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Politics : Piffer Thread on Political Rantings and Ravings -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Augustus Gloop who wrote (9932)	3/20/2003 12:16:41 PM
From: SmoothSail	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 14610

Somebody sent this to me Protecting their turf in Iraq? The news media gladly trumpet the claims by France and other nations that America wants to wage war on Iraq for financial reasons: namely, to rob Iraq of it's oil. But the Heritage Foundation has complied a list of just a few of the investments by France, Germany, Russia, and Communist China in Iraq, suggesting that their motives for opposing America might be about protecting their bottom line: - France controls nearly a quarter of Iraq's imports. It also has a deal to develop a huge oil field in Iraq and an option on future oil exploration in another field. The sites in question have up to 25% of Iraq's vast oil reserves. France also accounted for 13% of Iraq's arms! imports from 1981 to 2001, Heritage notes. - Germany has $350 million in annual trade with Iraq, and $1 billion more is sold through 3rd parties. In November, a German company signed an $80 million deal to provide Iraq cars and spare parts. A German company is also suspected of illegally sending weapons to Iraq. - Russia's trade with Iraq was nearly $1 billion for the last half of 2001. Iraq owes Russia up to $8 billion for arms it bought in the 1980-1988 Iran- Iraq war. And Russia has signed a $40 billion deal for future oil exploration in Iraq. - Communist China is behind only Russia in supplying weapons to Iraq the past 20 years. It has a 22- year deal for Iraqi oil exploration and supplies 6% of Iraq's annual imports. Now, whose motives are mercenary and financial?