WAR ON IRAK

Counterpunch: Yes, Tony, There is a Conspiracy
Here's the prewar zeitgeist in a nutshell: In a widely reported January
16 speech, Tony Blair proclaimed that the impending invasion of Iraq "has
nothing to do with oil, or any of the other conspiracy theories put
forward." One week later, Sen. Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, quietly passed word to Russia and France
that their countries will be frozen out of staggeringly lucrative postwar
oil contracts unless they roll over and endorse the US attack. Yes, Tony,
there is a conspiracy, in the dictionary sense of the term: an
agreement among people to perform a criminal or wrongful act. It consists, not of
a tiny cabal, but of the whole of the American power elite, from
politicians to business executives to journalists. It has everything to do with
oil. But it is not secret.
The RUPE report wholly confirms the widely-held view of the coming war as a massive oil grab, "on a scale not witnessed since the days of colonialism." Further, the current debate about arms inspections and alleged links to al-Qaeda is revealed as pure political theater, since the decision to invade Iraq was made months ago.

But seizure of Iraq's multi-trillion-dollar petroleum reserves is only the immediate goal, the report shows. RUPE's rigorous analysis of publicly available sources -- including official documents, think-tank papers, and press reports -- reveals that the US intends to use the invasion of Iraq as a launching pad for a drastic reshaping of the Middle East, to be followed by an unprecedented expansion of US power worldwide. The strategic trend of US foreign policy now points unmistakably towards global empire.

RUPE Think Tank: BEHIND THE INVASION OF IRAK check it