Although the Bush administration denied it, the conventional wisdom on the part of the anti-war movement was that the war on Iraq was launched in order for the US to take over Saddam’s oil supplies which would give Washington an even more dominant position in the region. That there was no concrete evidence that the war was supported by the oil companies was discounted and, as it had been in 1991 during the first Gulf War, "No blood for oil!"became the battle cry.
If the war was indeed about oil, then, as the NY Times reported on Friday, the US lost.
Those espousing that theory had company, however. It was the view held by most Iraqis.
"If true," writes the Times’ Rod Nordland. "then the war failed in more ways than some critics charge."
"It wasn’t until last week that the first major oil field exploitation contract was signed with a foreign company–BP in a joint deal with China’s state-run China National Petroleum Corporation.
"Exxon Mobil… has an oil field deal awaiting final approval from Iraq’s oil ministry. The Italian oil giant Eni, whose junior partner is the American-owned Occidental Petroleum is expected to sign a similar deal. These, however, are service contracts.so the foreign oil companies don’t actually own the rights to any new oil they may find."
