by Eric S. Margolis

22-06-08 The ugly truth behind the Iraq and Afghanistan wars finally emerged into full view. Four major Western oil companies, Exxon, Mobil, Shell, BP and Total, are about to sign US-brokered no-bid contracts to begin exploiting Iraq's oil fields. Saddam Hussein had kicked these firms out three decades ago when he nationalised Iraq's foreign-owned oil industry for the benefit of Iraq's national development. The US-installed Baghdad regime is turning back the clock.
The same oil companies that used to exploit Iraq when it was a British colony are now returning. As former US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan recently admitted, the Iraq war was all about oil. Vice-President Dick Cheney stated in 2003 that the invasion of Iraq was about oil and for the sake of Israel.

Afghanistan just signed a major deal to launch a long-planned, 1,680 km long pipeline project expected to cost $ 8 bn. If completed, the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline (TAPI) will export gas and, later, oil from the Caspian Basin to Pakistan's coast where tankers will transport it to the West.
The Caspian Basin located under the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, holds an estimated 300 tcf of gas and 100-200 bn barrels of oil. Securing the world's last remaining known energy Eldorado is strategic priority for the Western powers. China can only look on with envy.

But there are only two practical ways to get gas and oil out of land-locked Central Asia to the sea: through Iran, or through Afghanistan to Pakistan. The US Israel lobby has blocked any dealings with Iran. That leaves Pakistan, but to get there, the planned pipeline must cross Western Afghanistan, including the cities of Herat and Kandahar.
In 1998, the Afghan anti-Communist movement Taleban and a Western oil consortium led by the US firm Unocal signed a major pipeline deal. Unocal lavished money and attention on Taleban, flew a senior delegation to Texas, and also hired a minor Afghan official, one called Hamid Karzai.

Enter Osama bin Laden. He advised the unworldly Taleban leaders to reject the US deal and got them to accept a better offer from an Argentine consortium, Bridas. Washington was furious and, according to some accounts, threatened Taleban with war.
In early 2001, six or seven months before 9/11, Washington made the decision to invade Afghanistan, overthrow Taleban, and install a client regime that would build the energy pipelines. But Washington still kept up sending money to Taleban until four months before 9/11 in an effort to keep it "on side" for possible use in a war against Iran.

The 9/11 attacks, about which Taleban knew nothing, supplied the pretext to invade Afghanistan. The initial US operation had the legitimate objective of wiping out Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda. But after its 300 members fled to Pakistan, the US stayed on, built bases -- which just happened to be adjacent to the planned pipeline route -- and installed former Unocal "consultant" Hamid Karzai as leader.
Washington disguised its energy geopolitics by claiming the Afghan occupation was to fight "Islamic terrorism," liberate women, build schools, and promote democracy. Ironically, the Soviets made exactly the same claims when they occupied Afghanistan from 1979-1989. The cover story for Iraq was Weapons of Mass Destruction, Saddam's supposed links to 9/11, and democracy.

Work will begin on the TAPI once Taleban forces are cleared from the pipeline route by US, Canadian and NATO forces. As American analyst Kevin Phillips writes, the US military and its allies have become an "energy protection force." From Washington's viewpoint, the TAPI deal has the added benefit of scuttling another proposed pipeline project that would have delivered Iranian gas and oil to Pakistan and India.
India's energy needs are expected to triple over the next decade to 8 bn barrels of oil and 80 mm cm of gas daily. Delhi, which has its own designs on Afghanistan and has been stirring the pot there, is cock-a-hoop overthe new pipeline plan. Russia, by contrast, is grumpy, having hoped to monopolise Central Asian energy exports.

Energy is more important than blood in our modern world. The US is a great power with massive energy needs. Domination of oil is a pillar of America's world power.
Afghanistan and Iraq are all about oil. After this news, those who pretend otherwise will look like fools.