Is the fight over a gas pipeline fuelling the world’s bloodiest conflict?
2 December 2015 | news.com.auIt’s buried more than three kilometres underground, but it could be the key to finally ending the world’s deadliest conflict.
Articles: Iraq War
this page last updated: 29 September 2016
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Now the truth emerges: how the US fuelled the rise of Isis in Syria and Iraq
3 June 2015 | GuardianThe sectarian terror group won’t be defeated by the western states that incubated it in the first place.
Pentagon report predicted West’s support for Islamist rebels would create ISIS
22 May 2015 | Nafeez AhmedAccording to the newly declassified US document, the Pentagon foresaw the likely rise of the ‘Islamic State’ as a direct consequence of this strategy, and warned that it could destabilize Iraq. Despite anticipating that Western, Gulf state and Turkish support for the “Syrian opposition” — which included al-Qaeda in Iraq — could lead to the emergence of an ‘Islamic State’ in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the document provides no indication of any decision to reverse the policy of support to the Syrian rebels. On the contrary, the emergence of an al-Qaeda affiliated “Salafist Principality” as a result is described as a strategic opportunity to isolate Assad.
Private donors from Gulf Oil States Helping to Bankroll Salaries of Up to 100,000 ISIS Fighters
23 February 2015 | CounterPunchIslamic State is still receiving significant financial support from Arab sympathisers outside Iraq and Syria, enabling it to expand its war effort, says a senior Kurdish official.
Research Paper: ISIS-Turkey Links
9 November 2014 | Huffington PostIs Turkey collaborating with the Islamic State (ISIS)? Allegations range from military cooperation and weapons transfers to logistical support, financial assistance, and the provision of medical services. It is also alleged that Turkey turned a blind eye to ISIS attacks against Kobani.
Exclusive: CIA Files Prove America Helped Saddam as He Gassed Iran
26 August 2013 | Foreign PolicyThe U.S. knew Hussein was launching some of the worst chemical attacks in history — and still gave him a hand.
Blair, Bush, Israel and Iraq: I don't mean to say I told you so, but...
8 February 2010 | Foreign PolicyProbably the most controversial claim in my work with John Mearsheimer on the Israel lobby is our argument that it played a key role in the decision to invade Iraq in 2003.
Revealed: Jack Straw's secret warning to Tony Blair on Iraq
17 January 2010 | TimesA ‘secret and personal’ letter from Jack Straw, the then foreign secretary, to Tony Blair reveals damning doubts at the heart of government about Blair's plans for Iraq a year before war started.
Revealed: Secret plan to keep Iraq under US control
5 June 2008 | IndependentBush wants 50 military bases, control of Iraqi airspace and legal immunity for all American soldiers and contractors.
‘Dodgy dossier’ was ‘wrong’, its author says
17 February 2008 | IndependentThe government official who wrote the first draft of the “dodgy dossier” that helped propel Britain into war in Iraq today admits, “We were wrong.”
Leader of Al Qaeda group in Iraq was fictional, U.S. military says
18 July 2007 | New York TimesBrigadier General Kevin Bergner, the chief American military spokesman, said the elusive Baghdadi was actually a fictional character whose audio-taped declarations were provided by an elderly actor named Abu Adullah al-Naima.
Australia ‘has Iraq oil interest’
5 July 2007 | BBC NewsAustralian Defence Minister Brendan Nelson has admitted that securing oil supplies is a key factor behind the presence of Australian troops in Iraq.
Blood and oil: How the West will profit from Iraq's most precious commodity
7 January 2007 | IndependentThe ‘IoS’ today reveals a draft for a new law that would give Western oil companies a massive share in the third largest reserves in the world. To the victors, the oil? That is how some experts view this unprecedented arrangement with a major Middle East oil producer that guarantees investors huge profits for the next 30 years.
US military honoured in secret by Britain
18 June 2006 | ObserverThe government has been secretly awarding honours to senior figures in the US military and foreign businessmen with lucrative public sector contracts.
Unreported: The Zarqawi Invitation
9 June 2006 | Greg PalastThey got him — the big, bad, beheading berserker in Iraq. But, something's gone unreported in all the glee over getting Zarqawi... who invited him into Iraq in the first place?
Iraq bases spur questions over US plans
30 March 2006 | BBC NewsThe Pentagon has requested hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency funds for military construction in Iraq, fanning the debate about US long-term intentions there.
Iran accuses UK of bombing link
25 January 2006 | BBC NewsIran has accused the UK of co-operating with bombers who killed eight people in attacks in the restive south-western city of Ahwaz on Tuesday.
UK Helped Terror Bombers Says Iran
11 November 2005 | MirrorBritain is involved in bombings in southern Iran, the country's spy chief claimed yesterday.
Blair relished ‘first blooding’ in Iraq, claims No 10 diary
18 September 2005 | TimesDowning Street was embarrassed last night after a frank account of the tantrums and cynicism of Tony Blair's inner circle were published in the diaries of a former No 10 aide.
The Real News in the Downing Street Memos
23 June 2005 | Los Angeles TimesIt is now nine months since I obtained the first of the “Downing Street memos,” thrust into my hand by someone who asked me to meet him in a quiet watering hole in London for what I imagined would just be a friendly drink.
The leaked Iraq war documents
19 June 2005 | TimesThe level of interest in the now famous Downing Street Memo, published in the May 1 edition of the Sunday Times, and in the leaked documents published over subsequent weeks, has been extraordinary.
US lied to Britain over use of napalm in Iraq war
17 June 2005 | IndependentAmerican officials lied to British ministers over the use of “internationally reviled” napalm-type firebombs in Iraq.
Ministers were told of need for Gulf war ‘excuse’
12 June 2005 | TimesMinisters were warned in July 2002 that Britain was committed to taking part in an American-led invasion of Iraq and they had no choice but to find a way of making it legal.
