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The REAL Reason for New U.S. and French Military Involvement In Iraq
Why is Obama now re-committing the U.S. military to Iraq? Why is France strongly backing military action?
Obama says it’s to protect minorities. That’s nothing new. Obama is the fourth president in a row to bomb Iraq … while claiming it is for humanitarian purposes.
But the architects of the Iraq War (the one which started in 2003) themselves admitted it was about oil.
But what about now? Why are the U.S. and France deploying military force in Iraq now?
Well, ISIS captured some key oil fields in the Kurdish region of Iraq on August 3rd.
Mere days later, the U.S. started bombing ISIS.
And the strikes were targeted in protecting oil resources. As International Business Times notes:
Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby tweeted: “US military aircraft conduct strike on Isil [Islamic State] artillery. Artillery was used against Kurdish forces defending Erbil, near US personnel.”
Two F-18 fighters dropped laser-guided 500-pound bombs on the mobile artillery target. Militants of the Islamic State were using artillery that has been abandoned by the Iraqi army when it fled to shell Kurdish forces defending the regional capital of Kurdistan.
US airstrikes were very small and very targeted and the Peshmerga Kurdistan forces are waiting for more strikes by the US fighter jets, according to reports.
Similarly, the Military Times reported yesterday:
The Pentagon’s top war planner … Army Lt. Gen. William Mayville, the director of operations, or “J-3” for the Joint Staff [said] “I think in the immediate areas where we have focused our strikes, we have had a very temporary effect … and we may have blunted some [ISIL] tactical decisions to move in those directions further east toward Erbil,” Mayville said.
“However, these strikes are unlikely to affect ISIL’s overall capabilities or its operations in other areas of Iraq and Syria,” he said.
Obama authorized the airstrikes for two specific purposes. One mission is to prevent an ISIL advance into the city of Erbil ….
It should be noted, initially, that months of murder, mayhem and brutality by ISIS on Christians and other minorities didn’t cause the U.S. or France to intervene militarily for “humanitarian” reasons.
And notice that the airstrikes were very targeted on protecting Erbil … the regional capital of Kurdistan.
The U.S. and France have never lifted a finger to protect the Kurds. Indeed, the U.S. has actively betrayed the Kurds and let them be slaughtered. For example, during the Gulf War, the U.S. called on the Kurds to rise up against Saddam (implying that he would protect them), but then let Saddam slaughter the Kurds en masse.
So why are the U.S. and France moving now to protect Erbil?
Because Erbil has now become a major oil center. The Kurdish government estimates that the region is the world’s 9th largest oil producer.
Oil companies from around the world operate in Kurdistan, including (major oil companies are indicated in bold, U.S. and French oil companies in italics):
USA
- Exxon Mobil
- Chevron
- Aspect Energy
- Marathon Oil Corporation
- Hillwood International Energy
- Hunt Oil
- Prime Oil
- Murphy Oil
- Hess Corporation
- HKN Energy
- Viking International
France
- Total
Canada
- Forbes and Manhattan
- Western Zagros Resources
- Talisman Energy Inc
- NIKO Resources
- Ground Star
- Shamaran
South Korea
- Korea National Oil Company (KNOC)
Turkey
- Genel Energy
- Petoil
- Dogan
Britain
- Gulf Keystone Petroleum
- Sterling Energy
- Heritage Oil
Anglo-French
- Perenco
UAE
- TAQA
- Dana Petroleum
Austria
- OMV
China
- China acquired a significant presence in Iraqi Kurdistan after Sinopec Group bought Addax Petroleum in 2009.
Hungary
- MOL
India
- Reliance Industries
Papua New Guinea
- Oil Search
Russia
- Norbest
- Gazprom Neft
Norway
- DNO
Iraq
- Oil Search (Iraq) Limited
- Kar Group
- Qaiwan Group
Spain
- Repsol
Independent
- AFREN
Yup … with Chevron, Exxon, Marathon, Hess and Total operating major facilities in Erbil, the latest Iraq war is also about oil … as confirmed by the New Yorker, New Republic and Vox.
For those who don't believe that Iraqi oil is driving foreign policy, take a look at what Brookings wrote in June:
It should be obvious that a key consideration for the United States arising from [the seizure of huge swaths of Iraq by ISIS] is its potential to affect Iraqi oil production.
