The Bush Administration, although hypocritical about the real reasons for the war in Iraq, nevertheless, is brilliant in its foreign policy, more so than the public has been able to appreciate since the whole debate about the war is phony. The real reason we're there is so we can own the oil fields in Iraq. And doesn't it make sense? Why would any country waste billions of dollars and countless young lives just to bring "freedom and democracy" to Iraqis. They really want us to believe that we're sacrificing all this blood and treasure just so that Iraqis can have a better society than we do? Who gives a rip about the Iraqis when it comes right down to it. What are we a bunch of wimps that we start a war of aggression, and then there's nothing in it for us?
We're not going to cut and run in Iraq. We want total victory, but to the victor belongs the spoils, and the spoils in Iraq are its oil fields. President Bush has said he won't settle for less than victory, but he hasn't gone far enough. Victory would be pretty hollow if we just packed up our bags and went home after creating this ideal society for Iraqis and just turned over the key to them and wished them good luck. But the Bush Administration and the neocons have no intention of packing up and going home. They just won't admit it, that's all. They pussyfoot around the issue of permanent bases in Iraq and what's going to happen to the oil fields, the world's second largest proven reserves. So they seem like a bunch of wimps and hypocrites! They start a war of aggression, but they don't have the guts to partake of the spoils? What is this, a Sunday School picnic?
But have no fear. The Iraqi Constitution has already been set up in such a way that western oil companies will have easy pickins when it comes to taking over the Iraqi oil fields. After all we're not taking them away from the Iraqi people. The Iraqi people never owned them. Sadam did. Having defeated Sadam, it's our right to take them over from him. So that's what our sons and daughters are really fighting and dying for in Iraq: access to Iraqi oil. And why not? America runs on oil. It's our God-given right to drive big gas guzzling pick-ups and SUVs.
As the largest oil consuming nation on earth, we need access to oil. All this talk about reducing our dependency on foreign, middle eastern oil, well, one way to do it, the ingenious way chosen by the Bush Administration, is to own the middle eastern oil ourselves. That will reduce our dependency on foreign oil, for sure!
Al Gore would have chosen to reduce our consumption of oil and production of greenhouse gasses by driving electric cars, Renaults and mini-Coopers. He would have mandated higher gas efficiency whereas the Bush Administration has chosen to bring freedom to the middle east by virtue of military victory in Iraq and auctioning off the oil fields. One of the components of freedom is the free enterprise system. As Bush has said, people everywhere want to be free which is to say they want the free enterprise system also known as capitalism. Eventually, the Iraqis are going to need a lot of help getting the oil out of the ground. Who are they going to turn to? Who has that kind of expertise? Just as you or I or anyone else would have the right to bid on the rights to Iraqi oil reserves, we would probably not have the same level of expertise as would an ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco or British Petroleum. Just as anyone or any company was free to bid on military service contracts in Iraq, only Halliburton had the necessary level of expertise. That's why they got the contracts.
Now the western oil companies will not own the Iraqi oil fields outright. They will enter into Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs) with the Iraqis. Such Iraqis who also have expertise in the oil industry such as Ahmed Chalabi will get around 5% and the ExxonMobils will get the lion's share - 95% or so as befits the fact that to the victors belong the spoils. Bush says we're going to be victorious in Iraq, but he doesn't say what victory means. That's the problem I have with him. We've spent hundreds of billions of dollars there. At least we ought to get something for it in return. Now I understand that he can't promise the American people cheap gasoline. That's not how "freedom," meaning the free enterprise system, works. The first obligation of ExxonMobil is to maximize their profits for their stockholders. That means they will charge whatever they can for gas once they get their hands on Iraqi oil. Their profits should go through the roof since they won't have to purchase oil at a disadvantage from our enemies in the middle east. American motorists will pay for gas according to the Law of Supply and Demand, one of the tenets of the free enterprise system, secure in the knowledge that ExxonMobil is working overtime to maximize profits for its shareholders one of which every American has a right to become.
Now Al Gore would have us using public transportation and eating Tofu instead of American beef since cow flatulence contributes to global warming. All that methane gas is directly related to eating meat. There also is a lot of pig flatulence directly related to our consumption of bacon. But I believe that God will take care of the temperature of the earth's atmosphere. It's not up to us to micro-manage God's handiwork. We are here to have dominion over the animals and resources of the earth and use them as we see fit to enhance our lifestyle as it says in the Bible. As Americans we have a right to our gas guzzlers. Let's hear it for God, Country, Apple Pie, Mom and NASCAR. We have a right to have our love affair with the internal combustion engine! On the 4th of July, I'm going to cruise the freeways in my F-150, eating a Big Mac with bacon, with my stereo blasting Lee Greenwood. I'm Proud to be an American. God bless the USA!
