France & Russia warned support US war on Iraq or no Iraqi oil:
(1/27/2003 – OGI: Cairo) France and Russia have been warned they must support the US military invasion and occupation of Iraq if they want acess to Iraqi oilfields in a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. According to a report in today’s Tehran Times, US Senator Richard Lugar, a leading member of the Bush administration and Republican Party chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Russia and France “must be ready to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in any US-led military intervention” if they want a share of Iraqi oil.
The paper quoted Lugar as saying that Paris and Moscow oil companies will be deprived of Iraqi oil and have no share in the country’s resources if they refuse to join in the US war to oust Hussein. It noted that both the Russian Duma and the French parliament have both expressed opposition to a US military attack on Iraq.
I was talking with a friend of mine whose father is a prominent Pakistani businessman. She said he told her that the US goal is to secure Iraqi oil control because British and French oil companies have secured most of the best oil deals in the region effectively shutting out American business. Control of Iraqi resources is clearly the objective. There has been acknowledgement by the US government to this effect. I read something where we will most likely attempt to seize control of Kirkuk first to prevent sabotage to oil wells and other infrastructure. Clearly oil is key to this whole charade. I also watched the Powell case at the UN today and did not see anything at all that would justify a takeover of Iraq.
