Security Council Sells Out
By Thomas W. Murphy
While public opinion polls in the United States indicate that Americans overwhelmingly favor military action to disarm Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein, a growing number of Americans favor military action only if it is endorsed by the United Nations.
Many Americans hold an idealistic view of the world community that leads them to conclude that any military action against Iraq should be approved by the U.N. Security Council, while others stung by criticism the U.S. is arrogant and unilateralist, favor military action under the umbrella of United Nations approval simply to pacify world opinion.
This idealistic view that the U.N. will do the "right thing" about Iraq, fails to recognize the realities of international politics and the impact that national self-interest has on the decision making process in the U.N.
For example, both Russia and France have significant financial interests at stake, including oil exploration and development contracts worth billions of dollars. For years, both Russia and France have been more interested in getting U.N. sanctions lifted for their own economic gain, then in ensuring that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction.
Since 1996, Russia has ranked first among nations doing business with Iraq under the oil-for-food program with sales exceeding $4 billion, and Russia still hopes to collect the $12 billion in cold-war-era debt owed by Iraq.
In 1997, a consortium led by Russian giant Lukoil signed a contract worth an estimated $4 billion to develop the massive West Qurna oil field in southern Iraq. A contract Lukoil cannot start work on until the U.N. sanctions are lifted.
Last year under the oil-for-food program, France sold $1.5 billion worth of goods to Iraq, the most of any nation. Major French companies like communications giant Alcatel and automakers Peugeot and Renault have landed lucrative deals in Iraq.
France's Total Fina Elf has exclusive rights to develop the Majnoon and Bin Umar oil fields which are believed to be the largest in the world and estimated to hold 35 billion barrels of oil; more than three times Total Fina Elf's current reserves.
Neither Russia or France initially supported a tough, new U.N. resolution that would require Iraq to comply with previous resolutions to disarm and cooperate with U.N. inspections. In fact, they did not see the need for a new resolution, and actually favored relaxing U.N. sanctions so that Russian and French firms could start working the oil fields.
Much to the ire of Baghdad, Russia and France finally succumbed to pressure from the U.S. and Great Britain and supported resolution 1441 which requires Iraqi disarmament and cooperation with U.N. weapons inspections.
On December 8, 2002, Iraq sent both Russia and France a message when it cancelled the $4 billion contract with Russia's Lukoil to develop the West Qurna oil field. French oil firms, fearing they were next, began pressuring the French government to force the U.N. to resolve the Iraq crisis peacefully and Total Fina Elf demanded assurances its oil contacts in Iraq will be protected in the face of a possible U.S. attack.
Chief U.N. arms inspector Hans Blix says Iraqi cooperation is lacking and they failed to meet their obligations under resolution 1441 to provide a full and accurate declaration of their weapons of mass destruction. This is a direct violation of resolution 1441 which states "false statements in the declaration" submitted by Iraq, "shall constitute a further breech of Iraq's obligations."
On January 16, in direct contradiction of Blix's statements, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister met with the Iraqi government and praised "the positive spirit of cooperation from Iraq" on the weapons inspections.
On January 17, the Russian oil company Lukoil "miraculously" announced that it had "persuaded" Baghdad to reverse the decision made on December 8th to cancel the contract with Lukoil to develop the giant West Qurna oil field.
Later that day, it was announced that Iraq and Russia had signed three new oil accords to explore and develop oil fields in southern and western Iraq.
The first of the three new accords was to develop the Al-Rafidain oil field in southern Iraq by Russia's Sayunefte company. The second covers exploration and development of a concession in Iraq's western desert by Russia's Stroyangaz. The third provides for future plans and projects to be implemented by Russian companies in Iraq. One oil industry source described the deal as; Iraq holding out a what could turn into a $40 billion carrot for Russian oil exploration in Iraq's western desert.
What an amazing coincidence; Russia starts praising Iraqi compliance and criticizing any potential U.S. military action and the next day Iraq reverses its cancellation of the Lukoil contract and awards Russian firms additional contracts that could be worth up to $40 billion.
Critics of possible U.S. military action against Iraq say its all about oil. They are partially right; they just got the "U.S. part" wrong. Its about Moscow and Paris wanting to protect their oil interests in Iraq. Its about billions of dollars for Russia and France as long as they look the other way while Saddam Hussein develops weapons of mass destruction, supports terrorism, and continues to be a destabilizing force in the Middle East.
This past week, French President Jacques Chirac delivered a blunt warning against any unilateral action against Iraq. Chirac listed the reasons for not attacking Iraq as, the human cost, economic consequences, and the actual price tag to wage a military operation. Its hard not to notice that two of the three reasons on Chirac's list involve money.
Americans waiting for the United Nations to do the "right thing" might be waiting for a long time. Lets just hope we don't have to wait until the U.N. finds the "smoking gun" in the form of a mushroom cloud over Manhattan.
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