Bush/Cheney Betrayal of America: China Is Reaping Biggest Benefits of Iraq Oil Boom

Remember how dim witted Chimperator George Bush and Emperor Palpatine Cheney claimed that Iraq would repay America for the costs of the fool's errand known as the Iraq War?  Ironically, on the same day that Bradley Manning's trial for allegedly releasing classified information, a New York Times story reveals that America threw away over $1 trillion and threw away thousands of American lives so that China, not America, could be the big winner in the aftermath of the disastrous Iraq War.  Making the situation even worse, guess who holds much of the debt incurred to finance the Bush/Cheney fool's errand?  China, of course.  That's right, American taxpayers have been doubly screwed.  The GOP mantra to average Americans ought to be bend over and hold your ankles.  Here are highlights from the Times story:

BAGHDAD — Since the American-led invasion of 2003, Iraq has become one of the world’s top oil producers, and China is now its biggest customer. 

China already buys nearly half the oil that Iraq produces, nearly 1.5 million barrels a day, and is angling for an even bigger share, bidding for a stake now owned by Exxon Mobil in one of Iraq’s largest oil fields. 

“The Chinese are the biggest beneficiary of this post-Saddam oil boom in Iraq,” said Denise Natali, a Middle East expert at the National Defense University in Washington. “They need energy, and they want to get into the market.” 

Before the invasion, Iraq’s oil industry was sputtering, largely walled off from world markets by international sanctions against the government of Saddam Hussein, so his overthrow always carried the promise of renewed access to the country’s immense reserves. Chinese state-owned companies seized the opportunity, pouring more than $2 billion a year and hundreds of workers into Iraq, and just as important, showing a willingness to play by the new Iraqi government’s rules and to accept lower profits to win contracts. 

“We lost out,” said Michael Makovsky, a former Defense Department official in the Bush administration who worked on Iraq oil policy. “The Chinese had nothing to do with the war, but from an economic standpoint they are benefiting from it, and our Fifth Fleet and air forces are helping to assure their supply.” 

In the desert near the Iranian border, China recently built its own airport to ferry workers to Iraq’s southern oil fields, and there are plans to begin direct flights from Beijing and Shanghai to Baghdad soon. In fancy hotels in the port city of Basra, Chinese executives impress their hosts not just by speaking Arabic, but Iraqi-accented Arabic. 

For China, Iraq is one of several countries it increasingly relies on to keep its growing economy running. China recently became the world’s biggest oil importer, and with its consumption growing, it is investing heavily in oil and gas fields around the world — $12 billion worth in 2011, according to the United States Energy Department. Over 50 percent of its oil imports come from the Middle East, even as imports from Iran have been reduced in recent years. “It’s pretty simple,” said Kevin Jianjun Tu, an expert on Chinese energy policies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “China needs more energy and needs to diversify its sources.” 

Bradley Manning expose American war crimes and atrocities.  Meanwhile, Bush and Cheney authorized war crimes, violations of the Geneva Conventions - actions that led to Japanese and Nazi officials to suffer long prison terms or even execution - and they have suffered no consequences whatsoever.  Now we learn that their idiot war aided China, not America.  In short, the wrong individual is being prosecuted.  Bush and Cheney need to be prosecuted.