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Guest Post: Donald Trump Says The U.S. Should Have Stolen Iraqis' Oil After Destroying Their Country
Authored by Eric Zuesse,
On Sunday the 25th of October, Republican U.S. Presidential aspirant Donald Trump was interviewed on CNN’s “State of the Union” show, and was asked about Iraq. He said, "I told you very early on, if we're going to leave, take the oil.” He then repeated this theme again, in this CNN interview: “And I said, take the oil when we leave. But we shouldn't have really left.”
So: he thinks that the U.S. occupation of Iraq should have continued on, and should be continuing, and that the U.S. should have “taken” Iraq’s oil. But he added that, “We shouldn’t have gotten in” to Iraq in the first place. This latter opinion from him was purely a retrospective comment, and Trump had never even expressed himself publicly about the invasion until it had already been done. He had said at that time (August 2004) only that it was a mess and had been done incompetently.
This new retrospective evaluation by Trump of the invasion of Iraq, now on CNN, sparked from the interviewer, questions about whether Trump thinks that “the world would be better off with Saddam Hussein” in power in Iraq. Trump answered directly, “A hundred percent.” He added: "They're worse now than they ever were. People are getting their heads chopped off. They're being drowned. They're — right now, they are far worse than they were ever under Saddam Hussein.” And, in fact, no reasonable person can doubt the truth of that statement. The recently released "Gallup 2015 Global Emotions Report” interviewed a thousand citizens of each of 148 countries and found: "Iraqis Are the Saddest & One of the Angriest Populations in the World.” Furthermore, Iraqis were found to have the world’s “Highest Negative Experience Scores,” which is a misery-index. Therefore, Trump is accurate to say that the American government did such a thing as that, to the people of Iraq.
So: he thinks the U.S. destroyed the lives of the Iraqi people, but that “we” (no one asked him who, or how) should have taken their "oil when we leave” (would it go to Exxon, the Kochs, the U.S. government that invaded Iraq — whom, and how?) — and that American occupiers shouldn’t have left Iraq, that the U.S. military should instead still be occupying their country.
On 11 April 2011, he had told the Wall Street Journal
(8:05- on their video): “I always heard that when we went into Iraq we went in for the oil. I said, ‘oh, that sounds smart.’ But, we never did. …
(8:35-) I would take the oil. … You know, we have thousands of people that died, our great soldiers, they died. … I would not want to be the one that would tell their [U.S. soldiers who had fought in Iraq] parents that your son or daughter has died in vain, been wounded in vain.”
Then, he said (9:30-): “I’d give plenty to Iraq [first he’d steal all of it from them, then he’d generously let them have some of it back], I’d keep plenty for us, I’d pay back Britain, I’d pay back everybody that was involved. …
(10:35): We will make a fortune. They have fifteen trillion dollars worth of oil. … We are not going to hand that oil to Iran.” He was saying that it’ll go to either Iran or “us.” It won’t go to Iraq, except for what “we” will give to Iraq, of Iraq’s oil. Also, he mentioned China many times there as being an enemy-nation, which now is getting oil from both Iraq and Libya, and he said that he wants China to have to pay “us,” for all of that oil, too.
* * *
This interview was by Ms. Kelly Evans, and her name didn’t even appear in the blogpost (Rupert Murdoch’s print newspaper didn’t publish it) except at the end, but she performed such a superb job of interrogating a Republican Presidential candidate (against Romney in 2012), that this, which is still the best-ever interview of Trump, got buried by Rupert Murdoch’s operation, as a mere blogpost, headlined "Trump Will ‘Probably’ Run as Independent If He Doesn’t Win GOP Nomination.” From then, till now, Trump revealed more than he has yet revealed in his 2016 Presidential run. And what he revealed there was buried, and has largely remained buried, for the past four years.
