Kucinich: 'We went to war for the oil companies'

[babsbunny]

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Kucinich_We_went_to_war_for_0626.html

Nick Juliano
Published: Thursday June 26, 2008



Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who has introduced measures to impeach George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, said Thursday that oil executives who secretly met with the vice president in 2001 should be held criminally liable for pushing an illegal war.

"In March of 2001, when the Bush Administration began to have secret meetings with oil company executives from Exxon, Shell and BP, spreading maps of Iraq oil fields before them, the price of oil was $23.96 per barrel. Then there were 63 companies in 30 countries, other than the US, competing for oil contracts with Iraq," the Ohio Democrat said during a speech on the House floor.

"Today the price of oil is $135.59 per barrel, the US Army is occupying Iraq and the first Iraq oil contracts will go, without competitive bidding to, surprise, (among a very few others) Exxon, Shell and BP."

[bdamomma]

1. yup and they will do it again in Iran

if we do not try to stop these thugs.

[Hydra]

4. Yup

I posted a long time ago about this, and was scoffed at when I suggested that Bushco was manipulating the prices.

Known Iraq oil reserves: 115 Billion Barrels

Back when I posted, the price was around $60 per barrel.

115 bill x 60 = 6.9 Trillion

At $130 per barrel: 14.95 Trillion

At $200: $23 Trillion

Even at the 75% The hydrocarbon law stipulates, that's a lot of dough.

Now, let's look at Iran

136 Billion barrels- they actually are estimated to have more. Lets say we only grab the oil fields near Iraq, though. Those would probably yield another 60 billion barrels.

60 bill x $200= 12 Trillion. This time, pure profit.

[orleans]

2. yes. k&r n/t

[SpiralHawk]

3. Oh no - not a truth teller!

America has not -- but needs to -- handle the truth.

[harun]

29. Truth is so 18th century (n/t)

:sarcasm:

[sinkingfeeling]

5. Yeah, and I stood out on a cold street corner in Feb. 2003 with signs. One said, "It's the oil,

Stupid" and the other, "Let Exxon, Shell, and BP fund their own wars".

[chknltl]

6. Exactly what Rep. McDermott said before the fiasco

Congressman Jim McDermott gave his report after getting back from Sadam's Iraq mere weeks prior to "Shock and Awe". At the end of his speech he pointed at the camera and said "...make no mistakes about it, this is NOT about WMD this is about Iraqi oil!" Somewhere their are copies of that report because we watched it live on C-SPAN.

I am reluctant to even post this because I wish to take nothing away from my other hero: Dennis Kucinich. I strongly support him too and have sent money to his re-election campaign. IMO both of these patriots represent me and my country more than my own Representative, Norm Dicks. Dicks is also a Democrat, a pretty good one at that, but he is no Dennis Kucinich nor is he a Jim McDermott.

[EFerrari]

8. A lot of us said it in the run up and were roundly ridiculed for our viewpoint.

We were the "loony left", after all. Who was loony, in hindsight?

[chknltl]

11. Being right all along is a small consolation prize.

Yep, we were indeed called the loony left and the word 'liberal' is still today somewhat radioactive. We knew we weren't the real loony ones back then, we have been vindicated through recent history and today we march on even stronger than before.

[EFerrari]

12. These have been a long seven years of learning how to hang in, no doubt.

:)

[disgruntled98]

27. McDermott

McDermott paid at the polls for this. He recieved a mere 80% of the votes the next year. I know. I was one of them.
I was upset about the email McDermott sent me that impeachment would fail and leave Bush and co vindicated. Well then try him again! We have more reasons than just a blowjob!

[cyclezealot]

31. Never fear. McDermott

has not the will to impeach. Vincent Bugliosi has the determination to have GW Bush tried for murder.
The Prosecution of G.W. Bush for First Degree Murder." now on many best seller book lists about the USA. In spite of the media's blackout. I would rather see him do time, over just be impeached anyway.

***

The Legal Framework for the Prosecution

That the king can do no wrong is a necessary and fundamental principle of the English constitution. -Sir William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, 1765

No living Homo sapiens is above the law. -(Notwithstanding our good friends and legal ancestors across the water, this is a fact that requires no citation.)