Audits find flaws in U.S. handling of Iraq deals
4 May 2005 | ReutersThe United States has carelessly, and possibly fraudulently, handled some Iraqi money meant for rebuilding and poorly managed billions of dollars of U.S.-funded contracts, said U.S. audits released on Wednesday.
The secret Downing Street memo
1 May 2005 | TimesSECRET AND STRICTLY PERSONAL — UK EYES ONLY.
Blair hit by new leak of secret war plan
1 May 2005 | TimesA Secret document from the heart of government reveals today that Tony Blair privately committed Britain to war with Iraq and then set out to lure Saddam Hussein into providing the legal justification.
Blair's forgotten victims
25 April 2005 | John PilgerBy voting for Blair, you will walk over the corpses of at least 100,000 people, most of them innocent, slaughtered in defiance of international law.
Aid worker uncovered America's secret tally of Iraqi civilian deaths
20 April 2005 | IndependentA week before she was killed by a suicide bomber, humanitarian worker Marla Ruzicka forced military commanders to admit they did keep records of Iraqi civilians killed by US forces.
Secret US plans for Iraq's oil
17 March 2005 | Greg Palast, NewsnightThe Bush administration made plans for war and for Iraq's oil before the 9/11 attacks, sparking a policy battle between neo-cons and Big Oil, BBC's Newsnight has revealed.
Iraq war revelation: There was no full legal advice
11 March 2005 | IndependentBritain went to war on the basis of a single piece of paper setting out the legality of invading Iraq, the country's most senior civil servant has revealed.
Ex-Marine Says Public Version of Saddam Capture Fiction
10 March 2005 | United Press InternationalA former U.S. Marine who participated in capturing ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said the public version of his capture was fabricated.
Britain Wanted A ‘Sexier’ Iraqi Weapons Report Claims Scientist
14 February 2005 | Press AssociationAn Australian scientist involved in the US search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq today said the CIA censored his reporting so that it suggested the weapons existed.
Kelly death paramedics query verdict
12 December 2004 | ObserverThe Hutton inquiry found that the scientist caught in the storm over the ‘sexed up’ Iraq dossier committed suicide. Now, for the first time, the experienced ambulance crew who were among the first on the scene tell of their doubts about the decision.
Doctors raise doubts over suicide verdicts
17 September 2004 | GuardianExperts warn of flaws in postmortem blood tests.
The real reasons Bush went to war
28 July 2004 | GuardianWMD was the rationale for invading Iraq. But what was really driving the US were fears over oil and the future of the dollar.
Saddam reached deal with US before attack: Primakov
25 June 2004 | Agence France-PresseFormer Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein cut a deal with the United States before the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, former Russian prime minister Yevgeny Primakov said in an interview published on Thursday.
New Government Made Up of CIA Pawns
10 June 2004 | CounterPunchIraqis from both the Shia and Sunni communities repeatedly said that they longed for the violence to end but they not believe that the US would hand over real power. The US will keep 138,000 troops in Iraq after handover.
PM ‘delusional’ over Iraq WMD, says inspector
6 June 2004 | ObserverTony Blair was branded ‘delusional’ yesterday over his continued insistence that weapons of mass destruction might still be found in Iraq. The charge was made by the man who headed the hunt.
The lying game
1 June 2004 | IndependentAn A-Z of the Iraq war and its aftermath, focusing on misrepresentation, manipulation, and mistakes.
Who killed Nick Berg?
29 May 2004 | Sydney Morning HeraldConspiracy theories about how the kidnapped American died in Iraq are flying around the world. Richard Neville explores the explanations.
Blair tried to block US inquiry into WMD
27 May 2004 | GuardianDowning Street attempted to block the White House from holding a bipartisan inquiry into the failure to uncover weapons of mass destruction in Iraq because Tony Blair was in “denial” about the issue, a new book discloses today.
How a secret Pentagon program came to Abu Ghraib
24 May 2004 | New YorkerThe roots of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal lie not in the criminal inclinations of a few Army reservists but in a decision, approved last year by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, to expand a highly secret operation, which had been focussed on the hunt for Al Qaeda, to the interrogation of prisoners in Iraq.
Beheading of Berg — now it's a conspiracy
23 May 2004 | TimesFor most people the videotaped execution of Nicholas Berg was a graphic reminder of the risks involved in waging war on a violent terrorist enemy. For others, however, it was evidence of a conspiracy.
Berg beheading: No way, say medical experts
22 May 2004 | Asia TimesAmerican businessman Nicholas Berg's body was found on May 8 near a Baghdad overpass; a video of his supposed decapitation death by knife appeared on an alleged al-Qaeda-linked website on May 11. But according to what both a leading surgical authority and a noted forensic death expert separately told Asia Times Online, the video depicting the decapitation appears to have been staged.
Bremer office ‘hampering oil-for-food corruption inquiry’
17 May 2004 | TelegraphAn investigation into the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the United Nations is being hampered by the US-led administration in Iraq, according to congressmen and officials in Baghdad.
Diplomat's E-Mails Show Berg in Custody
14 May 2004 | Associated PressFamily members provided e-mails Thursday that say Nicholas Berg was held by the U.S. military before he was kidnapped and beheaded, but the government contends the messages were based on erroneous information.
Blair accused of appointing Scarlett to head MI6 as ‘pay-off for dodgy dossier’
7 May 2004 | IndependentTony Blair was under fire from all sides last night after appointing John Scarlett, who approved the “dodgy dossier” on Iraq, as the head of the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6.
Rape Rooms: A Chronology
5 May 2004 | SlateWhat Bush said as the Iraq prison scandal unfolded.
War in Iraq, ‘petro-dollar’ and the challenge by euro
30 April 2004 | Dr Bulent GokayThere were many factors related to the Iraqi oil, driving Bush administration to intervene in Iraq militarily. But the biggest one seems to be about the currency used to trade oil: the role of preserving the dollar as the world's reserve currency.
Returning GIs tested for exposure to depleted uranium in Iraq
6 April 2004 | Associated PressThe Army is conducting medical tests on a handful of GIs who complained of illnesses after reported exposure to depleted uranium in Iraq.
