When Republicans And Their Big Oil Paymasters Talk About "Us," They Don't Actually Mean "Us"

When bought-and-paid-for congressional shills (overwhelmingly Republicans but of both parties) of Big Oil shout and scream--and wave tire gauges over their heads-- about how "we" need to DRILL HERE NOW and DRILL, BABY, DRILL, you have to ask yourself who the "we" is. It ain't us. The most handsomely paid henchmen of Big Oil-- from McCain (R-AZ- $1,642,810), John Cornyn (R-TX- $1,317,825), James Inhofe (R-OK- $1,090,023) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY- $673,861) in the Senate to Joe Barton (R-TX- $1,246,411), Don Young (R-AK- $957,263), Steve Pearce (R-NM- $615,874), Dan Boren (D-OK- $379,860) and Roy Blunt (R-MO- $366,748) in the House-- always try to equate oil company drilling with "us" (the American people, consumers paying $4/gallon at the pump and, starting in the second week of November, have to worry in a really serious way about home heating). But the oil that Sarah Palin talks about drilling for in Alaska is not "ours." It belongs so Big Oil and it is more likely to end up in Japan and China than in Maine or Minnesota. As Kagro X pointed out yesterday at Daily Kos, drilling is about oil company profits, not about easing the price of oil for American consumers.

Judging by the culturally insensitive-- one might say viciously racist-- reaction of McCain's son Jack to Iraqis it isn't a stretch to conclude that many Americans see Iraqis as backward and ignorant. Well... when they talk about drilling for "us," they really do mean "us" in the way Oil Industry's pet hacks like John Shadegg and Charlie Dent want Americans to think Republicans mean us too. Iraqi oil is owned by the Iraqi people. Or it least it has been until Bush and Cheney invaded, occupied and brutalized the country.

The original plans for the Iraq War was code-named Operation Iraqi Liberation. Some sharp Repug that the acronym might be too obvious so it was changed to Operation Iraqi Freedom-- but it has always, always, always been O.I.L. and never O.I.F. Our troops are still there while Team Bush-Cheney works out guarantees that the U.S.-- again, not "us" but Big Oil companies-- will have control over Iraq's oil. This morning's NY Times reports more bumps in the bumpy road back to 18th and 19th century natural resources colonialism. "An Iraqi plan to award six no-bid contracts to Western oil companies, which came under sharp criticism from several United States senators this summer, has been withdrawn, participants in the negotiations said on Wednesday."

Iraq's oil industry labor unions-- the protectors of their nation's most valuable asset far more than the puppets Bush installed as a "government"-- have balked again and again as the Bush Regime attempted to implement plans to take over the country's-- the Iraqi peoples'-- most important resource. These deals, had they gone through, would have been the first since the occupation began. Now there will be less objectionable open bidding for contracts.

Earlier this summer, a group of Democratic senators led by Charles E. Schumer of New York had appealed to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to block the deals, contending that they could undermine the efforts of Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites to reach agreement on a hydrocarbon law and a revenue-sharing agreement. This criticism was conveyed to Mr. Shahristani by the American Embassy in Baghdad in late June, and after that the deals were delayed.

“I’m glad the Iraqis heard our plea that to do this now would be bad for Iraq and bad for Iraqi-American relations,” Senator Schumer said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “It’s a good first step. Now let’s make progress on the long-term” goal of passing a hydrocarbon law, he said.

The State Department had responded that the contracts were an Iraqi affair, though American advisers had helped draft them. Meanwhile, the ministry has said it intends to proceed with new oil deals whether or not the Iraqi Parliament passes a hydrocarbon law.

Senator Schumer said Wednesday that he would propose an amendment to the defense appropriation bill in Congress that would specify that should Iraq sign any petroleum contracts before passing the law, profits from those deals would go to defray United States reconstruction spending in Iraq.

When the Bush Regime and the powers-that-be inside the U.S. are contemplating the profits from oil exploitation in conquered Iraq, those profits are for "them," never "us." The blood and treasure that was used-- oh, yeah... we share in that. In fact 99.999% of that is "us."

Drill, baby, drill: