The War is Going Great

The successes of the Iraq war have been largely overlooked. What?! Success? Yes, the war has been quite successful, for Houston.

Since the Iraq invasion of 2003, the price of oil, and therefore the gas we all buy at the pump has been increasing and setting new record highs. With the price of crude rising, it would stand to reason that the fuel companies, as well as consumers, would feel this price spike. However, this is simply not true at all. While the average American has been paying more and more at the pump, the net profits of the oil companies have soared to unprecedented levels. Not just unprecedented levels for oil companies, but for any corporation. The third highest recorded quarterly profit for any U.S. based corporation was posted by Exxon-Mobil during the second quarter of 2006 at a staggering $10,360,000,000. The highest quarterly profit ever, $10.7 billion, was recorded by Exxon in the fourth quarter of 2005. The 2nd & 4th highest quarterly profits are also Exxon, at 10.5 billion in the 3rd quarter of 2006, and 9.9 billion in the third quarter of 2005. Exxon also holds the top three spots for highest yearly profits ever, all after the start of the Iraq war, $39.5 billion in 2006, $36.1 billion in 2005, and $25.3 billion in 2004. Its not all Exxon though, the reserve value of the 5 largest oil companies has doubled during the war to a mind boggling $2.36 trillion. The profits of these companies since the beginning of the war has also blasted somewhere up into the stratosphere, its broken up like this:

Rank Gas Company Profit

1 Exxon $101,730,000,000
2 Shell $62,771,000,000
3 BP $70,349,000,000
4 Total S.A. $44,770,000,000
5 Chevron $42,999,000,000

In March of 2002 the average price of a gallon of unleaded fuel was about $1.20. Just days after the invasion, in March of 2003, the average price was already at $1.72, at the time that was less than one cent below the all time high. The trend of record setting prices, and profits, has continued ever since. While this puts a serious dent in the pocketbooks of most Americans, it is fattening the wallets of a few. Today gas is about 6 cents more expensive than it was a year ago, and about 60 cents higher than it was 6 months ago, most likely due to the election cycle we were experiencing at the time. The Washington-Houston cartel has now has an uncontested deathgrip on the paychecks of most Americans. The federal government is spending billions of taxpayer dollars on the war in Iraq, which is the key factor in the ever-rising oil costs.

We were originally told that oil was not a factor in the decision to invade Iraq, as the State Department's Iraq study group stated "does not have oil on its list of issues." This has become more and more difficult to believe, if you choose to try, as more information surfaces.
Firstly there was W's statement to the Iraqi people upon the commencement of military action in their country, "I want to talk to the Iraqi people.... Do not destroy oil wells." That is pretty cut & dry.

Then there is Condi's secret meeting with the former Secretary-General of OPEC, Fadhil Chalabi, an Iraqi, and offered Chalabi the job of Oil Minister for Iraq. To quote journalist Greg Palast: "It is well established that the President of the United States may appoint the cabinet ministers of another nation if that appointment is confirmed by the 101st Airborne." But I digress... This was clearly an attempt to make Iraq a subjugated member of OPEC, thereby raising prices and revenue for the Houston crowd, through decreased production.

So, as it turns out, we weren't fraudulently led into a war to get Iraq's oil, but to limit Iraq's oil production. Before the war Iraq's oil production was around 4 million barrels a day, since the war, its held steady at around 2.1 million barrels per day. Everyone knows what happens to price when supply is cut by half.

Notably, Fadhil did not take the job as Oil Minister, however Ahmed Chalabi did. A convicted embezzler and neo-con "go-to guy," has quite the resume. From fleeing Jordan after a banking scandal in the 80s to organizing a failed kurdish resistance in the 90s and fleeing Iraq, then becoming a lobbyist for the Iraqi National Congress and recieving $97 mil, and allegedly misappropriating a significant amount thereof, and later being very involved in passing the fraudulent intelligence regarding WMDs in Iraq, he was just the type of shady character the neo-cons were looking for. He has also been investigated in Iraq for fraud involving the exchange of Iraqi currency, grand theft of both national and private assets, and many other criminal charges, as well as being accused of passing sensitive U.S. information to Iran. Needless to say, he is not very well regarded in Iraq, or by Iraqis. It was only after all this that he was appointed as acting Oil Minister. When the permanent Oil Minister protested IMF austerity, Chalabi was reappointed. More on the IMF at a later date...

By appointing a Houston-friendly Oil Minister the Washington-Houston thugs were able to implement the State & Defense Department's plan titled "Options for a Sustainable Iraqi Oil Industry." You may be wondering what our gov't is doing writing up plans for another nation's oil, but don't worry, it wasn't written by government officials. The 323 page document was revealed (in 2005 by BBC NewsNight)to have been written by oil company executives and consultants in Houston well before "Mission Accomplished" was declared in grand fashion.

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Author's Note: These figures are from April of this year but the amounts have only increased.