Secret U.S. Plans For Iraq's Oil

I have thought for a long time that George W. Bush planned on an invasion of Iraq, even before he won the 2000 presidential election.  The evidence has been slight, but highly suggestive.  Now, the evidence is stronger, albeit still inconclusive.  Previously, I had read rumors of US plans to commercialize Iraqi oil production.  On March 17, though, the BBC aired a show that reveals documents that allegedly prove that the US was planning, in great detail, how to do this.  They report that much of this planning took place before September 11, 2001. (Not that the war in Iraq has anything to do with 9/11; it's just a convenient date to remember.)

The BBC has posted much of the information here.  One of the reporters, Greg Palast, has images from some of the documents here.  Common Dreams News Center  has posted an article on the subject here.  The most outrageous statement in all the material is this:

Mr Aljibury, once Ronald Reagan's "back-channel" to Saddam, claims that plans to sell off Iraq's oil, pushed by the US-installed Governing Council in 2003, helped instigate the insurgency and attacks on US and British occupying forces.

"Insurgents used this, saying, 'Look, you're losing your country, your losing your resources to a bunch of wealthy billionaires who want to take you over and make your life miserable," said Mr Aljibury from his home near San Francisco.

"We saw an increase in the bombing of oil facilities, pipelines, built on the premise that privatization is coming."

I don't know how Mr. Aljibury draws this conclusion, but I would tend to pay attention to what he says, given that he obviously has connections in high places.  If this is true, then it would follow that many of our service personnel are being killed and injured because of Mr. Bush's and Mr. Cheney's plans to help the American oil companies. 

I know this is not news to the Blogosphere: Technorati lists 4,513 posts matching the string "Palast".  I mention this because it highlights the tragedy of all those cases of PTSD that we are seeing from the War.

Oh, and about the allegation that Mr. Bush planned the war even before he was elected in 2000 ... Mr. Aljibury disagrees: he thinks that we were plotting a coup d'etat, not a war.  So maybe I was wrong about that.