The True Reason for the Iraq Invasion

Finally, the true reason for the Iraq invasion is explained in an op-ed piece in today's NY Times.

In March 2001, the National Energy Policy Development Group (better known as Vice President Dick Cheney’s energy task force), which included executives of America’s largest energy companies, recommended that the United States government support initiatives by Middle Eastern countries “to open up areas of their energy sectors to foreign investment.” One invasion and a great deal of political engineering by the Bush administration later, this is exactly what the proposed Iraq oil law would achieve. It does so to the benefit of the companies, but to the great detriment of Iraq’s economy, democracy and sovereignty.

Since the invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration has been aggressive in shepherding the oil law toward passage. It is one of the president’s benchmarks for the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, a fact that Mr. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Gen. William Casey, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and other administration officials are publicly emphasizing with increasing urgency.

This law gives a huge bonanza to ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and BP. It is the grandest of thefts enabled through the sacrifice of more than 3000 American lives, maiming another 20,000 Americans, killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and expenditure (past, present and future) of more than a trillion dollars.

The audacity of this corruption is awesome.