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Monday, February 19, 2007

"IT"S THE OIL STUPID"

Something serious for a change.
[Click this map to see the BIG version]
In the ocean of electrons that are flowing through Senator Steven's Tubes, I found just one dog that has been chewing on this bone, week in and week out. That is Professor Smartass. Visit his pages, and you see that boy grasps the real reason for this war.

But let me add my 2 cents to the reasons behind this folly. Over the weekend there was this article about Study sees harmful hunt for extra oil. We are now drilling in 5,000 ft of water in the Gulf of Mexico for the stuff. When Dick Cheney hosted his famous "Energy Meetings" in the spring of 2001, you can bet your last dollar that this was topic "A".

Let's break it into two camps :

A. Easy Oil
B. Hard Oil

It's easy to lose sight of just what this means to us, but try this on ....
You will hear something like this :

"We have plenty of oil" [A true statement]
BUT ...Ask your self, "Is this easy oil? Or hard oil?" Oil Shale in the Western U.S., Tar Sands in Canada, the Tar Belt in Venezuela, deep ocean deposits around the world. There is no question that there's a lot oil still around, but as Matt Simmons said,
"Worse, it takes vast quantities of scarce and valuable potable water and natural gas to turn unusable oil into heavy low-quality oil.”

β€œIn a sense, this exercise is like turning gold into lead,”
And there's nothing cheap about drilling in 5,000 ft. of water.

Now, to the Mid East. In Texas and almost everwhere else, there is something called "Lifting Costs" .... That is the money that comes off the top to pay for those pump jacks. Their up keep, power usage, etc. In Saudia Arabia they go to the well head, and turn a valve. The shit comes out of the ground and on to the boat.
Easy Oil.
Iraq has either the #2 or #3 proven reserves in the world, and boys and girls ... It's the "Easy Oil", if we're just talking about the oil business.

So this morning over at Informed Comment the following popped-up:

Iraqi Oil Law Leaked
Here's the translated version
Iraqi Oil Law.pdf

I'm no lawyer, but I bet my last dollar that's the "Easy Oil" buried in all that "Where As" and "Where For"
I know this, and so did Dick Cheney and that hand puppet we call a president, back in 2001.

"It's The Oil Stupid"

Good job of simplifying this. I'll check out your sources.

Thought-provoking indeed. Thanks, Bob.
Cheers
David

Excellent post !!

I agree that the oil is a major reason, but don't forget that the Bush & Cheney families are making money on the war too with all those fat juicy military contracts...

E

That map is also a perfect example of why the sunni minority are never going to give up fighting a war of insurgency. The Kurds control the oil in the north, the shia in the south. Saddam (a sunni) kept the kurds and shia majorities at bey with a boot on the throat and by relocating sunnis throughout the country. The sunnis know that if they have minority status in a new govt., they are going to get shut out of oil revenue. I dont really like Biden much, but his idea of a soft partition is going to be the eventual outcome of this Fubar. That is the only way these three groups are going to see any equitable distribution of the oil money...and it is the only way they are going to stop drilling holes in one anothers heads...Of course, either way, Halliburton makes out like a bandit...(blown up pipelines have to be re-built) so it is certainly in Bushcos interest to keep the whole shitstorm rolling....

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