Iraq: What is it worth?

At the start of 2007, sound minded people looked at Iraq and thought: "what a mistake".

This is naive.

The misery suffered by the Iraqis is not the the side-effect of errors of political judgement. It is the result of calculated planning.

Since 1990, the ‘coalition of the willing’ has worked tirelessly to induce conditions of escalating misery; for these are the conditions required for unconditional surrender on our terms.

Consider 12 years of crippling sanctions stripping Iraq of effective defences (against disease as well as military force). Consider the bombing and looting of power plants which once faithfully provided 24 hour water and electricity, or the decomissioning of the Iraqi army which, overnight, left 100,000s of families without an income. Consider the levelling of Fallujah, a town with a similar sized population to Leicester. Consider the US door to door kickings and kidnappings and the training of proxy death squads. These operations were planned.

Make no mistake. Such is the siren-like allure of the world's most highly valued prize, any amount of provocation or torture is routinely excused, any amount of killing forgiven, no amount of human suffering seen as a barrier.

The prize? Liquid cash - ample undrilled oil reserves, which are estimated to be worth, in potential foreign oil company contracts alone, around $1 trillion.

Now, who could use a pile of dollars 95 miles high right now?

Let’s think....

Ends | 6 Feb 2007 | The Leg

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Essential Reading:
During foot and mouth, we counted the corpses

Essential Viewing:

Daylight Robbery - what happened to the $23 bn?
Panorama June 08


Iraq: Mixing Oil & Blood

President Bush, interviewed by Carol Coleman, 2004


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2008:
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2007:
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2003 - 2006:
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