***
Any significant disruption of current Iraqi oil production or long-term diminution in its expected growth could have major repercussions for the U.S. economy.
Kurdistan also possesses approximately 89% of all Iraqi natural gas reserves. And so the West - including France - is eager to protect Kurdish hydrocarbons from falling into the hands of ISIS.
Postscript: Indeed, virtually all U.S. wars involve a fight over hydrocarbons.
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The real reason that the U.S. Government is now afraid of not having full political control over Iraq still goes back to the financial reasoning.Saddam wanted to trade Iraq's oil and gas in Euros and he no longer wanted to use the U.S. Dollar system.Same thing happened to Libya.They came to an agreement in Africa to start using a Pan-African currency that could be partially backed by gold.Libya was also going to by-pass the system.Coincidence you say?I don't think so!Gold is a very dirty word in Washington.Keep the ponzi fiat dollar paper system afloat until it completly destroys the country from within.Today,if the U.S. gives up on Iraq it'll mean another country around the globe that by-passes U.S. hegemony.Nobody in the world can beat the U.S. on a military bases.But is extremely vulnerable right now because of large deficits and a gutted manufacturing sector that packed up and went to Communist China.Nothing like the profit motivation of American Corporations where they can take advantage of leaving their dollars in offshore tax havens.They can't bring the money back in because they'll be taxed twice.That's why they invest everywhere else besides home.The U.S. Government is printing money in order to pay its own bills right now.There's not enough tax money any longer to do it.The debt which is approaching 20 trillion is actually a total of over 200 trillion.It's not just federal debt we are talking about.You have world trade therefore is gradually being done between countries that honour both their local currencies.That's saying, "we don't want you or need you".So,right now you see Russia and China doing this.The BRICs agreement is half the world's population.And there are other major blocks of nations preparing for this.Iraq being lost will cost big.Less Yankee dollars being exchanged and coming home.Today,we see the U.S. dollar and Gold starting to move up together.There's a big change coming and the gold miners are moving up too.You can tell by the money flows into the Gold Sectors.Is it a big collapse coming in Bonds?I don't know what it is a big move in Gold upwards hits,she spells big problems ahead.Debt ceilng is in March so keep an eye out and watch the Options for March.
Yes, always about control/power.
Petro-dollar has been the US's magic wand. SLOWLY the world realizes that this is real life and not a fairy tale...
The neocons wanted to smash Iraq for years before Saddam challenged the dollar. I'm also not sure it makes sense to spend 2 or 3 trillion while fucking up the actual flow of Iraqi oil for years as a means to prop up a fiat the death of which is inevitable anyway.
This said, a lot of very smart people think the petrodollar was primary. In Libya it seems to have been a clearer/quicker/easier case.
But Iraq was on the shit list anyway.
Smacking down Iraq and its production was probably cheaper than taking SA's oil offline. An example was set.
Of the 535 in Congress, how many do you think understand any of this?
"537... and I resent the line of your questioning!" - Congressperson Joe Hell, Vegas (Name changed to prosecute the guilty).
They are paid not to.
Great comment, Herdee.
Pro user tip: paragraph breaks!
Paragraph breaks are for pussies. Real men write dissertations without paragraph breaks.
J/K. great piece GW
GW, wrong again. Team Obama and his merry band of eco holy warriors don't care about oil production. Indeed, they'd be happy to see production collapse and prices go parabolic, IF they could avoid getting blamed. In this case, they can't.
All actions of the administration must be considered based on the political optics. Obama and his ultra-liberal allies hate that America is a world power, and they are eager to disengage from the world. They hate the use of military power. However, they are quick to panic when these policies collide with reality. Remember Libya. Obama was happy to do nothing until it appeared that the rebels might fail. Libyan oil production had already fallen to zero. What scared Europe and Obama was the prospect of Qaddafi executing en mass the rebels and their supporters - then Obama and the Euros getting blamed by their domestic opponents.
Team Obama's foreign policy is best understood as a series of panicked, ill-considered half-hearted actions devoid of any strategic considerations or rational underpinning. Obama doesn't care about Kurdish oil production, or thousands of Christians dying on a desolate mountain. He cares about getting blamed for it.
Can't get much better analysis than your last paragraph.
what if incompetence has no role but as a mask?
Exactly. This starts with Bush, but ends with Obummer: Are Our Leaders Really Incompetent … Or Just Pretending?
Obama is the shiny object that the new world grifters use to distract.
And when one see the totally insane comments that pop up here then one can be certain that it's working. Sigh... programming always caters to emotions.
More blood for the blood god. or gas. either way.
Well, of course its about oil and gas. But there are indeed some valid humanitarian considerations. Hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria and Iraq are being sheltered in Kurdistan and the UN refugee and food programs are active (and overwhelmed) in the endeavor. What if ISIS gets their hands on those perople?
Kurdistan must be secured and defended. The no-golf-shoes-on-the-ground "promise" makes it difficult. Equipment, "advisors" and air support might be enough. The Kurds are tough. Maybe the fucking oil companies can throw down for some mercs.
By the way, the Kurds are not Arabs and don't trust Arabs at all.
It's about POWER/CONTROL. And yes, oil and gas provide that.
I'm surprised that no one has noted the mass killings of Kurds undertaken by Turkey (using US weapons) back in the days (supposedly stopped).
Christopher Hitchens was also a fan of the Kurds, so much so that he was willing to sacrifice US lives for them...
"He who can destroy a thing has the real control of it." Muad'Dib, from Dune, by Frank Herbert.
The spice (oil) must flow. Those giant arab worms are a problem though.
Here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEuJ5v3AbJg
Has anyone filed a FOIA on zerohedge? I would like to know who owns it, or at least know who owns it if the gov owns it.
You'd like to find out who owns it so you can try to destroy it.
The way they poke the gold gods / manipulators in the eye with a lemon dipped stick, makes me doubt they are a gov operation.
We're running a check on you.
Honestly if I ran intel under the current regime (NSA not Obama) I would have acquired this site. You have a bunch if potential patsies incriminating themselves daily in the comment section. You have free content supplied by hucksters like George and so you have nice downline their followers and an ear to the ground of the disgruntled. Take any red herring narrative and feed it here as controlled opposition and collect information all the while. Though I am sure information is being collected regardless of who owns it, fact is the original creators cashed out to a nameless company with no identifiers available anywhere.
If I had to bet I would say this site is in the hands of Intel. Why sliding it be. What's a few million for a hater magnet at the center of the anti-establishment movement?
Trolls are easy to spot. They're always pushing fear. Full of insults, but never any facts.
What is the real fear here? That the government would "find me out" and "take away my freedom"? This presupposes that I have freedom to take.
"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose".
--Janis Joplin
When we find ourselves in that state is when we are most dangerous to TPTB.......and we may find that we have indeed become an "endangered species".
Who said anything about fear? Doesn't matter aside from knowing whose agenda you're serving. Won't be but a couple more years before the sentencing judge at every trial will have your NSA file (or whatever they rename it) with all your political opinions and potential for disruoptive behavior sitting on their desk prior to sentencing.
I'm quite suprised you all simply believe with no evidence whatsoever that this site is legit, even though its original owners sold it to some anonymous ABC corp. You have all seen the Snowden reveleations, just a week ago the terror threat review showing "soveriegns" as being more of a threat than islamists. This place is chalk full of exactly those types, even reposting from the leaders (per se) of that movement.
So there can be no doubt it is heavily monitored. Given the budget and the commitment to the agenda it would be easier for them to just own it.You know for damn sure th gov knows who runs it, so their anonymous Tyler Durden schtick is only keeping them secret from the viewers.
Well hey I'm just asking valid questions, you can be blind dumbfuck sheep if you want, you have plenty of company.
"chalk" should be "chock".
All valid points and given how conspiracies turn quickly into facts, I have no doubt this is an intel-affiliated site.
jballz
if ?
if the queen had balls,
she could be king
If you had balls,
you could be a man.
Ohh nooo, I'm soo scared now!!
Regionally benefitting the Israeli Zionists, Saudi Despots, and other corrupt Sheikhdoms is
congruent, though secondary to the overall
US/NATO global plan of containing/suppressing Russia, China
and all other "potential threats" to the Pentagon-TBTF goals
of full-spectrum military and financial global dominance.
