Ahmed Chalabi – Petroleum’s Point Man
by William Bowles • Wednesday, 4 January 2006
He’s a criminal banker … He’s a swindler. He’s interested in getting money, and I suspect it’s all gone into his bank accounts and those of his friends – James E. Akins, former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
Convicted fraudster, bagman, carpetbagger, (dis)informant, playboy, opportunist, failed mercenary army leader, go-between creature of imperialism, of one thing we can be sure, Ahmed Chalabi is a survivor by virtue of (almost) always being on the ‘right’ side.
Son of a wealthy Hashemite family with connections to British colonialism going back to the 1920s, he now occupies the most powerful position in the post-Saddam puppet hierarchy, head of the oil ministry, no doubt a position he has coveted for some time. And moreover, a position he has been groomed for by his US masters.
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The divisions within the US power elite is about how best to get hold of Iraq’s oil. It explains why Chalabi has been in and out of favour over the past three years as the strategic plan to steal Iraq’s oil unravelled. But all’s well that ends well, and by hook or by crook, Chalabi has at long last succeeded in getting what his masters wanted; to be in charge of giving away Iraq’s oil. The objectives outlined in the Heritage Foundation document has at long last been realised,
Washington and London plan to fast-track billions of dollars worth of oil contracts as soon as possible in the new year and well before the new parliament gets its political footing. Ahmed Chalabi, now chairman of Iraq’s Energy Council and czar of the country’s oil riches, has been preparing for this moment for a long time. He and his cronies have prepared a new oil law, highly favorable to the likes of Exxon and BP, and they will submit it immediately to the new parliament. Under the watchful eye of the ‘multinational force,’ contracts for fabulous oilfields like Majnoon are being readied and will soon be signed. – James Paul, Executive Director of the Global Policy Forum, November 9, 2005.
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