Wars from the beginning of time have been fought to satisfy the interest of the warring factions. Over the years, however, man has failed to learn that nobody wins in a war; everybody looses. Despite this, the after-taste of war is who enjoys the spoils. In the first great war of the 21st century, nations are still warring for the spoils.
The spin the Americans and British have put on this Iraqi war is to remove the Saddam Hussein regime because it is a danger to international peace with its weapons of mass destruction.
Iraq has for centuries been a target for nations with expansionist designs. The Ottoman Turk Empire was once one of the occupiers of then Mesopotamia. At the time, it was the centre of Arab civilization, as Baghdad was known as the capital of the Arab world.
During World War I, Mesopotamia experienced another conqueror at the beginning of the 20th century as British forces not only conquered the land but, in all of its British high-handedness, divided up the country and renamed it Iraq. Just as Britain divided Africa and some parts of Asia, like the Indian Sub-Continent, where ethnic conflicts still linger toady in Pakistan, Kashmir, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
The debate in the Security Council of the United Nations ranged from Iraq being a supporter of and haven for terrorism to the terrible weapons of mass destruction. Virtually nothing was said about oil. Yet critical to American interests was the fear of an armed Iraq either with nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein would have the potential to dominate or hold a region of the world hostage to an estimated 30% of the world’s oil and natural gas.
France and Russia painted a diplomatic face of opposition to war because of humane reasons. What many of us did not realize was that both of these nations have extensive oil interests in Iraq.
During the Gulf war of 1991, the world was caught off guard setting the stage for the escalation of oil prices. Today, America and other industrialized countries have more stockpiles of oil. The Gulf States like Qatar, Abu Dhabi, and Saudi Arabia are keeping oil supplies in reserve offshore. The offshore storage of oil has brought The Bahamas into the global oil picture.
At South Riding Park, East Grand Bahama, there is an offshore tank farm holding millions of gallons of Norwegian crude oil earmarked for the market of the eastern seaboard of the United States.
Despite these provisions, nothing compares with Iraq. The country sits on a sea of oil – with known reserves of more than 112 billion barrels.
This past week, it was very evident that the Coalition Forces were poised to enter Baghdad as most of the country was virtually in the grips of Coalition Forces; even the Kurds in northern Iraq had overwhelmed Iraqi forces in that part of Iraq. The end seemed very near.
In the planning of this war, serious consideration was given to the preservation of the infrastructure, keep Saddam Hussein Regime from wreaking damage in the oil fields and, of course, having the Iraqi people view the invading forces as liberators and not as military occupiers like the Turks and British in earlier times.
Oil is the prize and no doubt American and British oil companies will have an advantage over the French and Russians who elected to stay out of the war.
Oil is the big prize but there are others. Already construction firms Balfour Beaty which operated here in The Bahamas is one of the British companies vying for construction contracts along with other British and American companies.
Food supply is big business for the U.S. In 1988-1989 the United States exported some half million tons of rice to Iraq. The sanctions took away the market; however, when the war is over American farmers will have a new market not only for rice, but also for wheat and poultry. At one time the Iraqi market accounted for 20% of the U.S. rice exports.
This war is not solely about regime change, weapons of mass destruction, about territorial gain or, like in previous wars, where the spoils were national cultural treasures. This war is about commerce and the interdependence of nations for the resources of each other. Western civilization in the personification of the national interests of the United States and the European Union is dependent on Middle East oil resources, require a rich consumer market to expand their economies and the ability to fuel western industries through technological development, job creation and manufacturing resulting from the infrastructural re-construction projects for American and British construction companies.
This is the face of war and the spoils resulting from it. The post war Iraq will be very different from Saddam’s Iraq if left up to the Americans and British.
The Eneas Files, The Bahama Journal
