Iraq: not about oil anymore?

Way back in this blog, I had an article entitled “Sir, we have thought of a new motive”, in which I referred to the fact that a large part of the original purpose for the war had to do with world energy. I requote a portion here:

“The overriding factor was and still is control, or at least stability of the huge Iraqi oil reserves. This is not so much a matter of greed (although that factor is never far under the surface of the oil company agenda) it is more a matter of assuring availability of a sufficient oil supply at a profit-making price, to make sure the western industrial world and it’s fuel-guzzling vehicles (both domestic and military) continues to function in the accepted manner. That is the status quo we are trying to conserve and the most likely reason for our violating all established previous principles in rushing to war - covering the action with a series of collapsing excuses, bottoming out with “freeing the oppressed Iraqi people”.

This WAS true but no longer is, in my opinion. About one year into the war the energy companies already saw it did not work and were well into Plan B.  A few years ago I was in Calgary Canada at a meeting regarding the technology of processing oil from the HUGE tar sands deposits there, which I understand becomes economical at about $40/barrel. Chaney had just left the hotel when we arrived. I find now that the US gets most of its foreign oil from Canada (number one now), Mexico, Africa, and South America, not the Middle East – even  Saudi Arabia comes in second, at about 13 percent. The tar sands deposits produce a significant and growing percentage of our Canadian imports.  Even Glenn Beck has picked up on this type thing and says “why are not we producing synthetic oil from coal?” – claiming that we can do that for about $60/barrel. A good question, indeed, but maybe he missed the news that a plant in Indiana that does just that caught fire this week. Apparently the Plan B can be fleshed out as follows; 1) drive up the price of oil and gas so that other resources become viable, 2) start producing, but keep a low profile as to exactly what is going on (environmentalists can suddenly get spooked by almost anything).

So why are we now in Iraq? Well, I think it is kind of like when the late, great Steve Irwin used to get a bunch of mates and climb on top of a crocodile to subdue it – calling for more (a surge) if needed. The question is how to get OFF the crocodile – who now is pretty upset? I think when we figure that out, we will be out of there.

BUT what about Iran?  Oh Yeah. Well, I think this may be mostly political right now, having to do with building up a big scare program to try to hold on to the White House (Hillary is not helping here) - (free tip to the RNC: you MIGHT want to LET the DEMOCRATS worry about how to get off the crocodile).  Maybe I am wrong on that; we will see. I still think Barack could do SOMETHING with this mess.

- Adding a breaking news PS here: According to today's news, it seems that John McCain does not agree - it IS still about oil!