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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (152)	5/1/2003 4:56:20 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793964

MSNBC/NEWSWEEK: Fineman says, "It's the dollar vs the Euro." IT'S ALL ABOUT THE OIL In fact, the dispute isn't about WMDs at all. It's about something else entirely: who gets to sell, and buy, Iraqi oil, and what form of currency will be used to denominate the value of the sales. That decision, in turn, will help decide who controls Iraq, which, in turn, will represent yet another skirmish in a growing global economic conflict. We want a secular, American-influenced pan-ethnic entity of some kind to control the massive oil fields (Iraq?s vast but only real source of wealth). We want that entity to be permitted to sell the oil to whomever it wants, denominated in dollars. We want those revenues ? which would quickly mount into the billions ? to be funneled into the rebuilding of the country, essentially (at least initially) by American companies. Somewhere along the line, British, Australian and perhaps even Polish companies would get cut in. (Poland provided troops.) President Bush doesn?t dare sell the war as a job generator, but it may, in fact, produce more than a few. The Europeans and the United Nations want the inspections regime to resume because as long as it is in place, the U.N. ?oil-for-food? program remains in effect. Not only does France benefit directly ? its banks hold the deposits and its companies have been involved in the oil sales ? the entire EU does as well, if for no other reason than many of the recent sales were counted not in dollars but in euros. The United Nations benefits because it has collected more than a billion dollars in fees for administering the program. As long as the 1990 sanctions remain in effect, Iraq can?t ?legally? sell its oil on the world market. At least, to this point, tankers won?t load it without U.N. permission, because they can?t get insurance for doing so. WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE Sometime in the next few weeks, push will come to shove. There are storage tanks full of Iraqi crude waiting in Turkish ports. For now, Rumsfeld and Powell are playing ?bad cop, bad cop.? ?This isn?t on the president?s radar screen right now,? an aide told me. ?Powell is totally on board, though. He is as angry at the French as anyone else, maybe more. There may come a time when the smart thing to do is turn the whole Iraq situation over to the U.N. This is not that time.? Meanwhile, if the rest of the world tries to block any and all Iraq oil sales, it?s possible that American companies will find a way to become the customer of first and last resort. And we?ll pay in dollars. REAT AT:http://www.msnbc.com/news/904236.asp#BODY