Prober: I knew in days U.S. ‘wrong’ on WMD
5 April 2004 | Daily NewsThe CIA's former weapons hunter in Iraq realized within days of arriving in Baghdad last summer that dictator Saddam Hussein was no longer stockpiling a banned arsenal, according to a new report.
Blair told US was targeting Saddam ‘just days after 9/11’
4 April 2004 | IndependentGeorge Bush asked for Tony Blair's backing to remove Saddam Hussein from power just nine days after the 11 September attacks, over a private dinner at the White House, a US magazine reported last night.
Powell admits Iraq evidence mistake
3 April 2004 | BBC NewsUS Secretary of State Colin Powell has admitted that evidence he submitted to the United Nations to justify war on Iraq may have been wrong.
Special Investigation: Poisoned?
3 April 2004 | Daily NewsFour soldiers from a New York Army National Guard company serving in Iraq are contaminated with radiation likely caused by dust from depleted uranium shells fired by U.S. troops, a Daily News investigation has found.
Iraqi defector behind America's WMD claims exposed as ‘out-and-out fabricator’
29 March 2004 | IndependentThe case for war against Iraq was dealt another embarrassing blow yesterday due to claims by an American newspaper that the first-hand intelligence source on Saddam Hussein's alleged mobile bioweapons labs was a politically motivated Iraqi defector now dismissed as an “out-and-out fabricator”.
There Are No Words... Radiation in Iraq Equals 250,000 Nagasaki Bombs
27 March 2004 | Dissident VoiceThis story is about American weapons built with Uranium components for the business end of things. Just about all American bullets, tank shells, missiles, dumb bombs, smart bombs, 500 and 2,000 pound bombs, cruise missiles, and anything else engineered to help our side in the war of us against them has Uranium in it. Lots of Uranium.
Fanning the flames of conspiracy
16 March 2004 | BBC News“This hearing will do little to put an end to the controversy relating to the death of Dr Kelly”.
US and Britain ‘created facts’ over Iraq war says Blix
24 February 2004 | AnanovaThe United States and Britain “created facts where there were no facts” in the run-up to last year's war in Iraq, according to Hans Blix.
Halliburton faces criminal probe
23 February 2004 | CNNThe Pentagon's investigation into allegations a Halliburton subsidiary may have overcharged for gasoline delivered to Iraq last year is now a criminal probe, the Pentagon said Monday.
WHO ‘suppressed’ scientific study into depleted uranium cancer fears in Iraq
22 February 2004 | Sunday HeraldRadiation experts warn in unpublished report that DU weapons used by Allies in Gulf war pose long-term health risk.
Yes, Minister!
14 February 2004 | Uri AvneryCommon sense would say: Bush & Blair were ‘deceived’, because they wanted to be deceived. Bush and the Neo-cons who have taken over Washington had decided from the beginning to attack Iraq, mainly in order to control the oil, and the tales of WMD were designed to provide a pretext that would frighten the masses.
Letters: Medical evidence does not support suicide by Kelly
12 February 2004 | GuardianWe all agree that it is highly improbable that the primary cause of Dr Kelly's death was haemorrhage from transection of a single ulnar artery, as stated by Brian Hutton in his report.
Kurds turn against US after losing control over oil-rich land
21 January 2004 | IndependentIraqi Kurds, the one Iraqi community that has broadly supported the American occupation, are expressing growing anger at the failure of the United States and its allies to give them full control of their own affairs and allow the Kurds to expel Arabs placed in Kurdistan by Saddam Hussein.
Bush admits he wanted regime change before 11 September
13 January 2004 | ScotsmanThe United States president, George Bush, yesterday appeared to support claims made by one of his former advisers that he was intent on invading Iraq long before the 11 September attacks triggered a more aggressive focus to US foreign policy, saying his administration was “for regime change”.
US ready to seize Gulf oil in 1973
2 January 2004 | BBC NewsThe United States considered using force to seize oilfields in the Middle East during an oil embargo by Arab states in 1973, according to British government documents just made public.
Revealed: how MI6 sold the Iraq war
28 December 2003 | TimesThe Secret Intelligence Service has run an operation to gain public support for sanctions and the use of military force in Iraq. The government yesterday confirmed that MI6 had organised Operation Mass Appeal, a campaign to plant stories in the media about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.
Still no mass weapons, no ties to 9/11, no truth
17 December 2003 | Boston GlobeThe invasion was still a lie. The capture of Saddam Hussein changes nothing about that. There were too many forked tongues in the road to his lair. The way we removed the dictator, we became a global dictatorship.
Terror Watch: Dubious Link Between Atta and Saddam
16 December 2003 | NewsweekA Document Tying The Iraqi Leader With The 9/11 Terrorist Is Probably Fake. Plus, How Terror Financiers Manage To Stay In Business.
Wash. Congressman questions Saddam timing
16 December 2003 | Associated PressThe Washington congressman who criticized President Bush while visiting Baghdad last year has questioned the timing of the capture of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Bush may yet wish Saddam had been killed
16 December 2003 | AgeAt trial, the tyrant could reveal embarrassing secrets about his past warm dealings with the US, writes Amin Saikal.
Jessica Lynch Captures Saddam: Ex-dictator Demands Back Pay from Baker
14 December 2003 | Greg PalastFormer Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein was taken into custody yesterday at approximately 8:30pm Baghdad time. Various television executives, White House spin doctors and propaganda experts at the Pentagon are at this time wrestling with the question of whether to claim PFC Jessica Lynch seized the ex-potentate or that Saddam surrendered after close hand-to-hand combat with current Iraqi strongman Paul Bremer III.
GCHQ whistleblower charged
14 November 2003 | GuardianA sacked GCHQ employee charged yesterday under the Official Secrets Act said last night that her alleged disclosures exposed serious wrongdoing by the US and could have helped to prevent the deaths of Iraqis and British forces in an “illegal war”.
David Kelly and Victoria's Secret
12 November 2003 | Medium RareNo, it's not the Victoria's Secret of the soft porn lingerie ads. This is a different Victoria who may have innocently provided the final impetus for the assassination of David Kelly.
Blair waged war illegally, say leading lawyers
2 November 2003 | IndependentTony Blair is facing a formal complaint to the international war-crimes tribunal by a panel of senior international legal experts for unlawfully waging war in Iraq.
Where are the missing billions?
30 October 2003 | GuardianChristian Aid journalist Dominic Nutt calls for accountability from Iraq reconstruction funds.
Cheney's hawks ‘hijacking policy’
30 October 2003 | Sydney Morning HeraldA former Pentagon officer turned whistleblower says a group of hawks in the Bush Administration, including the Vice-President, Dick Cheney, is running a shadow foreign policy, contravening Washington's official line.
Chomsky: Bush may invent another ‘threat’
30 October 2003 | ReutersLeading linguist and commentator Noam Chomsky has said President George Bush will have to “manufacture” another threat to American security to win re-election in 2004 after US failure in occupying Iraq.
The Murder of David Kelly (part two)
19 October 2003 | Medium RareIn this last part, we will look at Kelly's involvement in and/or knowledge of the secrets of several governments so explosive that once he was adjudged “unreliable” he had to be eliminated.
Iraqi oil reaches California / Likely that Basra crude already in state's gas pumps
15 October 2003 | San Francisco ChronicleYour car could be running on gasoline made from Iraqi oil.
The Murder of David Kelly (part one)
14 October 2003 | Medium RareThis first part lays out the case from the evidence presented in the Hutton inquiry why the death of Dr. David Kelly was not by suicide. Part two will show the reasons, in this writer's opinion, Dr. Kelly was killed.
Cook: Blair Knew We Had No War Evidence
6 October 2003 | MirrorFormer Minister's Written Memoir of Destruction blasts PM saying Blair ‘knew before war Saddam didn't have any usable weapons’.
Cook: ‘Blair admitted to me that Saddam had no usable WMD’
5 October 2003 | TelegraphTony Blair privately admitted that Saddam Hussein could not attack British or United States troops with chemical or biological weapons two weeks before Britain went to war against Iraq, Robin Cook alleges today.
Survey Group head's link to arms industry
5 October 2003 | IndependentFor at least 10 years David Kay, head of the Iraq Survey Group, has staked his professional and business reputation on the case that Iraq was a serious threat.
1,200 weapons inspectors spent 90 days in Iraq. The exercise cost $300m. And the number of weapons found? 0
3 October 2003 | IndependentFive months after the end of the war in Iraq, a CIA adviser has admitted that his 1,200-strong team of inspectors has discovered none of Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction.
Oil, war and a growing sense of panic in the US
1 October 2003 | IndependentDon't tell me that America would have invaded Iraq if its chief export was beetroot.
U.S. can't hide concern for Iraq's oil
1 October 2003 | Seattle PIOil is slippery stuff but not as slippery as the figures being peddled by Iraq's U.S. occupiers.
Oil companies step up development talks
29 September 2003 | Financial TimesInternational oil companies are stepping up discussions over the development of Iraqi oil fields under Ibrahim Mohammed Bahar al-Uloum, the country's new oil minister, and Robert McKee, the US's newly-appointed lead adviser on oil matters there.
BP and Shell lined up to redevelop Iraq's oilfields
28 September 2003 | IndependentBP and Shell are among a select group of energy majors who are to be invited by the interim Iraqi government to invest in redeveloping the war-torn country's oilfields.
CIA paid mullahs to counter anti-US feeling
24 September 2003 | ScotsmanThe CIA paid mullahs and created fake Islamic religious leaders to preach a moderate message and counter anti-American sentiment in the Arab world after the 11 September attacks, a new book claims.
The Big Lie
22 September 2003 | MirrorJohn Pilger Reveals WMDs Were Just a Pretext for Planned War on Iraq.
Straw ‘begged Blair’ not to join Iraq war
14 September 2003 | ScotsmanTony Blair found himself embroiled in a fresh Iraq crisis last night after it was claimed Foreign Secretary Jack Straw made a desperate last-minute plea for him to call off the war.
ITN's Terry: Shock New Evidence
10 September 2003 | MirrorWitness claims newsman killed by U.S. helicopter in SECOND attack.
Venezuela says OPEC will exclude Iraq until it is recognized by the United Nations
9 September 2003 | VHeadlineGulf News reports that Venezuela has joined other Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cartel members to decide that Iraq's status as a future OPEC member in the hands of the United Nations (UN) and NOT the United States of America.
Meacher sparks fury over claims on September 11 and Iraq war
6 September 2003 | GuardianMichael Meacher, who served as a minister for six years until three months ago, today goes further than any other mainstream British politician in blaming the Iraq war on a US desire for domination of the Gulf and the world.
Ex-minister attacks US over war
6 September 2003 | BBC NewsFormer minister Michael Meacher has blamed the Iraq war on the US desire for world domination.
Michael Meacher: This war on terrorism is bogus
6 September 2003 | GuardianThe 9/11 attacks gave the US an ideal pretext to use force to secure its global domination.
Most of U.S. forces withdrawn from Saudi Arabia
28 August 2003 | Associated PressThe Pentagon has withdrawn most of its forces from the strategic Mideast nation of Saudi Arabia, ending a decade-long buildup started after the first war against Iraq's Saddam Hussein.
US asks Israel to explore reopening Iraq pipeline
26 August 2003 | ScotsmanThe United States has asked Israel to explore reviving a pipeline route pumping oil from Iraq direct to the oil refineries in the Israeli port of Haifa.
Revealed: how ministers tried to gag David Kelly
24 August 2003 | IndependentThe Government went to extraordinary lengths to gag Dr David Kelly because of fears that he would expose fundamental flaws in its case for war.