With respect to the position I take about the crimes of George Bush, I want to state at the outset that my motivation is not political. Although I've been a longtime Democrat (primarily because, unless there is some very compelling reason to be otherwise, I am always for "the little guy"), my political orientation is not rigid. For instance, I supported John McCain's run for the presidency in 2000. More to the point, whether I'm giving a final summation to the jury or writing one of my true crime books, credibility has always meant everything to me. Therefore, my only master and my only mistress are the facts and objectivity. I have no others. This is why I can give you, the reader, a 100 percent guarantee that if a Democratic president had done what Bush did, I would be writing the same, identical piece you are about to read.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/vincent-bugliosi/the-prosecution-of-george_b_102427.html

[Liberal_Dog]

7. My Dad Says The Same Thing About Vietnam

He did three tours over there.

[Initech]

9. That's why they're beating the war drums for Iran but for different purposes.

The purpose of the Iraq war was to secure their oil. The purpose of Iran is to contaminate their supply, driving Iraq's prices to unheard of levels. Think $135 is a steep price to pay? Wait until $200 - $300 / barrel surfaces!

[ladjf]

10. and we are going broke because of the oil companies.

[SergeyDovlatov]

13. K&R n/t

[Pastiche423]

14. During the 2001 Energy Task force meeting

The oilfields of Iraq were already being divvied up, as Judicial Watch found out via a FOIA request.

One of the documents:

[Raster]

23. Gollygee, that meeting took place BEFORE 9/11! How did they know we were going to invade Iraq?

[Pastiche423]

30. Hmmm...

Because Deadeye Dick wanted to invade Iraq and he chose the "right" VP to help it along?

[Breeze54]

15. I agree DK and thanks for saying it out loud!! -- "NO BLOOD FOR OIL!!"

Indict and imprison them all!!! :grr:

:kick: & Recommended

[Echo In Light]

16. K&R for DK

[L0oniX]

17. Most wars are for the benefit of capitalism.

[taterguy]

18. So if you agree with this theory you should avoid consuming oil right?

JK

[lpbk2713]

19. The only reason our military is there now is to provide cheap security ...

for Halliburton and Big Oil. Cheney and BushCo made those arrangements. If Big Oil et al
had to pay for their own security it would cut much too deeply into their profit margin.




This shows how Halliburton has done over
the past five years compared to the Dow.

[Disturbed]

20. The majority of Dems went along with it & are still supporting

the Illegal Occupation of Iraq with $Billions.

[NorthCarolina]

21. Kucinich - America's Congressman n/t

:patriot:

[Uncle Joe]

22. I agree with Dennis, but I don't believe we went to war just for Iraq's oil, we went to war

to drive up the price of oil in general. This would allow Bush's corporate oil buddies to make a killing at the people's expense before society evolved away from fossil based fuels. I believe this is also a prime motivation for the saber rattling with Iran.

The corporate people that enabled Bush to power aren't stupid, in spite of all the money Exxon and the like spent disclaiming the looming catastrophe of global warming climate change, they knew it's was for real, too much peer reviewed scientific evidence had passed under the bridge for them to possibly have believed otherwise.

They knew as global warming climate change progressively made it's self known in ways too large for them and their corporate media toadies to deny, the impetus to change would be as it was from horses to automobiles, and trains to planes. Society would change whether they wanted it to or not, so I believe they thought, the next best fall back position would be to gouge the American People for every penny they could before we did change.

I know this sounds like the equivalent of killing the goose that laid the golden eggs, and that may actually be the case, but I believe it's also possible they thought, this would enrich them to the point of being able to transfer their monopolies based on fossil fuels to sustainable ones and corner the market in those areas as well.

Thanks for the thread, babsbunny.

[Fire Walk With Me]

24. Kick!

[annm4peace]

25. They should go to Prison for "Energy Crisis" in CA, OR, WA

People including children and elderly and the sick.. did died from heat stroke and asthma because of no air conditioning.. I was still living in the Central Valley at the time. There was year round school. The Central Valley of CA (Fresno, Madera, Tulare).. is in the 100's during the summer.

We had blackouts.. and many people couldn't afford 500-800 per month to cool their houses..
My place just from 100 to 500/month and I didn't bring my cooling below 80 degrees.

schools had to shut off their air conditioning. WE had blackouts so no electricy for days.. lost all your food in the fridge.. business went under. It was horrific.

And the Energy meetings reports have NEVER been released.

[TBF]

26. K&R for Dennis - at least he doesn't insult our intelligence

[pjt7]

28. Dennis needs to start -up a small

group of like minded Congressman & try & grow their numbers & powers. As much as I love the guy, he is too segregated.

I also hope Obama gives him a specfic, significant, responsibilty.

[TBF]

32. I would love to see that. Look at how much power the "blue dogs" seem to have -

it would be great if we could grow a coalition like that.