I and some people know that but it's like 'mass hysteria' when you combine Oil and Mid-East. Cocaine addicts are more under control mate! 



- Terry


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I can justify the war if it ultimately leads to a proven increased control on the ME oil market...If and only if the cost of American foreign policy doesn't trump increased oil control...and the American GI death toll as well.

The states purpose is protect and increase its power.  I'm a realist and a nationalist.  What can I say <<shrugging>>  I'm not looking our for a Canadian or Iraqi first...if they benefit as well then great, but thats not on my priority list.

Yes the amount of oil from the M.E.has gone down from 2001 to 2007 true.   Now I ask... *sigh*... what has happened to the price of that oil within that exact time frame?
 The purpose of CONTROLING the oil is to NOT pump the oil, driving up demand and prices.
 http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/61/20480

Gomper I hope you are saying what I think your saying.  And if so, thanks for saying it.

Sure, oil imports to the US from the ME has decreased, however then why has overall oil imports to the US increased?

Here's the numbers...

All oil imports to the U.S. from 2001 to 2006 have increased by 15.4% while oil from the Persian Gulf (ME) has decreased by 20%.*

*http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_impcus_a2_nus_ep00_im0_mbbl_a.htm

Prices are rising not because of the decrease in supply in the ME; it is rising because of increased global oil demand.  Does China's enormous growth ring a bell?

We are now getting the majority of our oil from Canada, Venezuela, and Mexico.  Just look at the numbers! 

What do those three have in common? NAFTA.  A coincidence; I think not.

Again, like I said, it was never about oil.

A war for oil

Iraq has 115 billion barrels of known oil reserves—10 percent of the world’s total—and it is estimated that a fully functioning industry could generate $100 billion in annual revenue. The most important resources are in the Majnoon and West Qurna fields, close to Basra in the south of the country, which contain nearly a quarter of Iraq’s proven reserves. On top of this, Iraq is estimated to have between 100 and 200 billion barrels of possible reserves, including in the western desert.

These vast untapped reserves of easily reachable and low-cost oil, not to mention natural gas, have long been a crucial target of the US and British energy conglomerates, particularly as the discovery of new oil deposits elsewhere in the world have drastically slowed and existing reserves have declined. With demand increasing, particularly from rapidly developing countries such as China and India, control of Middle East oil, and control of Iraq’s vast reserves in particular, became a vital geo-strategic goal for American imperialism.

As early as the mid-1990s, there was growing concern that the unraveling of the United Nations sanctions imposed after the first Gulf War would enable Saddam Hussein to establish lucrative agreements with French, Russian, Chinese and other oil companies that would leave the US and Britain out and realign the global energy industry. Political writer Kevin Phillips noted in his book American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century, “So long as the United States and Britain could keep these sanctions in place, using allegations concerning weapons of mass destruction, Saddam could not implement his own plan to extend large-scale oil concessions (estimated to be worth $1.1 trillion)” to their economic rivals in Europe and Asia.

Months after the US invasion of Iraq—and after a long legal battle with the White House—it was revealed that control of Iraq’s oil fields was one of the chief issues discussed in Vice President Dick Cheney’s Energy Task Force meeting with oil executives in 2001. Among the items released under court order were maps of Iraq’s oil fields, pipelines and refineries, with a supporting list of “Foreign Suitors for Iraqi Oilfield Contracts,” naming more than 60 firms from 30 countries, most prominently France, Russia and China, that had projects either agreed upon or under discussion with Baghdad. The French giant, Total, for example, was to get the 25-billion barrel Majnoon oil field, while Russia’s Lukoil had deals to develop the West Qurna fields.

The Independent article on the new hydrocarbon law noted that it was doubtful that these contracts would be considered valid by the Iraqi government, and that “ExxonMobil is now seen by insiders as the frontrunner to nab the rights to the Majnoon field.”

The actions of the puppet regime in Baghdad have confirmed the fact—suspected by millions of people throughout the world—that an entire country has been shattered and hundreds of thousands killed in a war for oil and profit.

*Sigh*

Total percentage of US Imports from the Persian Gulf* (ME) was 23% in 2001.  Now it is 16% in 2006. 

See a pattern? It was never about oil.