It's official — Saddam was not an imminent threat
23 August 2003 | GuardianHutton's remit was narrow — yet he has exposed the truth about the Iraq war.
Australian case for Iraq war was ‘fabricated’
23 August 2003 | IndependentThe Australian government “skewed, misrepresented, used selectively and fabricated” the intelligence used to justify its decision to send troops to Iraq, a parliamentary inquiry in Canberra was told yesterday.
Australia too ‘sexed up’ defence dossier
22 August 2003 | RediffA former Australian intelligence officer has accused Canberra of exaggerating the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction in possession of Saddam Hussein's regime, reports CNN.
US warned a week ago about Baghdad UN bomb
20 August 2003 | IndependentUS authorities in Iraq were warned last week that a large-scale terrorist attack on a ‘soft’ target in Baghdad was being planned.
No 10 knew: Iraq no threat
19 August 2003 | GuardianOne of the prime minister's closest advisers issued a private warning that it would be wrong for Tony Blair to claim Iraq's banned weapons programme showed Saddam Hussein presented an “imminent threat” to the west or even his Arab neighbours.
To the Victors Go the Spoils of War
8 August 2003 | CorpWatchBritish Petroleum, Shell and Chevron Win Iraqi Oil Contracts.
As ordered, it's about oil
8 August 2003 | San Francisco ChronicleA potentially explosive executive order has just been discovered by SEEN, the Sustainable Energy and Economy Network. Signed on May 22, it appears to give U.S. oil companies in Iraq blanket immunity from lawsuits and criminal prosecution.
Bush's oil move backfires
5 August 2003 | GuardianNow he will have to try diplomacy.
MoD tried to burn Kelly ‘media plan’
2 August 2003 | TelegraphMinistry of Defence officials were preparing to destroy a “media plan” about Dr David Kelly three days after his death, the Telegraph learned yesterday.
MoD Tried to Destroy Kelly Files
2 August 2003 | MirrorDefence chiefs were preparing to burn paperwork with Dr David Kelly's name on it three days after his death, it emerged last night.
The Bush Administration's Top 40 Lies about War and Terrorism
30 July 2003 | City PagesThis was truly a collaborative effort from start to finish. It began with the notion of running a week-long marathon of Bush administration lies at my online Bush Wars column.
US killed Uday, Qusay to cover up past dealings
30 July 2003 | Associated PressTroops could have captured Saddam's sons alive, says Syrian official.
Crude Vision: The Secret History of the Aqaba Pipeline
29 July 2003 | Guerrilla News NetworkThe real reason Donald Rumsfeld was sent to Baghdad in December 1983: Rumsfeld, under direct instructions from the White House, was there to convince Saddam Hussein to approve a highly lucrative, and highly secret, oil pipeline project from Iraq to Jordan.
Dr Kelly's Final Hours Did Not Indicate Suicide
21 July 2003 | ScoopIn the 48 hours since the death of UK WMD scientist David Kelly several key pieces of evidence concerning his final hours and frame of mind have now come to light.
Kelly ‘warned of dark actors' games’
19 July 2003 | BBC NewsIraq weapons expert Dr David Kelly reportedly warned of “many dark actors playing games” in an e-mail sent hours before he bled to death from a slashed wrist.
The spies who pushed for war
17 July 2003 | GuardianJulian Borger reports on the shadow rightwing intelligence network set up in Washington to second-guess the CIA and deliver a justification for toppling Saddam Hussein by force.
Cheney Energy Task Force Documents Feature Map of Iraqi Oilfields
17 July 2003 | Judicial WatchCommerce & State Department Reports to Task Force Detail Oilfield & Gas Projects, Contracts & Exploration; Saudi Arabian & UAE Oil Facilities Profiled As Well.
20 Lies About the War
13 July 2003 | IndependentFalsehoods ranging from exaggeration to plain untruth were used to make the case for war. More lies are being used in the aftermath.
Outrage at US plan to mortgage Iraqi oil
13 July 2003 | ObserverAmerican plans to mortgage Iraq's future oil supplies to pay for expensive postwar reconstruction work risk a repeat of mistakes made with Germany after the First World War, debt relief campaigners said this weekend.
U.S., UK giants get bulk of Iraqi crude
10 July 2003 | Gulf NewsBP PLC and Royal Dutch/Shell Group said yesterday they have each won the right to purchase 2 million barrels of Iraqi crude in what industry sources said was the first sale of crude pumped in Iraq since war ended.
Lying Pays Off
10 July 2003 | News InsiderNeo-Cons Learn from Past Nazi Leaders.
CIA and DoD Attempted To Plant WMDs in Iraq, and Failed
2 July 2003 | Environmentalists Against WarAccording to a stunning report posted by a retired Navy Lt. Commander and 28-year veteran of the Defense Department, the Bush administration's assurance about finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was based on a CIA plan to “plant” WMDs inside the country. Nelda Rogers, the Pentagon whistleblower, claims the plan failed when the secret mission was mistakenly taken out by “friendly fire.”
Galloway papers deemed forgeries
30 June 2003 | Christian Science MonitorIraq experts, ink-aging tests discredit documents behind earlier Monitor story.
Iraq-Israel oil pipeline ‘to reopen’
21 June 2003 | TelegraphIsrael's finance minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, predicted yesterday that the British-era oil pipeline from Iraq's northern oilfields through Jordan to the Israeli port city of Haifa would be reopened.
Paper apologises to Galloway
20 June 2003 | BBC NewsAn American newspaper has apologised to Glasgow Labour MP George Galloway after alleging that he accepted millions of pounds from Saddam Hussein.
Without WMDs, it's got to be the oil
20 June 2003 | Seattle PIOil is to die for. More to the point, oil is precious enough for the government to send off your children, your husbands, your wives, your partners, your brothers and your sisters to die for. That is a rapidly escalating conclusion as American soldiers continue to die at the rate of one a day in Iraq without any major perturbation in Congress or disturbance from the American people.
Short: I was briefed on Blair's secret war pact
18 June 2003 | GuardianSenior figures in the intelligence community and across Whitehall briefed the former international development secretary Clare Short that Tony Blair had made a secret agreement last summer with George Bush to invade Iraq in February or March, she claimed yesterday.
