01.07.2011., petak
SLP Newsletter
VOL. 30, NO. 7 MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA JULY 2011
Diane Secor-
IRAQ: THE 'FORGOTTEN' WAR
DURING the 2008 presidential 'cam¬paign, Barack Obama promised to end the war in Iraq and to withdraw U.S. troops from that country. According to the BBC, in August 2010 Obama specifically promised to end the use of American troops in all "combat operations" in Iraq by the end of that month. He said that 50,000 U.S. troops would remain to train the Iraqi armed forces, to fight "terrorists," and to protect Iraqi civil¬ians. He promised that U.S. military forces would be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of 2011. These promises of troop withdrawals seem to have removed the war in Iraq from "front page" news. The U.S. media seems to have "forgotten" that American troops are still "in harm's way" in Iraq. Compelling capitalist material interests in Iraq's oil, gas, and re¬lated infrastructure portend that all U.S. troops in Iraq will not be home by December 2011, and the continuing U.S. occupation of Iraq beyond this year is confirmed by more recent statements from military sources.
Indeed, the Lawrence, Kansas, Journal- World (May 28) reported that 46,000 U.S. troops are still stationed in Iraq. According to American military leaders, the Obama ad¬ministration plans to keep thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq after 2011 to support and train the Iraqi army. For instance, Col. Jeffrey Jerome is an advisor to commanders of the 14th Iraqi Army division in Basra. Basra "is a key Iraqi city because of oil production" in this region of southern Iraq. Jerome also heads a "stability transition team" with the 3rd Bri¬gade in the 1st Cavalry Division of the U.S.
army. He stated that the team's "biggest challenge" is Iran's efforts at "undermining" Iraq's security and economy, such as through the black market for Iranian products. Jerome concluded that this forces Iraqi businesses to support Iran's regime.
However, open "legitimate" business be¬tween Iraq and Iran has flourished in Basra's oil industry, during the U.S. military occupa¬tion of Iraq, which began in March 2003. Just a year after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the BBC (March 1, 2004) reported that "U.S.-led occu¬pation authorities" approved an agreement between Iraqi oil minister Ibrahim Bahr al- Uloum and Iran to build an oil pipeline be-tween Basra and Abadan, Iran. Head of the occupation authority, Paul Bremer, said that Iraq needs to have "good relations" with neighboring countries. On May 5, according to Asia Pulse and the Basra Investment Com¬mission, negotiations were in progress be¬tween the Commission and the Iranian com¬pany Mahshahar for Mahshahar to produce oil pipes for the Iraqi State Oil Company. The head of the Commission, Haidar Ali Fadhil, also announced that the Commission and Mahshahar planned to have talks with the Southern Oil Company, Southern Gas Com¬pany, Oil Pipelines Company, and Southern Refineries Company to discuss supplying them with pipes from this Iranian firm. ]
This Iranian company's plans to furnish these Iraqi firms with pipes seem to comple¬ment the plans of Western oil corporations in the Basra region. The Wall Street Journal (June 2) reported that BP's project is Ru-
maila, Iraq's largest oil field. Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil Corp., Italy's Eni SpA, and other Western oil corporations plan to set up "base camps" in the Basra region. These U.S. and other foreign oil firms with contracts with Iraqi oil, gas, refinery, and pipeline companies will require pipes and other oil infrastructure and supplies.
Fadhel [Fadhil] told the Wall Street Journal that Basra is luring foreign investment. He praised a law enacted by the Iraqi parliament, which seems like a bonanza for these Western oil corporations and their "base camps." This law not only allows foreign ownership of land. This legislation grants investors in certain en¬terprises exemptions from corporation taxes and fees for 10-15 years and from import fees on "required equipment" for three years. In¬vestors are also permitted to "repatriate" their profits. The Basra Investment Commission also has made provisions for additional trans¬portation, housing, and social infrastructure, in order to accommodate these foreign inves¬tors.
The Wall Street Journal also refers to this "reconstruction" of Basra in a context of "the U.S. military's planned end-of-year with¬drawal." Even if U.S. troops are not in "com¬bat operations," U.S. military "trainers" or "advisors" could certainly be attacked by in¬surgents and be drawn into combat. Then the fighting could escalate into a wide war. This growing foreign-owned oil and related infra-structure in and around Basra and other parts of Iraq is alsn likely to be targeted by insurgents or "terrorists." On May 16, the Wall Street Journal also reported that Iraq's Oil Ministry and state-operated South Oil Company approved an agreement for the Du¬bai-based firm Petronor to construct offices, warehouses, and housing for Royal Dutch Shell's Energy City in Basra. Furthermore, within the last two years, the Iraqi govern¬ment has made contracts worth over $200 bil¬lion with BP, Exxon Mobil, the Italian Eni
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SpA, the Russian OAO Lukoil, the China Na¬tional Petroleum Corporation, and other large foreign oil firms.
Among the world's ruling classes, America's capitalist class has the most to lose if Iraq's regime and Iraq's army collapse. Neverthe¬less, U.S. troops are training the Iraqi army to provide "security," which will benefit all of these foreign oil firms. Thus Western Euro¬pean nations, Russia, and China now also have a stake in maintaining the U.S. occupa¬tion of Iraq. This arrangement enhances the role of the U.S. military as the de facto protec¬tor of international oil interests in Iraq. With substantial material interests on the line, it is not at all surprising that the Obama admini¬stration plans to continue the U.S. occupation of Iraq. As long as capitalism exists, American workers will die, in service to capitalist inter¬ests.
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