Reconsider the PNAC-Brzezinski plans. Yes, the Mideast is to be dominated for its petrodollar resources, but as a path to US global domination. Europe and Ukraine are to be dominated for both resources and geo-political advantage. The "Asian Pivot" and the re-militarization of subordinate Japan is intended to thwart China. Africom, and the hundreds of military bases throughout the world are pieces of seeking a global, not regional empire.
It is not all about Israel, or even about simply what benefits the petrodollar racket.
Correct, rwe2late!
Also, that was an appropriate little video you linked above, except for the theme that I harp upon, which is that, after the development of weapons of mass destruction, all of the social pyramid systems' habits have become criminally insane. Overall, organizing human societies on the basis of being able to back up lies with violence was terrifically successful for thousands of years. However, there are no reasons whatsoever to believe that would continue to work, after the development of science and technology enables weapons to become many orders of magnitude more powerful.
I agree that the overall agenda is attempting to make and maintain "full-spectrum military and financial global dominance," in which context the International Zionists were only one of the relatively dominant organized crime gangs participating in that process. However, regardless of who it was doing that, WHAT they are attempting is problematic, because there are inherent problems with attempting "full-spectrum military and financial global dominance:"
ALL ENFORCED FRAUDS ARE
DELIBERATELY PSYCHOTIC!
The inability to imagine any practical ways to operate better death controls, despite the development of technologies which are trillions of times better, appears to me to be one of the most probable answers to the Fermi Paradox, that there is no obvious evidence of extraterrestrial life. At the present time, I cannot imagine any politically practical ways that the best organized gangs of criminals attempting to consolidate their controls will not end up destroying everyone, including themselves, in the end.
In theory, we should be developing better systems of artificial selection, as the human ways to cope with the facts about natural selection. Natural selection was internalized as intelligence, which was able to understand the laws of nature enough to channel that into making weapons of mass destruction. However, the actual ways that we have done that were through the history of warfare and economics based on the maximum possible deceits and frauds. Therefore, we ARE looking at a world where the main events are the best organized gangs of criminals attempting to achieve "full-spectrum military and financial global dominance," in ways which are PSYCHOTICALLY INSANE!
More social sanity would require enough people generally admitting two levels of truth, the first is the degree to which the world is being controlled by the best organized gangs of criminals, and the second is that better human, industrial, and natural ecologies would require better organized crime, operating better death controls. At the present time, there is NOTHING but different, relatively dominate, organized crime gangs, all attempting to become more dominant, while they are all operated by professional liars and immaculate hypocrites, while they are only significantly opposed by various controlled opposition groups, who are also operated by professional liars and immaculate hypocrites.
THE WAYS THAT THOSE KINDS OF PEOPLE "CONTROL" THINGS MUST NECESSARILY SPIN OUT OF CONTROL, BECAUSE THEY ARE PSYCHOTIC.
That is the context in which we get increasingly absurd social stories about waging wars for "humanitarian" reasons. Throughout the history of warfare, it was always true that spies were the most important soldiers. These days, with mass production, there appear to have been mass produced entire organizations which are "spies," in the sense of entire organizations whose primary purposes are to engage in false flag attacks, or to be blamed for false flag attacks.
NOTHING HAS CHANGED ABOUT CIVILIZATIONS CONTROLLED BY THE NATURE OF WARFARE FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, EXCEPT FOR THE PROGRESS IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY MAKING THAT BECOME MORE AND MORE CRIMINALLY INSANE, AS IT ALL WAS MAGNIFIED BY ORDER OF MAGNITUDE AFTER ORDER OF MAGNITUDE ...
Tragically, I see no possible ways that those who are attempting to consolidate "full-spectrum military and financial global dominance" would ever face and publicly admit the facts about what they are doing and why, in order to think more clearly about the path of psychotic insanities that was on. Furthermore, I see no possible ways that the controlled opposition groups would ever do that either.
As a corollary to that conclusion, it continues to seem to be practically a waste of time to try to understand and communicate how and why there are on-going efforts to consolidate "full-spectrum military and financial global dominance," which appear to be going out of control. In that context, I continue to appreciate reading the research presented by George Washington, and others, on Zero Hedge, however, I am unable to find any practical point to doing so. The tiny, tiny, tiny groups of people who seem to better understand the bigger picture continue to be relatively trivial factors in that bigger picture.
I like the term "immaculate hypocrites" you used in your great post....