ChevronTexaco wins Iraq contract
13 June 2003 | San Francisco ChronicleChevronTexaco and five other companies have won contracts for 10 million barrels of Iraqi crude, paving the way for the first oil exports from that nation since just before U.S. and British forces attacked in March.
No Iraq at OPEC Until U.S. Leaves Baghdad
11 June 2003 | ReutersOPEC cannot permit Iraq to attend meetings of the cartel while Baghdad remains under the rule of an occupying U.S.-led authority, oil ministers said on Wednesday.
Revealed: the secret cabal which spun for Blair
8 June 2003 | Sunday HeraldBritain ran a covert ‘dirty tricks’ operation designed specifically to produce misleading intelligence that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction to give the UK a justifiable excuse to wage war on Iraq.
U.S. troops intercept 3rd ‘gold truck’ fleeing Iraq
8 June 2003 | Orlando SentinelAnother battered truck hauling what appears to be a dazzling fortune in gold bars was stopped at a routine U.S. Army checkpoint in Iraq on Wednesday, the third such cache of bullion seized in two weeks.
Iraq returns to international oil market
5 June 2003 | Financial TimesIraq on Thursday stepped back into the international oil market for the first time since the war, offering 10m barrels of oil from its storage tanks for sale to the highest bidder.
Bush special office ‘justified war’
31 May 2003 | GuardianAfter the revelations that both Jack Straw and Colin Powell were concerned about the flimsy nature of intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, attention has focused on the US unit set up to make the case for war.
Blair ‘ignored advice that occupation is illegal’
22 May 2003 | TimesTony Blair has ignored the Government's own legal advice that the British-American occupation of Iraq is in breach of international law, it was alleged last night.
US troops ‘encouraged’ Iraqi looters
6 May 2003 | BBC NewsGeneral Tommy Franks is threatened with a Belgian war crimes trial alleging US troops failed to prevent looting in Iraq. BBC News Online uncovers evidence suggesting his soldiers even egged on some looters.
Bechtel tied to bin Ladens
5 May 2003 | CNN MoneyThe Bush administration launched a war on terror because of the alleged acts of Osama bin Laden. Ironically, one of the companies the administration has picked to rebuild Iraq after the latest phase of that war has ties to bin Laden's family, according to a published report.
U.S., U.K. Waged War on Iraq Because of Oil, Blair Adviser Says
1 May 2003 | BloombergThe U.S. and U.K. went to war against Iraq because of the Middle East country's oil reserves, an adviser to British Prime Minister Tony Blair said.
Military to leave Saudi Arabia: U.S. moving amid strained relations
30 April 2003 | Chicago TribuneMarking the end of an era, the United States will soon withdraw about 7,000 U.S. military personnel from Saudi Arabia and terminate a significant military presence there that lasted more than a decade, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced Tuesday.
US pulls out of Saudi Arabia
29 April 2003 | BBC NewsThe United States has said that virtually all its troops, except some training personnel, are to be pulled out of Saudi Arabia.
Straw: ‘Iraq May Not Have WMDs’
29 April 2003 | MirrorMixed message paves way for search failure.
Securing Iraqi oil for Israel: The plot thickens
25 April 2003 | Daily StarMosul-Haifa pipeline said to be high on US agenda.
It's the Oil, Stupid
24 April 2003 | NationOn the second day of the invasion of Iraq, US commandos seized two Iraqi offshore oil terminals in the Persian Gulf, capturing their defenders without a fight. “Swooping silently out of the Persian Gulf night,” exulted James Dao of the New York Times, Navy SEALs claimed “a bloodless victory in the battle for Iraq's vast oil empire.”
Oil from Iraq: An Israeli pipedream?
16 April 2003 | Foreign ReportIsrael stands to benefit greatly from the US led war on Iraq, primarily by getting rid of an implacable foe in President Saddam Hussein and the threat from the weapons of mass destruction he was alleged to possess. But it seems the Israelis have other things in mind.
Secret deals alleged between US, Iraqi generals
14 April 2003 | Press Trust of IndiaThe low level of resistance against the US-led invasion could be because Iraqi generals struck secret deals with Washington, Russia's Ambassador in Iraq, Vladimir Titorenko who returned home from the war-zone said today.
Iran continues to raise secret deal claim
14 April 2003 | Gulf NewsAn Iranian news agency close to top conservative military figures attributed the fall of Baghdad to a secret tripartite agreement between Saddam Hussain, Russia and the U.S.
Saddam Key in Early CIA Plot
11 April 2003 | United Press InternationalU.S. forces in Baghdad might now be searching high and low for Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, but in the past Saddam was seen by U.S. intelligence services as a bulwark of anti-communism and they used him as their instrument for more than 40 years, according to former U.S. intelligence diplomats and intelligence officials.
It Was All Planned Long Ago
8 April 2003 | MirrorTake pride in the courage of Our Boys, feel relieved your building society shares are soaring, and enjoy the Hollywood choreography as America raises the Stars and Stripes in Baghdad.
Blair told Bush: Taliban, then Iraq
4 April 2003 | Evening StandardTony Blair had to persuade George Bush to tackle the Taliban before attacking Iraq in the weeks after September 11, the former British Ambassador to Washington has revealed.
Battle of the Washington think tanks
3 April 2003 | BBC NewsWhile the tanks are moving towards Baghdad, the Washington think tanks are manoeuvring for influence in shaping the interpretation of the war.
Candidate for Production Job is a Retired Shell Executive
2 April 2003 | New York TimesA former chief executive of the Shell Oil Company appears to be the leading contender to oversee Iraqi oil production after the fall of Saddam Hussein, industry experts who spoke to the Bush administration said yesterday.
Oil War
26 March 2003 | Money Programme, BBCThe advocates of war insist it's not about oil. But global oil production is on the brink of terminal decline and when the West begins to run short of supplies — Iraq could be a lifeline.
