Fuck, It Really Was About The Oil
Here's today's must-read.
Now we already know that $9 billion from the Iraqi oil funds has gone MIA while under the neglectful control of the CPA.
But now we also learn that the Iraqi oil flowing out of the country is completely unmetered.
Why the fuck do we put up with assholes like Norm Coleman who, on the taxpayer's dime, goes on wild-eyed rants against George Galloway but who then misses the elephant sitting on the sofa.
The UN oil-for-food scandal looks like a snatch & dash of a 75 cent Snickers bar compared to this heist of the Iraqi people's most valuable resource.
Now we already know that $9 billion from the Iraqi oil funds has gone MIA while under the neglectful control of the CPA.
But now we also learn that the Iraqi oil flowing out of the country is completely unmetered.
Why the fuck do we put up with assholes like Norm Coleman who, on the taxpayer's dime, goes on wild-eyed rants against George Galloway but who then misses the elephant sitting on the sofa.
The UN oil-for-food scandal looks like a snatch & dash of a 75 cent Snickers bar compared to this heist of the Iraqi people's most valuable resource.
posted by Macswain at
10:20 PM
6 Comments:
Remarkably ignorant post, starting with this nonsense:
Now we already know that $9 billion from the Iraqi oil funds has gone MIA while under the neglectful control of the CPA.
This is stupid - we know where the money went(the Iraqi Ministries), the CPA just didn't track it once it after it got there. Why not? Because they didn't know how to track it through the byzantine cash-based Iraqi government system.
And realize that the CPA didn't turn the meters off - Iraq wasn't metering the oil before the war. And responsible sources are more concerned with oil smuggling in support of the insurgents than any malfeasance by the CPA.
But don't let me spoil your fantasies.
By
Anonymous, at 4:17 PM
Geoff,
Thanks for pointing out the joys of being an Iraqi minister.
I also enjoy the Saddam-did-it too defense.
By
Macswain, at 4:55 PM
Geoff,
Do you work for the military?
By
Anonymous, at 9:07 PM
Thanks for pointing out the joys of being an Iraqi minister.
Note that no one has shown that the money was misspent after it arrived at the ministries (although it's likely that there was the Iraqi-standard amount of graft and embezzlement). But somehow the fact that the CPA didn't track the money within the Iraqi system has turned into accusations that the money simply "disappeared." Which is completely wrong.
I also enjoy the Saddam-did-it too defense.
More like the: situation-has-remained-unchanged-since Saddam's-time defense. Which is to say that the CPA and Iraqi Interim Gov't didn't do anything wrong, they just didn't get around to doing something right. Until now.
Do you work for the military?
Once as an officer, now as a contractor.
By
Anonymous, at 12:20 AM
jandrew:
If you follow the link and then click on the 2nd link in the post, you find this statement:
The project has been repeatedly delayed amid reports of extensive smuggling, including allegations that Iraqi oil is being diverted from the marketplace to fuel the insurgency crippling the country's reconstruction.
And understand that we know how much oil is being exported and delivered internally, we don't know how much is being siphoned off before it gets to a point where it's reported. That's another point: nobody really knows if siphoning is happening, or what magnitude of siphoning is occurring, if any.
Also - the whole ridiculous "they protected the oil wells" argument. I don't know if you recall GWI, but in that war Iraq set fire to Kuwait's oil wells at a tremendous cost to the Kuwaiti economy. If we'd allowed Saddam to do the same to Iraq's oil wells, you'd be perfectly justified in ridiculing the administration. Just can't win, I guess.
By
Anonymous, at 7:04 PM
ithout bothering to explain why we couldn't run a patrol along the pipeline
?!? This is moronic - we're constantly patrolling the pipelines.
There's no way to tell if siphoning is going on? Why is the same not true in Alaska, Texas, or Suadi Arabia.
Perhaps because they meet the international standards for using meters to measure their output. And perhaps it is going on anyway - why don't you run down and guard the pumps at Huntington Beach? Then we'll know that neither the insurgents nor the US can steal the oil.
Nice "responsible source," was it Stars and Stripes?
More like the Director the Iraqi Ministry of Finance, who said half the smuggling proceeds went to the insurgents.
They siphon of profit, not oil at the point of production.
Yes, I was using "siphon" figuratively, not literally, although there are accounts of smugglers tapping into pipelines.
But what's your ultimate point - you seem to be suggesting that the US gov't is stealing Iraqi oil. That's a pretty extreme premise. You might try doubling the aluminum foil to make sure you're covering more of the frequency spectrum.
By
Anonymous, at 11:18 PM
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