america safer but open to transform iraq from an export of violence and terror the director of progress with the as the iraqi army defenses collapsed in the face of the invasion coalition troops moved rapidly to secure iraq's most valuable asset its vast oil fields meanwhile the nuclear and chemical weapons which were the stated reason for the war were nowhere to be found likewise iraq's estimated one million tons of conventional weapons the source of nearly every attack on american soldiers in iraq were left unguarded the wealth generated from the sale well the loss of iraqi people and of course the oil in iraq belongs to the iraqi people all resources of iraq belong to the are there are extreme elements that use were legend to achieve objectives and they want to still leave and they want to they want to topple government they want to extend an ideological that is has no concept of liberty inherent in their beliefs they want to control your resources and they want to plot and plan and attack us again that's your objectives anyone do not use that oil resources in the region generally lie at the heart of this issue is simply deluded or is really kind of in the grip of some sort of neurotic denial some of last year responsible chargers they say that we act because of oil i mean as i've said many times in the past can one really imagine this war taking place if the principal export of iran iraq saudi arabia and kuwait were dave's state of petroleum i don't think  boil has been a major factor in shaping middle east policy since it was first discovered in iran in one thousand no wait when war broke out in one nine hundred fourteen turkey which controlled most of the arab world was allied with britain's enemy germany although bogged down in trench warfare in europe british forces successfully occupied much of the middle east driving out the turks and by one thousand nine hundred britain had occupied iraq installing a monarch king faisel as the nominal head of state in one thousand twenty seven oil was also found in iraq by a british french consortium and soon iran and iraq became the primary sources of oil in the middle east later as a result of political and commercial pressure the u secured an entry to the oil producing areas of the middle east but to control the oil prices the big three oil companies b p shell and exxon mobil retarded developments in iraq in order to prolong the period before iraq century into the world's oil market during the one nine hundred thirty s the big three opposed pipeline construction on the grounds that additional production would upset the world oil market and after world war two the u s and u k oil companies continued to restrict production in iraq in spite of repeated protest by their french partner and by the iraqi government in one thousand nine hundred five the arab league was formed ushering in a new era of arab nationalism by nine hundred sixteen twenty five percent of the world's entire oil supply was coming member in the same year saudi arabia having the largest oil reserves assumed the leadership this organization was to become the most powerful factor in controlling international oil supply and price in one thousand nine hundred sixty three iraqi left leaning prime minister to seem was overthrown by the baath party of which saddam hussein was a member u s intelligence helped the arab nationalist baath party seize power in an attempt to strengthen the economy the boss this limited the iraq for joleon company  which was dominated by british and american interests to its current producing areas opening up ninety nine percent of iraq to other parties and in one thousand nine hundred eighty four the government established the iraqi national oil company i n o c to operate in areas confiscated from the i c c a nine hundred sixty six study of the petroleum exploration in these areas revealed enormous untapped reservoirs of oil in iraq during the one nine hundred sixty s the region was pressured to keep resources under anglo american control these companies soft concessions offering a modest royalty on any oil produced receiving in return the exclusive right to search for oil u s ambassador averil harry met stated we could not wish governments such as iraq to get the impression that american companies can be pushed around it was not long however before iraq moved inexorably toward complete nationalization forty five years after it had drilled its first well in iraq the iraqi trillion company lost its rights to vast oil reserves when on june first in one nine hundred seventy two all of aipcs properties were nationalized meanwhile the rise of opec shifted the balance of power and revenue flows from multinational corporations to oil exporting states in retaliation for american saddam hussein invaded kuwait in august one thousand nine hundred in part as retaliation for its failure to abide by the opec quotas and its alleged illegal tapping of iraqi oil fields strict un sanctions were immediately imposed on iraq then  market weekend opec the u n oil for food program which purportedly allowed iraq to sell limited amounts of oil for food and humanitarian aid to further burden this market the economic threat to the saudis was severe enough for them to allow oil prices to fall in  hundred eighty two less than ten dollars a barrel but in one thousand nine hundred regained power as the saudi or any and relationship strengthened and the venezuelan nationalist hugo chavez was elected president these factors drove oil prices above twenty dollars a barrel until the first few years of the next century until that is the start of the second  let's fast forward to into the next bush administration and in ten days within the first bush administration of the current bush cheney held the cheney energy task force and in the cheney energy task force we have exxon and chevron and how a bird in the back door and