Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: PROLIFE who wrote (429541)	7/19/2003 11:15:46 AM
From: sylvester80	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

The lies and criminal hypocrisy of the Bush neoCON lying fascist criminals EXPOSED! White House energy task force papers reveal Iraqi oil maps Judicial Watch lawsuit also uncovers list of 'foreign suitors' for contracts WASHINGTON – The controversial White House energy task force two years ago reviewed Iraqi oil-field maps and "foreign suitors for Iraqi oil-field contracts," reveal documents turned over under court order to a government watchdog group by a member of the task force. Judicial Watch Inc. first requested the documents under the Freedom of Information Act in the spring of 2001, when Vice President Dick Cheney formed the secret task force. The public-interest law firm has battled the administration in federal court for the information ever since. Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton noted the mandated release of the papers "couldn't have come at a more inconvenient time for the administration," given growing questions about the credibility of its prewar claims that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and was tied to al-Qaida – thereby posing a direct threat to America. "Opponents of the war will argue that Iraq oil was on the minds of at least some members of the task force long before the war," he said. "Supporters might argue they couldn't talk about the Mideast oil situation without talking about Iraq." Phone calls to Cheney's office were not immediately returned. Fitton says the White House still refuses to produce the list of corporate and other private task force members who met with administration officials, including Cheney, former head of Halliburton Co., a Dallas-based energy-services firm that recently landed a half-billion-dollar federal contract in Iraq. The unclassified map of Iraq turned over by the Commerce Department, a government member of the task force, shows the location of "supergiant" oil fields, oil pipelines, refineries and tanker terminals. Commerce Secretary Don Evans, a long-time Bush friend from Texas, headed a Denver-based oil company before joining the administration. Though the papers came from Commerce, Judicial Watch says they were responsive to its request for task-force papers. "These are task-force documents," Fitton asserted. Maps of oil-fields in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also were produced. A separate unclassified document, dated March 5, 2001, lists the names of "foreign suitors for Iraqi oil-field contracts," including Dutch Royal Shell, Russia's Lukoil and France's Total Elf Aquitaine. It notes the Russian and French energy giants signed "production-sharing contracts" in 1997. "This is a road map to the corporations who were in conspiracy with the regime in Baghdad," Fitton contended. Before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, United Nations sanctions foreclosed the country's lucrative oil fields to U.S. investors. Discussions are under way now to privatize at least a portion of Iraq's state-run oil company, allowing U.S. oil companies to invest there for the first time in more than a decade, administration officials tell WorldNetDaily. Iraq boasts the world's second-largest proven crude reserves. It's oil fields are highly attractive to U.S. producers, because the crude is not buried as far beneath the surface as in American oil fields, making drilling and other production costs relatively cheap. Also, the crude is considered "sweet," meaning it has a low-sulfur content, which makes it cheaper to refine. The secret White House task force solicited input from the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston. The Baker report, which was submitted to Cheney in early April 2001, recommended considering a "military" option in dealing with Iraq, which the report charged was using oil exports as a "weapon," by turning its spigot on and off to "manipulate oil markets," WorldNetDaily has learned. The report advised the Bush administration to, at a minimum, bring UN weapons inspectors back to Iraq, and then, "once an arms-control program is in place, the United States could consider reducing restrictions on oil investment inside Iraq" to gain greater control over the reserves, and "inject" more stability into world oil markets. Related offer: Did you know that the Bush oil crony who headed regime change in Afghanistan is the same Bush crony who is heading regime change in Iraq? Find out all about him, his connections and his behind-the-scenes maneuvering in Paul Sperry's explosive new book, "CRUDE POLITICS: How Bush's Oil Cronies Hijacked the War on Terrorism."