The roaming gnome from Cleveland...
Posted on 05/24/2007 6:14:06 PM PDT by GOP_Lady
Kucinich claims war masks the real objective: Iraqi oil
Thursday, May 24, 2007 Stephen Koff Plain Dealer Bureau Chief
Washington- It's all about Iraq's oil - rich, abundant, and coveted by multinational companies waiting to line their deep pockets.
Or so said Rep. Dennis Kucinich Wednesday in an unusual hourlong address on the House floor. He laid out his contention that the White House and Democratic-led Congress are helping oil companies grab a stake in Iraq's vast oil fields while claiming to be interested merely in winding down the Iraq war.
The claim has brought Kucinich derision within his own Democratic Party. Leaders reject the suggestion that they would help "privatize" Iraqi oil. And Republicans dismiss him altogether, with Republican Party spokesman Dan Ronayne saying, "It sounds like congressman Kucinich is trying to get noticed with a nutty conspiracy theory."
But elements of Kucinich's claim appear to be based on theories about geopolitics and oil as much as on any conspiracy.
At the heart of the issue is a measure that, if ratified by the Iraqi parliament, would set the stage for rebuilding the war-torn country's oil industry. Oil in Iraq, with the world's third-biggest reserves, could pay for massive reconstruction and modernization.
But Iraq's pipelines and terminals have been neglected or sabotaged. The industry needs to be rebuilt - yet there is promise, since only 15 of Iraq's 74 discovered oil fields have been developed, according to a study by Amy Myers Jaffe, a fellow in energy studies at Rice University in Houston.
Who should develop that? What role should Baghdad play and what role should provincial governments have? If private industry helps, how should it be rewarded?
The framework for answering these questions is in the bill before the Iraqi parliament - a bill that's been gaining detractors in Iraq. Some members of Congress - but not Kucinich - say it or some other so-called hydrocarbon act could serve as a benchmark for Congress and the administration to measure Iraq's progress. It could be a measure on which to base eventual withdrawal of American troops.
But the measure itself is mired in disagreement in Iraq, with Sunnis and Kurds differing on the central question of provincial versus central control. Some in Iraq also see the measure as a way for Western corporations to gain control through revenue-sharing provisions.
"Everyone knows that the oil law does not serve the Iraqi people, and that it serves Bush, his supporters and the foreign companies at the expense of the Iraqi people who have been wronged and deprived of their right to their oil despite enduring all difficulties," Hasan Jum'a Awwad, head of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, said in a May 12 letter to Democrats in the U.S. Congress.
There's another view. Iraq's oil industry is in shambles. It needs help, but outside experts keep getting killed. Multinational oil companies, whose shareholders expect a return on investment, could help.
Iraq could go it alone, but getting higher oil output could require hard decisions, including "possible under-investment in other areas of the country's economy," Jaffe's analysis said. Iraq needs up to $10 billion to restore production to pre-war levels, she said, and more than $20 billion - "a major investment program" - to raise output to about 5 million barrels a day, the high end of its historical production levels.
"If it is decided that higher levels of production are desired," Jaffe wrote, "it is inevitable that the potential role of outside investors and lenders will loom large."
While that does not mean companies would give their resources and expertise out of charity, Karen Matusic, a spokeswoman for the American Petroleum Institute, says it does not mean privatization, either. She asks why Kucinich would not want to help Iraq, which lacks the tools.
"They don't have the kinds of funds or even technology needed to develop those fields," she said.
Sen. George Voinovich, an Ohio Republican, shares that view.
"That oil is capital," and all sides in Iraq need it, said Voinovich spokesman Chris Paulitz.
Kucinich agrees with the sentiment. But he worries it won't work out that way.
"It's clear," he said, "that the people of Iraq are under enormous pressure to give up their oil."
cause-an-itch is like a tapeworm, crossed with a buglight.
Ping! Here you are, fellow Freeper. :-)
After all the blood spilled by our brave military, and the treasure expended by our taxpayers, I sure hope to hell we are going to get Iraq’s oil. Who would Kucinich prefer to see get it? Iran? Russia? China?
God save us from these idiots.
The Iraqi’s should at least pay for some of the reconstruction with their oil money.
It is amazing people this ignorant and inflammatory can get elected to anything.
I sincerely apologize for this absolute moroon being on the national stage. He a flunky from a district here in Cleveland where he changed his pro-life view as soon as he became a “contender” for president four years ago. He was a pain in the a$$ in college, spending most of the time tying up classes with insane questioning and formally contesting every grade he got less than an “A”. An absolutely worthless human being that brought the city of Cleveland to its knees. The stupid a$$ even put a hamburger flipper at McDonalds as the safety director while in office. How he gets reelected every 2 years is beyond me. He has no skills, no trade, and now he’s making a fool of his constituents.
Give us oil...at $65 a bbl
Nice image—Comrade Kucinick’s Alfred E. Neuman face being zapped in a bug light! Ha!
I think Kucinich is actually Cynthia McKinney’s evil twin brother.
They are just like two nuts in an insane asylum but the asylum was Congress.
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSER!
If we were going to steal oil, wouldn’t we start with Canada’s? Its closer, there are only a few highway patrolmen to slow us down.
I mean, really.
Mexico is pretty close, they effectively have no army. That would be a good bet. Venezuela, its pretty close and again, no army to speak of. I would say, when we have stolen their oil, the other countries should start worrying. Until then, they can probably rest easily.
Why didn't we seize Iraq's oil 16 years ago when we had 500000 troops available during the Gulf War?
Kucinich: Blood Money
United States Capitol Building at Night
Washington, May 22 - WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) gave the following speech on the floor of the House of Representatives today:
“The Associated Press reports that the latest Iraq Supplemental funding plan, incredibly, will tie an increase in the minimum wage to funding the war through October.
“If this is true, and I hope it is not, it tells American workers that the only way they will get an increase in wages is to continue to support funding the war which is taking the lives of their sons and daughters.
“First blood for oil. Now a minimum wage for maximum blood. Aren’t the American people giving enough blood for this war without having to give more to have a wage increase?
“What’s happened to our country? We are losing our moral compass. We’re losing our sense of justice. We’re losing touch with the difference between right and wrong.
“We do not have to fund this war. We must leave Iraq now. Support our troops and bring them home. HR 1234 is a plan to end the war and stabilize Iraq and give Iraqis control of their oil.
“We must take a new path. We must take a path of truth and justice.”
The roaming gnome from Cleveland...
Dennis, Dennis, Dennis. What a gigantic, festering dingleberry.
If it was oil we were after, we should have invaded Mexico, or Venezuela. But noooo, that’s too logical for a MOONBAT.
It must be tough to be a dain-bramaged midget...
Let me tell Kucinich about his wife. Its your money John.
Women like her dont marry midgets who couldnt get laid in a cathouse with a hundred dollar bill in their hand because they like to look down on them.
Living in a state that’s put its share of weirdos in the limelight, I forgive you.
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