'Obscene Attempt' To Steal Iraq Oil.

In a nationally televised (C-SPAN) speech on May 23, Democratic Congressman and presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich said the US Congress, under intense pressure from the Bush administration, was on the verge of approving "an obscene attempt to steal the oil resources of Iraq". In an impeccably documented, point-by-point analysis of a little-known provision buried in the Iraq war-funding appropriation under consideration by the US House of Representatives, Kucinich challenged other House members to strip the provision from the bill, or, agree with him that the entire bill should be defeated. The latter option, embodied in Kucinich-sponsored H.R. 1234, would cut off additional funding for the war and almost immediately begin the process of bringing US troops home. It would, Kucinich said, send a strong and clear message to the White House: "This war is over, Mr. President".

In an unprecedented, televised hour-long address on the floor of the House, Kucinich, the only presidential candidate who voted against the original war authorisation in 2002 and every war-funding measure since, cited scores of unimpeachable sources and documents supporting his position that the current war appropriation might put up to 80% of Iraq's estimated $21 trillion in oil resources into the hands of IOCs. He said: "I would like to believe that this war wasn't about oil. But I know better". He said his colleagues in the House and the Senate had access to the same "million" sources of information he had, but failed to recognise the implications of the petroleum law benchmark, in part because of intense lobbying and pressure from the administration.

The administration-sponsored language in the current appropriations bill couches Iraq's passage of a "broadly accepted" petroleum law as a way of ensuring that oil revenues are shared equitably among the country's regions. Instead, Kucinich charged: "It's not about sharing revenues equitably". The real goal, he said, referencing documents which pre-date the 2003 invasion, was to turn over up to 80% of Iraq's oil reserves to IOCs. He provided documentation, some dating back to 1999, showing that IOCs and representatives of the administration, notably Vice President Dick Cheney, had been strategising for years about how to open up Iraq's petroleum industry to exploitation by the world's major oil corporations.

Kucinich provided what he called evidence that, for years, top IOC executives had been advising the US government and the evolving government of Iraq on ways to end Iraq's state-controlled oil industry and to facilitate "foreign investment". Those powerful executives, Kucinich said, had been coveting Iraq's oil reserves since the country nationalised its oil industry in 1972.

Kucinich quoted US officials, oil industry leaders and analysts, Iraqi officials, and independent policy and research groups to corroborate his long-standing position that "it's always been about oil". As he closed his message to the House, Kucinich said: "Let's take a stand for truth and justice. Let's take a stand for what's right. The war in Iraq is a stain on American history. Let us not further besmirch our nation by participating in the outrageous exploitation of a nation which is in shambles due to US intervention. The truth is what I've told this Congress today".