So: Trump would want the U.S. something-or-others (Exxon? Koch? He has always refused to say who “we” are) to “take their oil” in order for U.S. warriors not to have “died in vain.” He also said in his interview with Kelly Evans (7:55- and repeated by him at 11:20-), “I’m only interested in Libya if we take the oil. If we don’t take the oil, I have no interest in Libya.” He wants to steal Iraq’s oil “for our great soldiers, they died.” But why he’d want to steal Libya’s oil? He said in that 2011 interview, that the reason is because (11:25-) “China gets its oil from Libya; we get nothing from Libya.” So: “we” should steal Libya’s oil because China wants it.
Months after that WSJ-blog-video interview, Reuters headlined on 18 December 2011, “Last U.S. troops leave Iraq, ending war.” Iraq had not handed its oil over to the United States. This fact continued to disturb Trump. On 16 August 2015, he told “Meet the Press”: “Take back the oil. We take over the oil which we should have done in the first place. … And what I would do with the money that we make, which would be tremendous, I would take care of the families of the soldiers that were killed, the families of the soldiers, the wounded warriors that I see. I love them.”
So: somehow, he’d give them a chunk. Who would get the rest? He didn’t say. He wasn’t asked. He has never been asked, beyond what Kelly Evans extracted from him — and even she could have drilled much farther than she did.
What’s refreshing about Trump is the directness with which he expresses his psychopathy. For example, candidates such as Hillary Clinton sugar-coat theirpsychopathy, or even find ways to get their interviewers to join eagerly in their expressions of it (camaraderie with power-holders), but they don’t say such blatant things as (to paraphrase Trump here), “After we raped them — which we shouldn’t have done — we should have stolen from them, and we should still be stealing from them.”
The delight that Trump gives his Republican admirers might be due to his "F-U!” responses to politicians such as Clinton, Obama, and other conservative Democrats, and to liberal commentators who support them (including most media other than Fox ‘News,’ etc.), for those liberals’ hypocrisies. Even blatant psychopaths can take delight in knocking down the hypocritical moralisms of liberals.
As for progressives such as Bernie Sanders — they’re not really conservatives of either the overtly conservative type (Republicans), or the covertly conservative type (almost all Presidential-level Democrats, plus the national ‘news’ media). Sanders is trying to shoehorn himself into the Democratic Party at the Presidential level, but at his heart he’s a progressive, who’s trying to restore the Democratic Party to the progressivism that it was under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Sanders calls that (and the existing versions of it in Scandinavia) “socialism.”
Trump is certainly no progressive (no “socialist,” to use Sanders’s term for progressivism). But he’s more than just an “entertainer” (to employ the characterization of his political involvement, from Arianna Huffington). Among Republicans and other psychopaths, his political appeal is very real, and is hardly “entertainment.” It’s revenge and anger against liberal hypocrites. Among Republicans, life is a blood-sport, not just dripping blood. It’s all “red in tooth and claw.” To them, that’s what business should be all about; and government is just the CEO who’s the king of the hill. Successful people in business tend to have that attitude, but so too do fundamentalists and true-believers in any religious faith — everything’s either “us” or “them”; and everyone’s goal is that, as much as possible, all of the blood that’s on the floor will be “theirs,” not “ours.”
Crusades and jihads can be in business and government, not merely in religions. Donald Trump is a warrior, and he has now seriously entered the political battlefield, claiming to be the most effective warrior for “us.”
* * *
Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.
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I Write Code"
You will be outsourced to chindia unless supping off the govt. teet
Poll Shows More Latinos Wearing Donald Trump Merchandise To Avoid Deportation
Washington, DC — In a new poll put out by NBC News, sales by the Latino community of Donald Trump related merchandise has increased 850% since July. In that same poll, 96% of Latinos said the only reason for buying the merchandise was ‘To avoid harassment’ and ‘Not get deported’, should Trump actually become president of the United States.
... and for sure... they'll be wearing those t-shirts when they go to vote in November 2016.
Finally Trump is making sense. It's about time .
he just wants to build a fucking hotel ............he could call it The Iraqi Presidential Trump Inn or The Chapter 11
This past weekend (the 24th of October) Bernie Sanders vowed he would not take money from special interests, and then he vowed he would take the money from special interests.
I think if you listen closely he says he will accept money from special idiots, who are the ones who offer it to him.
