Surprise, surprise!

The Iraq Study Group may not have a solution for how to end the war, but it does have a way for its corporate friends to make money.

Welcome to the true meaning of the occupation of Iraq. Ever wonder why Dick Cheney and friends have worked so hard to keep those secret White House energy policy meetings from early 2001 a secret?

President Bush hired an employee from the U.S. consultancy firm Bearing Point Inc. over a year ago to advise the Iraq Oil Ministry on the drafting and passage of a new national oil law. As previously drafted, the law opens Iraq’s nationalized oil sector to private foreign corporate investment, but stops short of full privatization. The ISG report, however, goes further, stating that “the United States should assist Iraqi leaders to reorganize the national oil industry as a commercial enterprise.” In addition, the current Constitution of Iraq is ambiguous as to whether control over Iraq’s oil should be shared among its regional provinces or held under the central government. The report specifically recommends the latter: “Oil revenues should accrue to the central government and be shared on the basis of population.” If these proposals are followed, Iraq’s national oil industry will be privatized and opened to foreign firms, and in control of all of Iraq’s oil wealth.

The proposals should come as little surprise given that two authors of the report, James A. Baker III and Lawrence Eagleburger, have each spent much of their political and corporate careers in pursuit of greater access to Iraq’s oil and wealth.

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Here’s a good follow up piece by Tom Engelhardt on Bush family consigliere Baker and cohorts who worked to ensure that while the ISG would be filled with notable movers and shakers from numerous previous administrations, no one on it, nor any expert ‘team’ advising it, would represent the one point of view that a majority of Americans have by now come to support - actual withdrawal of all US forces from Iraq on a set timeline.” We can’t do that, you silly prole. There’s still gold in them their hills! Black gold. Texas Tea.

Read his report “Fixing The War”

Oh yeah, and in case anyone hasn’t gotten the memo yet, “War Is A Racket”