all of these folks gathering together to design a new oil strategy or energy strategy for the united states and one of the things that they come up with is a chart that intitled foreign suitors to iraqi oil and this china louis of the other companies and at the other countries that saddam hussein was in fact signing oil contracts with for oil in the ground saddam was trying to get countries particularly members of the security council who would take a stand against the sanctions regime so he was signing contracts with russia china and france all the leaders of our government are a former executive was there a conspiracy investigative reporter greg palast has a theory that the protestors or street screaming no blood for oil no blood for oil i was very naive this war was not about getting oil so that you can fill up your hummer gee that's a complete misunderstanding about what the war in iraq was about when i investigated what the oil industry guys said look let's make it simple the more oil on the market the lower the price now which government officials happen to come from the oil industry let me name two george bush dick cheney and the guy running the government time here for exxon mobil who also represents as a lawyer james baker represents saudi government they didn't want more oil they wanted less oil so we didn't go of it in there to get the oil to bring it out because we needed or that's bullshit right now let's straighten that out it was not blood for oil it was worse it was blood for no oil they went in there to shut off the supply remember saddam honest if you want more oil keep saddam in the remove the sanctions because we put up we put a limit on saddam of to me in barrels a day now why was that we have to feed the people of iraq not because you want to feed the people rock you would base them out of oil sold on its price and the amount of food you could buy instead they put a physical limit that can only be for one purpose that that was the request of the oil companies a cap on iraq's oil output something they always wanted to have and when they knew that those sanctions were going their fear was not that saddam would stop selling oil their fear was that saddam would sell more oil if they lifted the sanctions he would go from two million to three to four million because he had an opec quota that the that took him up to three no problem so we didn't go in there for the oil to get the oil we want in there to make sure we didn't get the oil there's another problem goofy idea they're going to sell off oil fields they don't sell off oil fields well companies are not capitalists they're royalists stays within the royal sector under complete control forget capital a quote from the private doctor or this secret doc that says this plan will in hants iraqi government's relationship with opec and other words our government was imposing secretly on iraq a plan for a state oil company which would be under the lockup control of opec and saudi arabia which controlled that's what's about about not getting it again it's about reducing oil let me make it simple price wherever you are in that price you pay for oil depends on the total quantity produced in the world regardless of who's producing it and the total quantity consume regardless of who is consuming it so we our oil country i think it's very vital that people throughout iraqi society have a claim on this resource to benefit from its development and that's the key thing to have everybody make the investment to to make it pay off  parliament the urgencies indicated by frequent references to how important this legislation hears in washington has everything to do well with the possibility that control over iraqi oil might slip completely away from from the united states the law was a threat to our national security it was a disaster but it arcs future because it on the long term contracts to be signed each stage of progress political progress for example when the iraqi cabinet canister first apartment came to agreement on a draft president bush was there and he iraq is one of the few places in the world that has a lot of unexplored potential and really maybe one of the big players a few years more down the road well that's what's being pursued in iraq is long term contracts  when you bear in mind that oil accounts for ninety five percent of iraqi government revenues that it is the vast vast majority of the economy what what we would be seeing is locking in that vast majority of the economy into the control of foreign companies for a generation future iraqi government even after the occupation has ended would be unable to make decisions about how to control their natural resources how to control their economy five when when the first contract was signed by much by the same companies who are trying to sign now in nineteen twenty five iraq was occupied by the british they signed a contract for wish for control over all of the oil in the entire country for a period of seventy five years british at the time the signing i think what we're seeing now is a repetition of history so i'm under occupation contracts could be signed which would be vastly profitable for the multinationals because the iraqi government iraqi situations  from the middle east and they need to buy the soy that comes from the middle east but they don't invade them that these you know we have are so chinese airplanes bombing baghdad they buy you know this is the way that other nations decide to and they buy it and unfortunately the bush administration doesn't know the concept doesn't really believe in the concept of buying oil i think it would have been way better to be to buy your way than to try to stop interfering in the region to start with that would have made everyone feel the rest of the world is very well aware of the fact that this was a war fought for oil that was about corporate greed but it's also