U.S./British petroleum interests want to dominate the Middle East. They figured that all that stood between them and complete domination was non-compliant regimes in Iraq and Iran. When Bush II got in, they went all out. My view is that they started by engineering 9-11. But maybe, who knows, it really was just an Allah-sent pretext fortuitously provided by Muslim militants. In any case, the question now is, will they be able to accomplish their ends or not? I say no. They are idiots with a huge case of imperial hubris. The empire is overextended and the people are getting restless. Are the rulers desperate enough to start a war with Iran? We the people will not put up with this! Too many of us will not believe the government’s lies this time! It’s up to Barack Obama to take our government out of their hands and lead us back to peace and democracy. Then, who knows, we could lead the rest of the world in that respect.

•  “cyrena, the six month loop-hole you mention, is simply a carrot and a stick. Six months is a long time from which to launch nefarious subterfuge into surrounding areas, turning the six months into endless years.”

Zeitgeist,

You’re absolutely correct of course, about the 6-month loop-hole, because it’s not even a real treaty. In a real treaty, it would mean something. For instance, any nation state committed to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty can exit the treaty with a 90-day notice. But, that is a genuine treaty, and part of International Law as administered by the world body.  This is just another criminal enterprise by the criminal cabal that has taken over.

So yes, Barack DOES have to find a way to prevent this. More urgently, I’ve just read a few highlights from the news reader that claim the House is considering a resolution to force a naval blockade on Iran, and that Elbaradi (IAEA Chief) is threatening to quit if the US attacks Iran. I’ve not even had time to read the articles yet. I’ll check back in with you all if there’s anything to add, but it’s all overwhelmingly alarming.

(and also not a surprise).

The link didn’t come out right, darn it. Maybe this will:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/19/world/middleeast/19iraq.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

By Tony Wicher, June 19 at 9:41 am #

It is and always has been all about oil. It is very simple. Any country with oil which allows U.S/British oil companies such as Exxon, etc. to operate there is our “ally”. Any country which does not is our “enemy”. Iran nationalized their oil in 1953 and the government was overthrown. The Shah made deals with U.S./British petroleum and he was our ally. The Ayatollahs would not deal with them and they are our “enemies”. Saddam nationalized Iraq’s oil so he was our enemy. Ditto Venezuela, Bolivia. It has nothing to do with anything else. The nature of imperialism is to use military force primarily for the purpose of opening up countries to be exploited by U.S. corporations. That’s the reality, the rest is propaganda.

Look at what is happening now in Iraq:

From the NY Times June 19:

Deals with Iraq are set to bring oil giants back

BAGHDAD — Four Western oil companies are in the final stages of negotiations this month on contracts that will return them to Iraq, 36 years after losing their oil concession to nationalization as Saddam Hussein rose to power.

Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company — along with Chevron and a number of smaller oil companies, are in talks with Iraq’s Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts to service Iraq’s largest fields, according to ministry officials, oil company officials and an American diplomat.

The deals, expected to be announced on June 30, will lay the foundation for the first commercial work for the major companies in Iraq since the American invasion, and open a new and potentially lucrative country for their operations.

The no-bid contracts are unusual for the industry, and the offers prevailed over others by more than 40 companies, including companies in Russia, China and India. The contracts, which would run for one to two years and are relatively small by industry standards, would nonetheless give the companies an advantage in bidding on future contracts in a country that many experts consider to be the best hope for a large-scale increase in oil production.

There was suspicion among many in the Arab world and among parts of the American public that the United States had gone to war in Iraq precisely to secure the oil wealth these contracts seek to extract. The Bush administration has said that the war was necessary to combat terrorism. It is not clear what role the United States played in awarding the contracts; there are still American advisers to Iraq’s Oil Ministry.

Sensitive to the appearance that they were profiting from the war and already under pressure because of record high oil prices, senior officials of two of the companies, speaking only on the condition that they not be identified, said they were helping Iraq rebuild its decrepit oil industry.

For an industry being frozen out of new ventures in the world’s dominant oil-producing countries, from Russia to Venezuela, Iraq offers a rare and prized opportunity.

While enriched by $140 per barrel oil, the oil majors are also struggling to replace their reserves as ever more of the world’s oil patch becomes off limits. Governments in countries like Bolivia and Venezuela are nationalizing their oil industries or seeking a larger share of the record profits for their national budgets. Russia and Kazakhstan have forced the major companies to renegotiate contracts.

Read the rest of the article at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/19/world/middleeast/19i raq.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

cyrena, the six month loop-hole you mention, is simply a carrot and a stick. Six months is a long time from which to launch nefarious subterfuge into surrounding areas, turning the six months into endless years. How many times have we seen six month deadlines come and go, taking one step forward and two steps back? By this the hands of the future president will be tied. Obama needs to vehemently oppose the Bush regime and publically call his hand on this smoke and mirror deceptive move!