Trump is the bag of nuts that everyone has always said, but he trips across a winner every so often and this is one. Iraq should have "offered" it to us free, in gratitude. But Dubya was still trying to play nice with our (his) friends the Saudis, so we treated the oil gently, too.
Gotta say I disagree with the Donald on this one. Russia and PUtin are winning the global PR contest due to their philosophy, real or not, of PARTNERSHIP with resource rich countries vs. the US neocon agenda of subjugation and stealing resources by force. We really need someone thinking more than one move ahead on the chessboard.
Partnering up is what the weak countries have to do.
Plus, it's hard to partner up with people whose religion teaches them to be intolerant of you.
America wasted trillions in the Middle East -- they should've gotten some oil out of it at least.
Countries used to go to war for stuff and be proud of it. Now we act as though that's a bad thing and we should be shameful of being selfish. Until we change our mentality, we will continue to decline, give our stuff away, and not defend ourselves. We might go so far as to get wiped out completely by those we are taking pity on!
Rest assured that the Islamic State of America will have less moral scruples about going to war.
Iraq and afghanistan could cost us up 10 TRILLION.
Wounded warriors cost lots to keep breathing as well as many other long term costs.
I mean we are still in Afghan...at what cost.
I'll vote for him if he promises to fuck up Saudi Arabia.
Zuesse...I knew I recognized the incoherent logic when I was reading this. When I saw the book lists...especially the one where he claims Democrats are SO MUCH BETTER running our economy...I remembered where I saw that name before.
He wants us to vote for Sanders, if you didn't pick up on that (since he tried to hide it thinking if he could rebrand him as "prgressive" we would all love him..."who is against 'progress?', as the regressives like to quip). I don't doubt Trump said any of this and meant it. But I can't trust Zuesse so what's the point of all of this again?
Not one word of Henry Kissenger's Petrodollar scam that underlies the Federal Reserve Ponzi Scheme.
Recycling Petrodollars - Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Trump played his cards well.
I am not pleased with the photograph of Donald .. he looks upset...and I think that is his trigger finger .. and I believe that is the finger needed by the Commander in Chief to start a nuclear war...would you vote for that finger?
So heartless.
Iraqi War was started on false ground , leading to a million casulties.
Million people dead & many injured, a nation devasted , only to please Satanic Israel.
Is this what western education is producing?
Demon after demon.
Reality is a heartless place. If you don't eat other organisms, breathe, regulate your temperatures, defend yourself, and reproduce, you will die. Overly "heartful" people are generally operating in opposition to reality.
American education has undermined the ability of American peoples to survivve. That is what's wrong with the country, not a lack of moral righteousness.
I have a knack for looking ahead and my radar is buzzing about this Donald. Bad news is if we get him we're going to be sorry, other bad news is if we get any of the other clowns we're going to be sorry. Prognosis; stay home election day and keep doing what you can to protect your own cause if the Donald gets in he might take to "firing" some folks in the literal sense if there's a buck in it.
Trump's right. Why do we constantly go in, save cavemens' asses, and then expect no payment for the favor? A favor that costs the USA many of its best young lives.
TRUMP ALL THE WAY. It's time to stop fucking about.
Ok, here's how it is in the Iraqi Oil Patch. Pay attention kids. Because Trump is right. Iraq is FUBARD. The US should NOT have gone in back in 2003. Even a nutless monkey knows that. But if YOU BREAK IT, YOU BUY IT. Now, all of the smart, good people have left Iraq. Those left behind are basically operating from a position of self interest.
Iraqis need a strong man to rule the country. They are TRIBAL PEOPLE. They need a BIG SHEIKH to tell them what to do. Historically and culturally throughout history this has been the case. William Polks brief but concise book explains it perfectly well. http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Iraq-History-American-Occupation/dp/...
Down South: South Oil Company is the Iraqi National Entity that handles all of the projects on the oil fields down south. The oil fields ARE OWNED BY THE IRAQIS. BP, Shell Exxon, PetroChina, etc., they all have TECHNICAL SERVICES CONTRACTS which means they get paid a fixed amount on each barrel of oil they produce NO MATTER WHAT THE PRICE OF OIL IS. The IOCS are then REIMBURSED THEIR PROJECT AND SECURITY COSTS This is the system the Iraqis created so "No one would steal their oil" Slight fucking problem: 1) The Iraqi Ministry of Oil is completely fucking corrupt and has ZERO PROJECT PLANNING SKILLS. So what you see happen is a lot of the contracts being let are bent and their plan to upgrade the fields are not based in reality. BTW--US and UK companies have the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and UK Anti Bribery act so the US and UK companies are largely clean and transparent. The Chinese and Russians however are not so clean and transparent.
And just who, pray tell, do you think is getting most of the contracts these days? Yes, boys and girls, the Russians and the Chinese are winning the bulk of the work. Anton Oil is kicking the ever living shit out of Halliburton down south. Also, getting paid by the Iraqi government TAKES YEARS boys and girls because all of their money is either being used for social welfare programs, fighting ISIS, or through corruption leakage.
Up North: Kurds are fighting Baghdad to sell oil. Oil companies are drilling and producing under PRODUCTION SHARING CONTRACTS but as the oil can't be sold they are not being paid on time. DNO was ready to pull the plug a few months back until the Iraqi government and Kurds woke up and made some token payments. But still, it resembles down south in some ways. but the Yanks and the Brits are more respected up north and the Chinese have no real hold up there. However, KRG is small time oil compared to down south. Basra is where the action is.
Out in Anbar: the last unmapped superfields are out there somewhere. Why do you think the Saudis want them so badly. KOGAS was out there but ISIS threw them off their field and the place is no a NO GO ZONE. Someday though...Anbar province is money in the bank for someone.
So, yes, America should have been honest to the world and at least colonized Iraq, rebuilt their infrastructure (all of it, not just oil) and made Iraq a vassel state - but I now beleive Iraq is exactly as the NWO wants it to be. What was done to Iraq was intentional as Trump's plan could have very easily been implemented and should have been implemented.
oh, i forgot....the Americans up in Baghdad and Taji are basically a Quick Reaction Force for the oil fields down south....right or wrong tactically at least that's what most people in the oil patch think. You would see the IOCs loose a lot of confidence in Iraq if the US pulled out...so in essence, the US Tax payer is SUBSIDIZING ALL OIL DEVELOPMENT IN IRAQ AS A SECURITY UMBRELLA. Whether ths is true or not, the expats down south sleep well imagining they can call the US Embassy if things go pear shaped (not that it would help but they have faith in the US Military just as people have faith in the USD)
So you American guys who think Trump is a 'psychopath' NEWS FLASH: you're still paying the bill on Iraq Security and the IOCs including Lukoil, PetroChina, and Shell are benefitting from it because with out Uncle Sam there, they would need to spend 10X as much on security at which point every IOC does the math and says, "This makes no fucking sense at $50 per barrel because the Iraqis will never pay us back" and they all go home leaving the fields to the Russians and the Chinese whose governments are backstopping them.
So yes, boys and girls. If you want to think Trump is a 'psychopath' go ahead for his plan to control Iraq - and I can assure you, Iraq is totally out of fucking control right now but the news just doesnt come out. But at this rate, within 2 years the Russian and Chinese oil industry in Iraq will be larger than the US/UK presence and the Iranian Militias will rule the ground.
All this said, while I agree with Trump, personally, I think window has closed and the centre of gravity is shifting so that the US and UK power and influence will be neutered in Iraq. Mybe it could be saved in the next 12 months, but not with the idiot sitting in the White House - he and his people are utterly clueless.
He has the same expression I get when I talk about government.
Trump: Mr. Carson doesn't have enough energy to be President!
Carson: If being loud mouthed and obnoxious defines energy, then you are right I do not have what you do.
Trump: You do not have the energy.
Carson: If getting up early and working hard all day defines energy, then "game on".
Only in my opinion, one of Trumps gifts will be his downfall because the "foot will be in the mouth". Blow-hard comes to mind. In 2012 he dropped out and the rumor is his life or his families was threatened; if true, then what makes this different?