Bush Sees Oil as Key to Restoring Stability in Iraq. Big surprise.
"President Bush proposed today that Iraq create a national fund to use its oil revenues for national projects, as part of a strategy to build loyalty to the new government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.
"This is not the first time that Mr. Bush and his aides have suggested that oil could be a solution to many of Iraq's problems: Before the war, Paul D. Wolfowitz, then the deputy secretary of defense, suggested that oil revenues could pay for Iraqi reconstruction. So far, that has not happened.
"Mr. Bush's aides said the president was trying to capitalize on both the death last week of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, and the formation of a new cabinet that includes ministers responsible for security."
He definately is. As for the death of al-Zarqawi, he has been replaced by someone else, who will probably be even worse.
"'The shura council and al Qaeda in the Land of Two Rivers have both agreed to appoint Abu Hamza al-Muhajir to succeed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the leadership of the organization,' the statement said, according to an Agence France-Presse report from Paris. The council cited in the statement is a body known as the Mujahideen Shura Council, which was said to be a coordinating body for the insurgency when its existence was announced on an Islamic Web site in January."
Okay, so Bush is still trying to exploit Iraq for oil and Zarqawi has been replaced by someone else. So, Bush has done nothing but gained a lot of news coverage. Everyone thinks al-Zarqawi's dead, that's the end of our problems. Then Bush proposes oil as a means to help out Iraq economically and people think hm...that might work. Rather than, hey stop trying to take their oil! The movie Munich was really great in that it showed that even if you kill the most deadly leaders, other will come in their place and will be worse and even more deadly.
"This is not the first time that Mr. Bush and his aides have suggested that oil could be a solution to many of Iraq's problems: Before the war, Paul D. Wolfowitz, then the deputy secretary of defense, suggested that oil revenues could pay for Iraqi reconstruction. So far, that has not happened.
"Mr. Bush's aides said the president was trying to capitalize on both the death last week of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, and the formation of a new cabinet that includes ministers responsible for security."
He definately is. As for the death of al-Zarqawi, he has been replaced by someone else, who will probably be even worse.
"'The shura council and al Qaeda in the Land of Two Rivers have both agreed to appoint Abu Hamza al-Muhajir to succeed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the leadership of the organization,' the statement said, according to an Agence France-Presse report from Paris. The council cited in the statement is a body known as the Mujahideen Shura Council, which was said to be a coordinating body for the insurgency when its existence was announced on an Islamic Web site in January."
Okay, so Bush is still trying to exploit Iraq for oil and Zarqawi has been replaced by someone else. So, Bush has done nothing but gained a lot of news coverage. Everyone thinks al-Zarqawi's dead, that's the end of our problems. Then Bush proposes oil as a means to help out Iraq economically and people think hm...that might work. Rather than, hey stop trying to take their oil! The movie Munich was really great in that it showed that even if you kill the most deadly leaders, other will come in their place and will be worse and even more deadly.
posted by Ellie @ 8:48 PM
7 Comments:
At 6/13/2006 06:51:00 PM,
Obob said…
of course oil will be the base of the Iraqi economy. An effective democracy needs capitalism and vice versa. Once the oil pipes are secure, if ever, then can the export of oil bring in a sufficent cash flow and create thier economy. Until the country is secure, in due time as long as the Iraqis can make it happen. But they need to continue in the elimination of outside threats. This would be terrorists there to keep a stable economy or government from running. There are misguided individuals who consider us the outside threat, which is incorrect. The democracy that will grow from the wreckage could be opposite-effect Domino Theory that brought about Korea and Vietnam. Look at theocratic Egypt/Saudi Arabia, the emerging Lebanon and the bi-polar Palistinian state, fledging democracies. This is what the cowards like sadam, z-man, bin laden and other assorted tyrants fear. But just the humble opinions of myself.
And to scie-kid, in the last paragraph, you brought up the possible animosity of individuals who lost loved ones in Iraq. Talk to a WWII vet, I can remember vets who still refuse to buy anything Japanese or German because of the atrocities they committed on our troops, yet we rebuilt those powerful economies.
At 6/13/2006 07:15:00 PM,
Ellie said…
scie-kid - I see what you're saying, but the divisions over in Iraq is so deep rooted that it will be hard to ever get the different groups to agree to anything. The Sunni's and the Shi'ites were divided since after the death of Mohammad. there was a disagreement over whether the caliph could be someone outside of Mohammad's bloodline. One group though it was okay, one was against it. Hence, Sunni's and Shi'ites. (Can't remember which is which, but I think it was after Ali who was the fourth caliph after Mohammad, if my memory serves me right). These divisions have been going on for ages and it's very unlikely that there will be a compromise. Under Saddam there was Sunni rule, and the Shi'ites were not happy about being ruled by the minority. Now thanks to Bush's democratic elections, there's Shi'ite rule, so the Sunni's aren't happy. I think that a separate state of Kurdistan shoudl be established for the Kurds and perhaps Iraq should be divided between the Sunni's and the Shi'ites. Any way it turns out, it's never going to go back to how it was, and it's just a big mess.
I think that we could probably just forget about oil in Iraq as much of a solution to ANY of our problems here in the U.S.
Exactly! Iraq has nothing to do with any of the U.S.'s problems, so why are we over there?? Because Bush is our president..yes. If you look at the statistics for when Clinton was president, the focus was on domestic issues. He tried to bring the economy together and we were on track to be debt free by the end of the decade for the first time since 1835 thanks to him paying back $600 billion in debt. Now, we're over $9.3 TRillion dollars in debt. Thanks to George W. Bush and his pointless war.
obob - I don't know if Iraq is ever going to become stable. The three warring groups seem to have been set off by the War in Iraq and the terrorists are raging through the entire country. True, we aren't the outside threat, but I think we ignited the powder keg over there, and everything has erupted into violence as a result of our presence. I think the Iraqi's blame us for this happening and would be much happier if we weren't there to begin with. The entire middle east seems to want America out of there. True we went over there "to spread democracy" but I think we really went over there for oil. and when it comes down to fixing up Iraq's economy I'm sure Bush and his cronies are going to make sure they get some of taht oil money.
At 6/13/2006 07:55:00 PM,
Dardin Soto said…
the ironic thing is.. that Bush's polls have risen 6-8 points in the past 60 days... mostly under the radar. Like it or not, he has recieved mostly good news lately (Rove not getting indicted is HUGE),... this guy has a knack of lulling people to sleep enough to write his own obits... and look out....
If his polling goes above 40%... the rebubs in the house will re-grow the pair they lost and you will see a fall of must-see TV.
I am not a republican, but anybody who doesnt think that things have been creeping up for the Administration since since Andy Card left is missing the boat. Think of the about faces hes done in immigration, english as a nationalistic flag-wave,... the killing of Zarquawi...,Rove off the hook,... any democrat feeling comfy and coasting is bound for a rude reality come november. Rove is many things (most of which I wont comment on) but the guys knows electorate numbers better than anybody....
...now where is my dang popcorn...
At 6/13/2006 10:05:00 PM,
Ellie said…
rove is a political genius. Possibly on a par with Bill Clinton. He is absolutely great at stealing elections and brainwashing the public. It's amazing to watch the repubs at work, and very scary. It's amazing how they can turn things around in their favor. I hope you're wrong about the '06 elections but yes, unfortunately things are looking up for the republicans. all we need now is a democratic Rove...
At 6/15/2006 10:12:00 AM,
billie said…
no- what we need is less rove and more people with integrity. if we had candidates who were willing to lead and govern and not be concerned with money, money, money- we would have no problem winning. the american public is sick of politics as usual which is why so many have deserted the current regime. even if his numbers creep forward- they plateau because it is just his 'base' going and coming. most people want something to believe in and it is not this current crop of conservatives. give the people the truth- we have to raise taxes to get out of this- we have to sacrifice because these idiots have gotten us into a mess. we are not safe but here's how we will revamp dhs- we can't just pull out of iraq- but we won't use the people there for photo ops and disgrace and embarrass their duly elected president by not treating him as an equal- we will have an exit strategy- we will shore up our borders. see- have a definite plan, be honest- and i bet most of the people who read this would agree with my assessment.
At 6/16/2006 10:42:00 AM,
Ellie said…
betmo - I definately agree. We need a change and we need politicians who will tell the truth. Everything is so slanted and glossed over that it is hard to know what is true and what isn't. When I turn on the tv I hadly ever hear of news out of Iraq or anything on Iran. It's only on for maximum five minutes, and then its on to all the atrocities commited in NYC recently. Maybe I just live in a violent city, but I feel it's that way everywhere. Because of lack of time, I usually just watch video clips or read the NY Times to keep updated. Most people probably wouldn't bother to do this and so all they know of is the local news and they just assume everything is okay in Iraq. This isn't the way it should be. I often think some version of FDR's fireside chats should be used. Maybe weekly press conferences or something. But used to tell the American people the truth about what's going on and what's going to happen in the future, not to redirect their attention to something meaningless that can gain the president some political points.
At 6/16/2006 10:55:00 AM,
Ellie said…
scie-kid - I think if WW3 is coming soon it will be concerning Iran and their nuclear program. I don't think it will have anything to do with Iraq, unless Iraq is an ally of Iran against us. I see what you're saying about how the hate of another country can make a country forget its own divisions, however I don't think this is the case in Iraq. The Sunni's and Shi'ites are still fighting each other even though the entire country of Iraq hates us. In fact, I think the entire Middle East hates us and wants us out. It seems to be the only thing that the entire Middle East agrees on. However, it hasn't been that successful in uniting Iraq. I think their divisions are too deep, and I think it would take much more to unite them.
As for America uniting around their hatred of iraq, people often feel misguided. Some people probably still believe that America was attacked by Iraq on 9/11 and not by Afganistan. Bush comes out and says that Saddam had a hand in 9/11, then he retracts it saying he never said that. and what disgusts me is the fact that no one brings up how he lied. I think people aren't uniting around hatred for Iraq, the way they did in WWII with their hatred of the Japanese, because Iraq is the enemy that is half-way around the globe and that is easy to forget. As much as Bush wants you to believe that a terrorist is going to jump out of your closet at night, the Iraq War and all teh violence is still half-way around the globe. Also, I think people wonder why they should hate Iraq if they didn't attack us on 9/11. So, yea it's a good idea, but I don't think it applies here. Just my humble opinion though. :)
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