The rumor has been from day one that the invasion of Iraq was about oil and gaining control to the country oil reserves. The Independent (UK, not us) reports plans to exploit Iraq’s oil reserves were discussed by government ministers and the world’s largest oil companies the year before the invasion. Of course, that was the public message. The U.S. and Great Britain said they did it because Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction….which were never found.
Five months before the March 2003 invasion, Baroness Symons, then the Trade Minister, told BP that the Government believed British energy firms should be given a share of Iraq’s enormous oil and gas reserves as a reward for Tony Blair’s military commitment to US plans for regime change.
The papers show that Lady Symons agreed to lobby the Bush administration on BP’s behalf because the oil giant feared it was being “locked out” of deals that Washington was quietly striking with US, French and Russian governments and their energy firms.
Minutes of a meeting with BP, Shell and BG (formerly British Gas) on 31 October 2002 read: “Baroness Symons agreed that it would be difficult to justify British companies losing out in Iraq in that way if the UK had itself been a conspicuous supporter of the US government throughout the crisis.”
The secret memos and notes are damning. Read more.
