Mission Accomplished?

“No war for oil” has been a favorite mantra of the anti-war activists from even before the invasion of Iraq. BushCheney has been equally insistent that oil is not the reason for the invasion. The media have largely ignored the issue of oil hegemony in the three years of the Iraq war. As a result, oil has been, at best, a peripheral issue, not quite on the radar but still lurking in the background. The failure of the US to restore Iraq’s oil production suggests that if the war was launched for oil, it has not been a success.

That supposed lack of success may actually be just the opposite, at least in terms of controlling oil resources. Iraq’s oil may not be flowing to American consumers or the customers of American oil companies but it’s not going anywhere else, either. The US may not be able to allocate and direct the flow of oil from the world’s second largest petroleum reserve, but we certainly have control of that most precious resource and most likely will continue to control it. As long as the insurgency continues and Iraq is saddled with a weak central government, not much of Iraq’s oil is going anywhere.

This is certainly consistent with the ideological underpinnings of this administration as presented in the Project of a New American Century which counts numerous current and former BushCheney administration officials among its architects. One of its key principles is to preserve and extend “...an international order friendly to our security, our prosperity, and our principles....” While this is a generic function of any government, PNAC’s efforts to use military force to establish a world-wide American hegemony in the face of an increasingly multi-polar world suggests a willingness to invest considerable money and blood for this purpose, a willingness that is both costly and not necessarily in the long-term interests of all Americans, although the oil companies and military contractors will certainly benefit.

Regular readers of this blog know that I believe in cooperation among nations and rebuilding national and world economies to reduce dependence on non-renewable resources. Naif that I am, I just can’t believe that war and neo-colonialism is either sustainable and in our best interest. Combined with my first hand knowledge of war at the ground level and I have a strong aversion to war as a tool for economic security.

My reservations notwithstanding, the US is in a war for oil and has succeeded in asserting dominance over Iraq’s reserves. So maybe BushCheney wasn’t so dumb after all, or he is dumb like a fox. He got the oil away from Saddam Hussein and is keeping it away from everyone else. Americans may not be reaping the benefit of that oil but neither can anyone else. The future of Iraq’s oil is still to be determined and the United States has a powerful position in deciding that disposition.

In the 19th century Britain and Russia pursued what came to be known as the “Great Game” for influence and control in central Asia. Although time, circumstances and players have changed since then, the game continues. In the 21st century the prize is oil and all the world is the playing field.