Rumsfeld Ignored WMDs In Pursuit Of Oil Pipeline
24 March 2003 | Institute for Policy StudiesRumsfeld Ignored Weapons of Mass Destruction in Pursuit of Oil Pipeline; New Report Documents Hawks' Efforts on Bechtel's Behalf.
British manufacturer's weapons linked to hidden cache of missiles
24 March 2003 | ScotsmanBritish troops mopping up Iraqi opposition outside Basra have discovered a large cache of weapons, including Russian-made cruise missiles and warheads, hidden inside fortified bunkers at a massive arsenal abandoned by Saddam Hussein's disintegrating southern army.
Pentagon hawk linked to UK intelligence company
21 March 2003 | GuardianAmid general stock market jitters, one British company linked to the American hawk Richard Perle and dealing with secret intelligence is among the few UK commercial organisations that stand to profit from the Iraq war and its accompanying worldwide terrorist alert.
BP and Shell join official talks over potential reconstruction work in Iraq
15 March 2003 | ScotsmanOil giants BP and Shell were among a group of 15 British companies which met with government officials this week to lobby for lucrative reconstruction work in Iraq.
A Tyrant 40 Years in the Making
14 March 2003 | New York TimesOn the brink of war, both supporters and critics of United States policy on Iraq agree on the origins, at least, of the haunted relations that have brought us to this pass: America's dealings with Saddam Hussein, justifiable or not, began some two decades ago with its shadowy, expedient support of his regime in the Iraq-Iran war of the 1980's.
Thatcher backed British firm in building ‘chemical weapons’ plant in Iraq
13 March 2003 | World Socialist Web SiteDocuments newly disclosed by the Guardian newspaper in relation to the Falluja 2 plant are extremely embarrassing for both the British and by extension the US government. They reveal that the plant's building was undertaken by a British company and underwritten through insurance guarantees by the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher.
Were 1998 Memos a Blueprint for War?
10 March 2003 | ABC NewsYears before George W. Bush entered the White House, and years before the Sept. 11 attacks set the direction of his presidency, a group of influential neo-conservatives hatched a plan to get Saddam Hussein out of power.
Revealed: US dirty tricks to win vote on Iraq war
2 March 2003 | ObserverSecret document details American plan to bug phones and emails of key Security Council members.
Shaking Hands with Saddam Hussein
25 February 2003 | National Security ArchiveThe U.S. Tilts toward Iraq, 1980-1984.
Revealed: 17 British firms armed Saddam with his weapons
23 February 2003 | Sunday HeraldSeventeen British companies who supplied Iraq with nuclear, biological, chemical, rocket and conventional weapons technology are to be investigated and could face prosecution following a Sunday Herald investigation.
Russia pushing for more Iraq oil deals before war
21 February 2003 | ReutersRussia is planning a last-minute push to clinch new oilfield contracts with Iraq in the final weeks before any U.S.-led war against Baghdad, oil industry sources said on Friday.
The Saudis' Secret Iraq Plan
20 February 2003 | ABC NewsSaudis Make Secret Iraq Occupation Offer.
German minister slams US ‘war for oil’ policy
19 February 2003 | ReutersA German cabinet minister has poured fuel on the flames of a transatlantic row over Iraq by saying the United States is pursuing its own oil interests in its conflict with Baghdad.
What do the Imperial Mafia really want?
18 February 2003 | William BlumWhich is the more remarkable — that the United States can openly announce to the world its determination to invade a sovereign nation and overthrow its government in the absence of any attack or threat of attack from the intended target? Or that for an entire year the world has been striving to figure out what the superpower's real intentions are?
Battle looming over post-Saddam oil
17 February 2003 | Agence France-PresseAs the growing beat of war drums sounds the threat of war in Iraq, international oil majors and their governments are preparing for the battle to stake claims on Iraq's vast oil reserves, the second-biggest in the world.
Blair's Betrayal: Part 2
11 February 2003 | ZNetIn Part 1 we showed how Tony Blair profoundly misled the British public on the ‘threat’ posed by Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction (WMD) during a recent BBC2 Newsnight interview and debate.
Questions over US troops' Saudi future
10 February 2003 | BBC NewsSaudi Arabia says a report suggesting it will ask United States forces to leave after the Iraq crisis is speculative. The New York Times reported on Sunday that the decision was the result of a far-reaching debate within the ruling family about the country's future.
Oil, Currency and the War on Iraq
6 February 2003 | Cóilín NunanIt will not come as news to anyone that the US dominates the world economically and militarily. But the exact mechanisms by which American hegemony has been established and maintained are perhaps less well understood than they might be. One tool used to great effect has been the dollar, but its efficacy has recently been under threat since Europe introduced the euro.
A War Crime Or an Act of War?
31 January 2003 | New York TimesAll we know for certain is that Kurds were bombarded with poison gas that day at Halabja. We cannot say with any certainty that Iraqi chemical weapons killed the Kurds. This is not the only distortion in the Halabja story.
France & Russia warned: support US war on Iraq or no Iraqi oil
27 January 2003 | Oil and Gas InternationalFrance and Russia have been warned they must support the US military invasion and occupation of Iraq if they want access to Iraqi oilfields in a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq.
US buys up Iraqi oil to stave off crisis
26 January 2003 | ObserverSeizing reserves will be an allied priority if forces go in.
US warns that bioterror attack is inevitable
26 January 2003 | Financial TimesThe US warned on Sunday night that a bioterrorist attack that could kill thousands was inevitable and urged industrial and developing nations to spend tens of billions of dollars more to gear up medical systems to cope with the threat.
Iraq's beleaguered oil industry
23 January 2003 | BBC NewsWith the world's second largest oil reserves, Iraq has vast potential to help feed the global thirst for oil. But after two decades of war and sanctions, the industry desperately needs funds only foreign investors can offer.
UK signals push to secure Iraqi oilfields
8 January 2003 | Sydney Morning HeraldAs United States and British forces accelerate their build-up for war against Saddam Hussein, control of Iraq's huge oil reserves after any conflict has emerged explicitly as an issue in the campaign.
