Iraq War: "It is NOT about Oil!"

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had been telling the world before the Iraq war: "It has nothing to do with oil, literally nothing to do with oil".

If not for the events unfolding in Iraq during the war, one could ALMOST believe him.

Immediately following the invasion, U.S. forces seized two offshore terminals that can transfer 2 million bbl. daily to tankers.
US Forces took swift action to control the southern Rumaila oil field . Iraqi retreating troops could only set ablaze nine wells. In 1991 Gulf War , 650 Kuwaiti wells were put to the torch.
U.S. airborne troops took early control of the largely intact northern oil fields at Kirkuk.

US Marines deploy outside the oil ministry in Baghdad.(AFP/Ramzi Haidar)
When U.S. forces came into downtown Baghdad 3 weeks later, their first stop was the Oil Ministry Building and took full control by putting up a protective shield around the building. Meanwhile US soldiers condoned and allowed other government buildings, ranging from the Ministry of Religious Affairs to the National Museum of Antiquities, to be looted and destroyed, and hospitals being looted off with medicine and basic equipment.
Iraq's oil records were kept well guarded by the U.S. military.

General Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in explaining the situation, said: "I think it's a matter of priorities."

The Bush Administration repeatedly claimed that Iraq's oil belongs to its citizens: "We'll make sure that Iraq's natural resources are used for the benefit of their owners, the Iraqi people."

But in reality, Iraqi oil is to be controlled and exploited for a much larger stake than Washington's public-relation statement about Iraqi oil for the well-being of the Iraqi people.

According to a report by Time Magazine:

" .. the amount of oil that Iraq brings to market will not just determine the living standards of Iraqis but affect everything from the Russian economy to the price Americans pay for gasoline, from the stability of Saudi Arabia to Iran's future" But why is Iraq such a prize? Read here for the full story by Donald L. Bartlett and James B. Steele for Time Magazine.

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