The “executive accord”, under the former “benign” proclamation of a “Declaration of Principles for a Long-Term Relationship of Cooperation and Friendship Between the Republic of Iraq and the United States of America,”, now the “Status of Forces Agreement”, is no different a tool than Bush’s egregious circumvention of checks and balances by the flaunting of his Signing Statements, which is why, supreme sovereign, Bush refuses to submit it to Congress, as law and tradition dictate, because he knows full well that it would never be ratified as such.

How ever, David Satterfield, the US State Department’s top adviser on Iraq, is too overly confident in maintaining that this can still be achieved by the end of July, screw congress.

If the Baghdad government does go cave to such a rotten deal, it will probably be
because the U.S. is blackmailing it to the tune of $50 billion.

That is the amount in U.S. dollars being held hostage in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in the form of Iraqi foreign exchange reserves as a result of U.N. sanctions dating back to the first Gulf War.

From an Iraqi perspective it is deeply humiliating. In one fell swoop, it neuters Iraq’s national sovereignty, something of no less pride and importance to Iraqis than it is to Americans.

Watch RealNews videos concerning this issue:

http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1656

AIJAZ AHMAD, SENIOR ANALYST, THE REAL NEWS:

Two weeks after the occupation of Baghdad, General Tommy Franks went on record saying that there are going to be US forces in Iraq on the model of Korea, where there have been US forces now for almost 60 years. A permanent military base in Iraq has been an objective of this invasion from the beginning. The kind of bases that they have built, these are the largest bases the US has ever built outside its own territory. What the US wants is bases, vast bases in Iraq in perpetuity, with limited sovereignty for any Iraqi government, present or future, which will have no control, juridic or operational, on these troops.

Peace, Best Wishes and Hope

Could ‘Land Grab for Oil’ Be any more Obvious?
What does this Oil Regime think, we or They would fall for such blatant Imperialist Terms?
I do NOT want Our military to be stationed in the Middle East under any Circumstances, It only incites more ‘Resistance’ attacks on US!
Get Our Troops out Now, end your lucrative Contracts with OPEC,Stop letting their ‘royals’ use US as Scapegoats for their Oppressive regimes.
SOB- we could have been done with that region a few Decades back! the electric car was developed in the ‘80’s- by now we would ahve had it fine Tuned. Honda is coming out with a HydroCar. Granted it will have ‘bugs’- but so have a number of Standard cars put out by the Big 3- The Exploding Pinto, the Topsy Turvy SUV’s.Enough Excuses to save the Oil Industries Ass Big 3 - Your BS is Weak and Frankly ciminal.Your complicty with the Criminals in Oil has gone on for Too long- You have Blood all Over Your hands- Not to mention the despair of the Now called Rust Belt . As a Michigander I have watched as the Big 3 REFUSED to change their ways- not just moving our jobs overseas for higher profits, but also intentionally ‘Reintroducing’ Gas Guzzling lead Sleds when they knew OPEC had this country by the Balls and their people atttributed their Woes to Our Oil consumption.You should have gotten your hands out of the Profit jars and Your heads out of Your Asses in the’70s- after the first Oil and gas Shortage, after the Hostage Crisis, after the numerous Highjacking by M.E. terrorist, After We TOLD you to get Out!
the ‘Big 3’ will have to work their asses off before I ever buy one of their vehicles again in MY Life!They are Traitors to this country and those who built them from the ground Up, War Criminals for perpetuating the ‘Oil Addiction’ (Pushers) and Crimes against humanity for continuing to produce vehicles which harm the Environment (remember when we were only discussing air, water, land Pollution- Now it is Global Warming which puts mankind and the entire planet at risk of extinction!)
How Do You Sleep At Night past & present Big 3 execs?
Get the F*ck Out of the M.E. your Profiteering has Cost far too many lives already!

This isn’t a valid SoF agreement if it isn’t reviewed and authorized by the US Congress.

The complaint’s about it tying the next president’s hands may seem valid on the surface, but that depends on whether one it given to considering it a valid pact/treaty/agreement. Even if it WAS, (and it isn’t if Congress doesn’t authorize it) they still have an option to withdraw from it with 6 months notice.

STILL, this is just more of Dick Bushes law breaking and blatant violation of the Constitution and all international law. It’s a meaningless arrangement if the Congress doesn’t authorize it.

Well, don’t bet on Iraq succeeding in retaining sovereignty where all others have failed.  The complete freedom of the US armed forces is a standard part of SoF agreements.  I’m surprised that we aren’t trying to structure the SoF to look like the Korean Sof, wherein the United States holds command and control over all ROK forces.