are in
> >> denial
> > as to
> >> who we really are. Our plans have no basis, because our leaders' goals
> >> are
> >> constantly at odds with the interests of the wealthy nations. Our plans
> > are only
> >> fairy tales. Our future does not belong to us."
> >>
> >> Thirty years later, I suddenly felt as if I were finally grasping the
> >> full
> >> import of his words. In 2003, Iraq was officially considered an
> > independent
> >> nation; it was even a "republic" with representatives "elected" by the
> > people.
> >> But in reality these people did not possess the thing that was most
> > essential to
> >> them - the freedom to make their own decisions regarding matters that
> > directly
> >> concerned them. The tragedy Iraq was about to experience had been
> > organized
> >> according to the needs of foreign interests. This war served the
> >> interests
> > of
> >> the United States, above all, as well as England and a few other
> > countries, but
> >> certainly not the interests of the Iraqi people. Without a doubt, the
> > history of
> >> Iraq still does not belong to the Iraqi people.
> >>
> >> As the days went by, it became increasingly clear that the United
States
> >> intended to make Iraq one of its guaranteed oil suppliers, like Saudi
> > Arabia.
> >> This strategy was apparent in all of the news, so carefully distilled
by
> > the
> >> American media day after day. The battle to be launched against Saddam
> > Hussein,
> >> the "evil" master of Baghdad, was an ideal alibi. At the most official
> > levels,
> >> Hussein was depicted as an imminent threat, even though the CIA clearly
> > had
> >> trouble delivering the necessary arguments to support its government's
> > thesis.
> >>
> >> The American government reported that Saddam Hussein had thumbed his
nose
> > at
> >> international conventions, but it failed to mention that the United
> >> States
> > was
> >> doing the same. It had rejected any form of agreement to attempt to
slow
> > global
> >> warming. It had not signed the 1997 Geneva Convention prohibiting the
> > production
> >> and storage of landmines. It had withdrawn from the anti-ballistic
> >> missile
> >> treaty with Moscow. It was even refusing to submit to the jurisdiction
of
> > the
> >> International Court of Justice in The Hague.
> >>
> >> Washington claimed that pre-emptive action - in reality, a "preventive
> > war" -
> >> was the way to stop terrorism, although there was not a shred of
evidence
> > that
> >> Iraq had participated, directly or indirectly, in the attacks on New
York
> > of
> >> September 11 2001, to which the US government referred unabashedly in
its
> >> justifications.
> >>
> >> It was difficult to understand how, in the 21st century, the government
> >> of
> > a
> >> democratic nation could still twist information so easily to manipulate
> > its own
> >> people. When you live far from North America, you tend to believe that
> >> the
> >> United States is the land of total political transparency - that its
> >> words
> > and
> >> actions are even somewhat naive. If that had ever been the case, it was
> >> no
> >> longer so. The government was lying to its own people, manipulating
> > information
> >> to suit its purposes. The six groups that own the majority of the
> > country's
> >> fifteen hundred daily newspapers {5} assisted their president in this
> > task. An
> >> American citizen who wanted to know how the nation's intellectuals were
> > reacting
> >> to the president had no alternative but to turn to specialized or
foreign
> > media.
> >> Like other American intellectuals at the end of 2002, university
> >> professor
> > and
> >> author Michael Klare had to rely on the European press {6} to make his
> > opinions
> >> known.
> >>
> >> By this time, it was clear that we were witnessing the attempt of an
> >> oil-addicted nation to secure its ergamine markets, and that the war
that
> > the
> >> American government was preparing against Iraq served a strategy that
> > certain
> >> events, real or fabricated, had given it the opportunity to implement.
> > There was
> >> no longer any doubt that this war had been in the making for some time,
> > that it
> >> was a way to satisfy the great American machine's insatiable appetite
for
> > energy.
> >> The United States Army was being sent into combat as part of the
nation's
> > energy
> >> strategy. The United States was heading to Iraq, preceded by missiles,
to
> > secure
> >> its oil market.
> >>
> >> To disguise its aggression, the United States government was talking
> >> about
> >> national security and whipping up a frenzy of fear among its citizens
in
> > order
> >> to hide the truth and to instill a feeling of hatred for the Iraqi
> > leaders. And
> >> we all know what happened next.
> >>
> >> The energy we draw from the Earth is no longer merely our source of
> > well-being,
> >> our way of life. It is much, much more. It is almost the sole guarantor
> >> of
> > power
> >> for the countries of the Northern hemisphere; it is certainly the
> > guarantor of
> >> United States supremacy. These nations are forced to acquire from
> > countries
> >> beyond their borders the magic potion that constitutes their strength.
> >> And
> > they
> >> are doing it! Without scruple! Their might justifies their right!
> >>
> >> It is sad beyond words.
> >>
> >>
> >> Notes
> >>
> >> {4} Omar Khayyam, Rubaiyat.
> >>
> >> {5} "Matters of Scale: The American Way of Choice",
> >> World Watch Magazine, (March-April 2001): 19
> >>
> >> {6} Le Monde Diplomatique, Paris, France, November 2002.
> >>
> >>
> >> Bill Totten     http://billtotten.blogspot.com/
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
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>
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