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Oil imperialism
IN A US Central Command briefing on 22 March, General Franks
reviewed the military objectives of ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’. Seventh on the
list was "to secure Iraq’s oil fields and resources". In fact, two days
previously US and British special forces had taken control of the key oil and
gas installations on the al-Faw peninsula. In truth, that was the first
objective of the US-led invasion.
Oil and gas supplies are now much more geographically
diverse than they were even ten years ago. New technology has made additional
reserves economically viable. Whereas the Gulf accounted for 40% of oil sales in
1975 it now accounts for about 30%. Nevertheless, the Gulf is still a vital
energy source, especially as its oil can be pumped extremely cheaply (about $1.5
a barrel).
The depletion of other regions, especially the US and the
North Sea, will tend to increase the importance of the Gulf region. ‘Reserves’
are elastic. New exploration and advanced technology can produce much bigger
exploitable reserves. Proven Iraqi reserves, for instance, are currently put at
112 billion, but some US government estimates consider there may be as much as
432 billion barrels.
US designs on the Gulf are not merely about oil company
profits, though. Exxon, Mobil, Chevron, Texaco, and Gulf are eager to take over
Iraq’s oil industry. But this is part of a broader strategy of US imperialism.
Control of oil resources are an integral element of US imperialism’s global
interests. Energy, profit and power are interlinked and cannot be separated.
"Oil is high-profile stuff", says Robert Ebel, of the Center
for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think-tank. "Oil fuels
military power, national treasuries, and international politics. It is no longer
a commodity to be bought and sold within the confines of traditional energy
supply and demand balances. Rather, it has been transferred into a determinant
of well-being, of national security, and of international power".
"Controlling Iraq is about oil as power, rather than oil as
fuel", says Michael Klare, author of Resource Wars. "Control of the Persian Gulf
translates into control over Europe, Japan, and China. It’s having our hand on
the spigot [tap]".
Ever since the 1973 ‘oil shock’ US imperialism has been
building up its capacity for a military intervention in the Gulf. In response to
the Arab-Israel war, the OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum-Exporting Countries)
producers, dominated by the Arab states and Iran, implemented an oil boycott and
immediately trebled the price of crude oil. Neo-conservative hawks like Cheney
and Rumsfeld simplistically blamed the oil shock for a host of problems:
accelerated inflation, the wave of working-class militancy, and a new spate of
third-world revolutions.
In 1980, a Democratic president, Jimmy Carter, effectively
declared the Gulf a zone of US influence: "An attempt by any outside force to
gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the
vital interests of the USA, and such an assault will be repelled by any means
necessary, including military force". Carter developed the Rapid Deployment
Force (RDF) which later became the Central Command.
Under Reagan and Bush senior, US bases were strengthened in
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, etc. During the Afghanistan war, the US
set up new bases in the Central Asian republics.
After the 9/11 attacks, in which most of the hijackers were
Saudi nationals, the hawks saw Saudi Arabia as ‘the kernel of evil’. A leaked
paper to the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board recommended a US ultimatum to the
House of Saud: stop backing terrorism, or face seizure of your oil fields and
financial assets in the US. Publicly, Rumsfeld had to repudiate this attack on
the USA’s long-standing ally.
Control of Iraq’s oil reserves, the hawks believe, will
allow the US to break the powerful influence on the oil market of the Saudi
regime, as well as smashing OPEC. One of their delusions is that cheap oil (if
they secure it) will dissolve the deep-rooted crisis in the world capitalist
economy.
Despite the attraction of huge profits in Iraq, many leaders
of the US oil companies are apprehensive. They fear war and occupation will turn
Arab states against the US and Western oil companies. "It’s greed versus fear",
says a former US diplomat. Anne Joyce, of the Washington-based Middle East
Policy Council, says most oil industry executives are worried that tensions in
the region may spiral out of control. "They see it as much too risky, and they
are risk averse", she says. "They think it has ‘fiasco’ written all over it".
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