Bush Does Iraq: Anatomy of a Failed Operation

[Barrett808]

Bush Does Iraq: Anatomy of a Failed Operation
by Edward Jayne
www.dissidentvoice.org
July 20, 2006

In retrospect the Iraq invasion was a remarkable plan, a bold strategy to sustain U.S. hegemonic dominance worldwide for at least the next several decades. By subjugating Iraq as a client state, the Bush administration could prolong America’s singular role into the indefinite future. As Arnold Toynbee’s theory of history explains, the present epochal “challenge” posed by our nation’s unprecedented national debt as well the loss of industries from outsourcing employment to China, Mexico, and elsewhere would have been remedied by the simple expedient of capturing and harnessing Iraq’s extraordinary natural resources that have almost begged to be exploited in this fashion. Just as South American gold enriched Spain’s economy during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and just as India’s treasures subsidized the inception of England’s industrial revolution during the late eighteenth century, so too could the capture of Iraq help our nation to consolidate its unique destiny at the pinnacle of modern civilization going into the twenty-first century.

For unlike Vietnam, which possessed little to exploit and few dominos to be kept from toppling, Iraq occupies the heart of the Near East, the very cradle of civilization, and its triangular parcel of territory contains enormous untapped oil reserves, perhaps the largest in the world. Of all underdeveloped nations from Albania to Zanzibar, Iraq is potentially the most lucrative prize for whatever superpower possesses the imperialist chutzpah to capture and take control of its oil and water resources as well as its pivotal location in the region. And who better than the U.S.? Our nation’s earlier policies in Israel, Iran, Afghanistan, and Iraq itself might have borne difficult consequences, but the direct invasion of Iraq would seem what might be described as a slam dunk. Relative to the modest cost and effort required, a cornucopia of untold benefits would accrue to our nation for many years to come. Or so it seemed.

If there were no justification to invade Iraq, an excuse would need to have been have found. And this, it seems, is exactly what has happened, for there was too much at stake. The ample benefits to be gained from invading Iraq can be listed here with relative brevity:

...

Oil alone made Iraq’s invasion worthwhile, for whoever controls energy in the next century necessarily dominates world politics. As recounted by Antonia Juhasz (pronounced “you-hahs”) in her excellent book, The Bush Agenda: Invading the World One Economy at a Time (p. 255), only seventeen of Iraq’s eighty known oil fields have been developed. All the rest lie untapped with vast untold reserves. Right now Iraq’s proven oil supply is second only to Saudi Arabia’s, but the addition of its untapped reserves, as many as 22 billion-plus barrels, would put it at the very top of the heap among oil-producing nation in the world.

As a matter of fact, Iraq possesses almost too much oil, necessitating its acquisition by the U.S. oil industry both in order to guarantee long-term profits and in order to control its supply in world markets in the immediate future. This second objective would serve to maximize oil profits for the entire oil industry. Just as de Beers Industries keeps the supply of diamonds under control in order to support their high market value, so the controlled production of Iraqi oil would keep gas and oil prices at profitable levels for the world’s oil producers into the indefinite future. Such had been the strategy in limiting the production of Iraqi oil since the late 1920s, and Hussein’s adventuristic effort to escape this constraint could be thwarted once and for all .

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http://www.dissidentvoice.org/July06/Jayne20.htm

[MasonJar]

1. What a complete and awesome outing of Bush and his neo-cons

Thanks for the link! A must read...takes a long time so settle back and marvel.