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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
July 12, 2005
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| July 27, 2003 |
The real reasons for war on Iraq – Andreas Zumach |
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| Andreas Zumach, "The real motives behind the war in Iraq" |
Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) have still not been found in Iraq. For the last seven months this has been the only issue the Security Council has dealt with in the attempt by the "coalition" forces to legitimize the invasion. Andreas Zumach, a journalist reporting on the United Nations and other political stories in his native Germany, contends that Washington and London made false claims about Saddam Hussein possessing WMD. Until now, there has been no evidence uncovered of WMD, or a link between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda.
The most recent defence of the war given by the governments of Bush and Blair has been to trumpet the liberation of Iraqi people from a tyrannical and bloody dictatorship. Andreas told Peace Boat participants that this regime had been violating human rights for over 20 years without the Western governments' concern, and to begin his lecture asked "Why 2003?" and "What are the real motives behind the war?"
To answer these questions, Andreas says that we must look at Western governments' policies in the Middle East over the last 50 years, and how their interests in the richest oil-producing region of the world have shaped politics and influenced those in power.
When the Iranian government nationalized its oil fields in the 1950s, the British and US secret services conspired to topple the legitimate administration and bring to power the Shah of Iran - a dictator who would continue supplying their countries with cheap oil.
In 1979, Islamic opposition led by Ayatollah Khomeini, overthrew the Shah. Iran was now no longer the region's key geo-political player, and the West needed a new supplier of cut-priced oil. The CIA had been supporting Saddam Hussein since the 1960s, and in 1979 Saddam Hussein replaced the president of Iraq after having him assassinated. Iraq had become the West's new best friend in the oil fields of the Middle East.
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| Addressing Peace Boat participants on the oil fields of Iraq and the politics of the West |
The West was afraid of the government of Khomeini, and in 1980, financed and supplied with weapons from the US, UK, Germany, China and the Soviet Union, Saddam Hussein waged war on Iran. It was during this period that Germany and the US provided Hussein with the technology and materials to develop WMD - deals with government approval that even continued after 3000 Kurds were gassed in northern Iraq.
Eight years of war with Iran had ruined the economy in Iraq, and Saddam Hussein wanted to raise the price of oil to improve the country's financial status. In 1990, after quarrels with Kuwait about oil on its border, Iraq invaded. The "Gulf War" ensued, and the army of Saddam Hussein was destroyed, and though he remained in office, his power was now limited. Iraq was no longer the strategic geo-political partner with the West and during the war nearly half a million soldiers were stationed in Saudi Arabia. Suddenly the West had a new best friend that also held the second largest known source of oil in the world.
Although the government of Saudi Arabia would supply oil to the West, analysts in Washington were soon warning against the growing Islamic opposition that was threatening to overthrow the King. In 1996, Richard Perle, a former Deputy of Defense from the Reagan administration, proposed a new strategy for the US in the Middle East. Entitled "A Clean Break" his paper predicts that Saudi Arabia will become an even more extreme Islamic government-run country, and would break its geo-political partnership with the US. |
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| News of the power playing government of the US and its imperialistic designs on the Middle East |
Perle's solution to this break with Saudi Arabia was to overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein, and make Iraq the new geo-political partner. In 1992, Perle and friends devised "The Project for a New American Century." His friends were Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz. The declared goal of the group was "another American dominated century." In 1998 the group could only write to Bill Clinton suggesting he devise a strategy to end the rule of Saddam Hussein. But once the members of the "Project" were in government, suggestion turned to action. In January 2001, after only 6 days in the Bush administration, Rumsfeld told the US to prepare for war with Iraq. |
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Andreas outlined five points as to why Iraq is so important as an oil producing country:
- Oil Reserves: Iraq has the second biggest known oil reserves in the world, and maybe double the current estimates.
- Price: nowhere in the world is oil so cheap to drill.
- Production: no other oil fields could have their current production increased like Iraq.
- Geographical Location: if the US has control of Iraq, it has control of Saudi Arabia. Iran could also be invaded from this strategically important location.
- Economic Domination: two years ago Iraq sold oil for Euros, threatening the US economy. The Bush administration has built up a national deficit of over 700 billion dollars, and the US economy is living off the shoulders of the rest of the world - it can only survive if the US dollar is the leading currency. The leading currency is dictated by the currency used to buy oil. When Saddam Hussein sold oil for Euros, "alarm bells rang in Washington."
To conclude his lecture, Andreas told the Peace Boat audience that the war in Iraq was "a war against the competitors of the US - including Russia, Japan, Europe and China." It was not a search for the claimed WMD or a liberation of the Iraqi people from a totalitarian regime - a regime led by a bloody dictator who had once been supported by the governments now overthrowing him. |
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