War On Reality Part 97 ; George 'Harry Potter' Bush & His Oil Wand Of Destiny

President Bush did himself no favours by saying how much he wished he had a big wand to wave on oil prices. Yes, he really said it and we have the video tape.



Tell The Truthiness Says ; Only a few more months to go, only a few more months to go, keep repeating.

War On Reality Part 93 ; It's All About The Oil First, Iraqis Second

As we reported over a year ago, the plans to get control of Iraq's oil reserves into the hands of Western corporations, were detailed before the invasion and have quietly been advanced in the last five years.



Now, 36 years after Iraq nationalised it's oil industry, Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP are coming back in to pump oil and make billions. Iraq has the fourth largest oil reserve in the World, after Saudi Arabia, Canada and Iran. The four companies have been given 'no bid' contracts because, as an Iraqi Oil Ministry spokesman said they had been advising the ministry without charge for two years before being awarded the contracts.

What a coincidence.

Tell The Truthiness ; So, congratulations to Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP for acting like a greedy heir spending time with a rich elderly relative for no good reason to get their hands on the assets at the opportune moment. Like we said, it's a total coincidence.

Greenspan ; Iraq War All About Oil...Oops, What Should I Have Said?

The former Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan, has backtracked on his comments published in his memoir about Iraq, the war and it's oil supplies.

The quote in the book says " the Iraq War is largely about oil".

Today though, watering down his comments, in an interview, Greenspan has corrected himself by claiming he told the White House that removing Saddam was "essential" to secure World and US oil interests in the region.

As you'd expect, everyone in the US administration who has responded to the book and the round of press interviews given by Greenspan says the ex-Fed boss is very nice but wrong. Fancy that!

Tell The Truthiness ; Why then was the Iraqi Oil Ministry the only protected building during the looting, post-invasion in Baghdad?

Oil Is Thicker Than Blood In Iraq ; And Nothing's Going To Stop It

With all the hellish day-to-day experiences that anyone living in Iraq, particularly Baghdad, has to deal with, imagining what the job of the country's parliament is like is pretty difficult.

Dealing with the job of government (where they are allowed to by the coalition forces) collides with the ongoing lawlessness and attacks on civilians and government staff, property and processes makes it a terrifying time to try to forge a new governing body amidst all this.

However there is one piece of legislation which is close to being signed off by the parliament before the end of May. A bill agreeing how to divide up the country's oil and gas reserves to each region as fairly as possible is in it's final stages.

Much criticism has been levelled at the decades long concessions that will allow foreign oil companies to invest in Iraq's oil and gas fields.

It's true that publicly before the invasion and afterwards the US and allied forces didn't mention oil at all, but there have been detailed internal US defence plans to gain control of Persian Gulf oil for at least a decade as a way of gaining a significant foothold in global oil stocks. This would allow the US the chance to weaken OPEC's position on World oil supply and prices.

The US has been in favour of this bill being pushed through as quickly as possible as they think it will reduce violence. How noble a thought.

The Truthiness Blog Says ; Is the reality that it's hoped gas prices at the pumps will tumble down and we can be addicted to big, home owned, but foreign extracted oil for more decades as we boil under climate change?

Someone made a great comment, if the Iraq oil reserves belong to the Iraqi people (as Tony Blair said at the beginning of the invasion), then who do the Amercian oil reserves belong to?

Hindenberg Warning! This production contains scenes of potential explosion and mild peril.

Confirmation came through like a ten tonne weight landing thwack from a great height today as to President Bush's dislike of hybrid and alternative vehicles.

Last week, with a Ford built hydrogen hybrid vehicle being demonstrated at the White House, President Bush, the hands-on guy that he is, tried to get involved. Fortune didn't shine on the fearless leader though as he had to be stopped by Credit Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally before he plugged the electrical cord into the hydrogen tank of the demonstration vehicle and nearly blew himself, the Vice-President and half the White House up, not to mention creating a rather large hole in the South Lawn.

The Truthiness Blog Says ; We always knew that the President never liked the idea of non-oil fueled vehicles and now he's confirmed it in public. He'd rather blow himself up than let them gain a market share!

This would have made Cheney shooting that guy in the face look like a wardrobe malfunction.