Lured by Black Gold-Oil-- under Anti-Terrorism Banner

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, November 06, 2002

Lured by Black Gold-Oil-- under Anti-Terrorism Banner

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US second war against Iraq is being busily prepared. On October 29, US President George W. Bush vowed to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in the name of "peace, security and freedom".

Earlier, in his televised speech delivered to the American public, he vehemently enumerated four major reasons for the necessity to destroy Saddam, i.e., his "history of aggression", "his unrestricted development of a terrorist arsenal", "his support of terrorism" and "his tyrannical rule".

However, could President Bush's pursuit of "peace, security and freedom" by means of blood and iron really make the hearts of the world people afire? There are few respondents except Britain, a consistent supporter of the United States. More voices of criticism cried out the word "oil", people question the real motives of the Bush administration.

This writer once talked with a British diplomat and tried to probe into the reason why the United States planned to use force against Iraq. He insisted that the United States planned to do so out of its fear of Saddam's possession of weapons of mass destruction and his collusion with terrorists. Maybe America really has fear, but his concealment of its thirst for oil under the pretext of "peace, security and freedom" is hypocritical.

In the recent anti-war demonstrations held in various parts of the United States, one slogan, "Don't Exchange Blood for Oil!", gave the show away. This proves that the people have sharp eyes. Who else has a better understanding of the US government than the American public?

When this writer was studying at Oxford in Britain, he had a chat with an American schoolmate, who had once worked at US Congress, about the 1991 Gulf War, he said categorically, "that was aimed at getting oil, we, of course, understand this!". Iraq's petroleum wealth really makes people's mouths water. It's proven oil reserves account for 11 percent of the world total, ranking it second in the world.

A look at the members of the Bush administration makes people more certain of the administration's "oil thinking". An article published in the American "Christian Science Monitor" wrote: The president himself is an oil dealer, so is Vice-President Cheney, Condoleeza Rice, advisor to national security affairs and a member of the board of directors of the Shervron Oil Company-she even possesses an oil tanker named after herself, Good Heavens!

For a long time, acquiring oil has always been the primary strategic goal of the United States in the Gulf region. At present, the United States is increasingly dependent on the import of oil, its imported oil is estimated to account for two-thirds of the country's consumption in 10 years, half of which will come from the Gulf region. For this reason, the existence of rebellious Saddam inevitably poses threat to US oil security. Moreover, in order to retaliate the United States, Iraq casts amorous eyes at Russia, France and other countries, and signed agreements on oil exploitation with the companies of these countries, while excluding only American companies.

Such being the case, members of the Bush administration specially favor "toppling Saddam". This is in conformity with their private interest as well as with their group companies' interests and national interests. Once Saddam was overthrown successfully, American oil companies could drive straight in, and Iraq would become the US "most safe oil source". It is imaginable that in order to raise reconstruction funds, Iraq were bound to drastically increase oil output, which would lead to a fall of oil price and would undoubtedly bring enormous benefits to the US economy.

More importantly, excessive oil supply would weaken OPEC's ability to control oil price, and the United States could unscrupulously require the Gulf Arab world to carry out political and economic reform in line with its wishes. By then, Iraq would possibly become a wedge driven into the Arab world.

Again, it is because of oil, some countries are uneasy about the forthcoming changeable situation in Iraq. Russia is a typical case in point. A number of articles recently published in Russian newspapers expressed their worry about the influence the war aimed at topping Saddam might exert on the Russian economy, lamenting that Russia could do nothing in this regard. The Russians have two worries: One is oil price fall would deal a heavy blow to the Russian economy which is driven by oil export, around 40 percent of Russia's export income come from oil; second is that the profits already gained by Russian oil companies in Iraq would be harmed and would even completely lose.

Nevertheless, the "down with Saddem" war may not necessarily proceed smoothly to US wishful thinking. The progress of war, the popular will, the rebound of the Arab world, possible terrorist attacks may all be the indefinite factors for this war. And whether oil is the agent of the "down with Saddem" war or the final trophies of the war, the war would produce major influence on the world economy by means of oil. Under the American big counter-terrorism banner, the black oil of the Gulf is sending forth luring yet fatal gloss.

By People's Daily Online

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