Yeah, Debeachesand Je..., the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada laughed out loud when I first used that phrase "immaculate hypocrisy" to describe the amendments that had been made to the Canada Elections Act! Of course, he was not responsible for writing the law, but only for administering it, and I believe he felt the same way, judging from his presentations before Parliament, and the subsequent changes to the elections law, that stripped away his most important powers, and even further neutralized the role of fake "democracy" in being able to stop the oligarchical, runaway fascist plutocracy juggernaut
More than anywhere else, changes in the law that are supposed to make "democracy" better actually result in destroying it, as the most sublime form of immaculate hypocrisy. Of course, nothing surpasses that more than America dropping bombs on countries in order to bring "democracy" to them, which actually have tended to produce people like those dominating ISIS instead!
Unfortunately, other than a few cute phrases, there are no words which are generally understood which are adequate to express the situations that exist after the worst gangs of criminals are able to capture control over governments, and then use the powers of those governments to advance their own criminally insane agenda!
Radical M
RE: especially the last 2 paragraphs of your comment
I can only answer with an existential speculation about the "bigger picture",
Perhaps all we each can best do , and perhaps what it essentially most means to be fully alive as human, is to try to be as consciously aware as we humanly can be of the world we each experience for what seems so short a time. Instead, some have surmised, we are on a pathway becoming more and more alienated from our self, others, and nature.
More on the irony, tragedy, and comedy of our situation
power is power
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdRJybJ047I
The Real Situation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Lz6HPz9FCk
LXIII Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
Oh, threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise!
One thing at least is certain--This Life flies;
One thing is certain and the rest is Lies;
The Flower that once has blown for ever dies
LXXIV
Yesterday This Day's Madness did prepare;
To-morrow's Silence, Triumph, or Despair:
Drink! for you know not whence you came, nor why:
Drink! for you know not why you go, nor where.
Thanks for the links, rwe2late.
I too like the artistic qualities of "Game of Thrones." In its own way, it is another TV series like the Matrix movies. Still, paradoxical, because they operate inside the established systems, while providing entertaining criticisms about how those actually used to work.
Also, that little video of classic reggae music has lyrics which may be relevant to our "favourite" topics. Since I came from a white middle class neighborhood, and was able to go to university for a dozen years, I hardly qualify as having been through the school of hard knocks, like most Jamaicans did! I did sort of live outside the law for a couple of decades, but perhaps made the stupidest, on-going decision of my life when I became involved in registered politics, instead of continue to make more money living outside the law!
I too "can only answer with an existential speculation about the "bigger picture," especially with regard to the Fermi Paradox of "no overt evidence of extraterrestrials, which can be confirmed."
There is plenty of evidence of things like crop circles, and whatnot, like a gazillion encounters with "UFOs." However, personally, I have NEVER had any first-hand experience of anything at all like that. Still, I like to imagine that there are some kind of "aliens" who must have managed to survive developing advanced technology, because then, maybe, we could too!
Meanwhile,
I second the sentiments of Omar Khayyam:
"Drink!
for you know not
why you go, nor where."
increasingly powerful governments in increasingly powerful states foster a kind of Peter Principle for sociopaths.
Gas-Wars 014.0
When they opened the gates to hell
they never thought about how to close them
It might be worth asking, is it possible for the US to deploy air power against ISIS in Iraq while also aiding ISIS’s allies in Syria? ISIS is consolidating control of large swaths of Syria and has reached the coast of the Mediterranean in Lebanon. Thousands of Western Muslims are fighting in its ranks and may in time return to Europe and the US.
It should be apparent to all now that weakening Arab nationalist regimes like the Baath was and is a dangerous reactionary policy that supports the interests of US client states like Israel and Saudi Arabia in the short run. But in the long run, it will lead to extremist anti-Western elements threatening core America interests.
The hard truth is that the only way to stabilize Iraq is to see ISIS defeated and that will not happen while Syria is a base for the same Islamic fighters. This implies that it is in the US interest to see the Syrian government regain control of all its own territory.
Only a matter of time before the B-1's,B-2's and the B-52's enter the fray and carpetbomb Northern Irag and Syria.......
Right - we need to help out Assad with air cover and modern weapons . Maybe he was not so bad after all. It can all be spun and the punters could care less anyway.
Unless the plan was to break up Iraq, Syria and other Arab countries: