Blood For Oil

Four Western oil companies — Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total, and BP, are in the final stages of “talks with Iraq’s Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts to service Iraq’s largest fields.” Their offers prevailed over others by more than 40 companies including companies in Russia, China and India.

NYT article

"There was suspicion among many in the Arab world and among parts of the American public that the United States had gone to war in Iraq precisely to secure the oil wealth these contracts seek to extract. The Bush administration has said that the war was necessary to combat terrorism. It is not clear what role the United States played in awarding the contracts; there are still American advisers to Iraq’s Oil Ministry."

Add to that the 50+ permanent military bases and you can see how Bush used our troops to help the oil companies. 4000+ dead troops, millions of dead and displaced Iraqis. Blood for oil. I understand they are helping Iraq rebuild its decrepit oil industry, but let's not pretend. The goal of all of this occupation was to privatize their oil fields. Period.

I'm sure this will be seen as a positive in the Arab world. Not.