Turkey sets sights on oilfields
8 January 2003 | AgeTurkey, one of Washington's most important allies against Saddam Hussein, believes it may have a historical stake in Iraq's northern oilfields.
Straw admits oil is key priority
7 January 2003 | GuardianThe foreign secretary, Jack Straw, yesterday pinpointed for the first time security of energy sources as a key priority of British foreign policy. Mr Straw listed energy as one of seven foreign policy priorities when he addressed a meeting of 150 British ambassadors in London.
Oil-field takeover, trials of top Iraqis part of U.S. plan
6 January 2003 | New York TimesBush aides see extended military presence.
Depending on oil
6 January 2003 | Financial TimesIs the US really after Iraq's oil, rather than Saddam Hussein's weapons?
Rumsfeld ‘offered help to Saddam’
31 December 2002 | GuardianThe Reagan administration and its special Middle East envoy, Donald Rumsfeld, did little to stop Iraq developing weapons of mass destruction in the 1980s, even though they knew Saddam Hussein was using chemical weapons “almost daily” against Iran, it was reported yesterday.
How US helped Iraq build deadly arsenal
31 December 2002 | TimesDonald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary and one of the most strident critics of Saddam Hussein, met the Iraqi President in 1983 to ease the way for US companies to sell Baghdad biological and chemical weapons components, including anthrax and bubonic plague cultures, according to newly declassified US Government documents.
America tore out 8,000 pages of Iraq dossier
22 December 2002 | Sunday HeraldThe United States edited out more than 8,000 crucial pages of Iraq's 11,800-page dossier on weapons, before passing on a sanitized version to the 10 non-permanent members of the United Nations security council.
Full list of companies that supplied weapons to Iraq
19 December 2002 | Die TageszeitungCountries include: USA, China, France, Great Britain, Russia, Japan, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Sweden.
British suppliers ‘named in Iraqi dossier’
18 December 2002 | Financial TimesSeventeen British companies are named in Iraq's 12,000-page declaration to the United Nations as having helped Baghdad's weapons programmes, a German newspaper reports on Thursday.
Crucial US allies on Iraq fall out over oil
1 November 2002 | GuardianTwo of the United States' closest strategic allies in its campaign against Saddam Hussein — Turkey and the autonomous Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq — have fallen out amid a chorus of belligerent pre-election rhetoric.
Dear Saddam, my firm would be delighted to do business...
31 October 2002 | GuardianAs the reviled leader of a country crippled by sanctions and open to invasion, Saddam Hussein does not automatically spring to mind as a good business prospect. But yesterday it emerged that the Iraqi president's email in-box contains not only thousands of eulogies but a surprising number of offers from western companies seeking work.
US warned not to seize control of Iraqi oil
31 October 2002 | Sydney Morning HeraldThe chief executive of BP, Lord Browne, has warned Washington not to carve up Iraq for its own oil companies in the aftermath of any future war.
Wheels Come Off U.S. War Plans for Iraq
28 October 2002 | From The WildernessAdministration Making Riskier, More Volatile Moves to Begin “All or Nothing” Gamble for Iraqi Oilfields.
Iraqis target Prince Andrew at arms fair
17 October 2002 | GuardianPrince Andrew had an embarrassing encounter with an Iraqi delegation in Jordan yesterday while attending an arms fair to promote British exports.
Outrage as Iraq views UK arms
13 October 2002 | ObserverPeace campaigners angered as Saddam's top brass ‘rub shoulders’ with British firms at weapons bazaar.
Post-Saddam Iraq could sell more oil — White House
11 October 2002 | ReutersThe White House said Friday that a new Iraqi government that abided by international norms would be in a position to sell more oil as well as other products around the world.
Postwar Iraqi oil plan
11 October 2002 | Daily NewsU.S. energy industry experts are poised to modernize Iraq's vast oil production facilities to help cover the tab for billions of dollars in postwar reconstruction.
Germans ‘shopped for guns for Iraq’
10 October 2002 | TimesGermany's role in helping to rearm Iraq will come under fresh scrutiny after two businessmen were accused of acquiring equipment for President Saddam Hussein's much-coveted supercannon.
Oil has always been top of Bush's foreign-policy agenda
7 October 2002 | Sydney Morning HeraldAs the United States prepares for war with Iraq, a report commissioned early in George Bush's presidency has surfaced, showing that the US knew it was running out of oil and foreshadowing the possible need for military intervention to secure supplies.
LUKoil Gets Guarantees Over Iraq
7 October 2002 | Moscow TimesPresident Vladimir Putin has assured LUKoil, the nation's largest oil producer, that its valuable assets in Iraq will be protected whether or not Saddam Hussein is driven from power, LUKoil president Vagit Alekperov told the Financial Times in an interview published Friday.
Official: US oil at the heart of Iraq crisis
6 October 2002 | Sunday HeraldPresident Bush's Cabinet agreed in April 2001 that ‘Iraq remains a destabilizing influence to the flow of oil to international markets from the Middle East’ and because this is an unacceptable risk to the US ‘military intervention’ is necessary.
Scramble to carve up Iraqi oil reserves lies behind US diplomacy
6 October 2002 | ObserverManoeuvres shaped by horsetrading between America, Russia and France over control of untapped oilfields.
In Iraq War, to the Victor Goes the Oil
4 October 2002 | ABC NewsSaddam Hussein is sitting on a gold mine — the second-largest oil reserve in the world — and everyone wants a piece of it.
‘The Right to Bomb Niggers’
1 October 2002 | Adam Porter, GNN“Britain reserves the right to bomb niggers.” It isn't a well known policy of the British government, it rarely makes it into party manifestos before elections. Not even in the small print, only in the deceptions. Only in the decisions.
What the White House really wants
28 September 2002 | Sydney Morning HeraldThe unifying element in an often-contradictory US foreign policy is the dream of toppling OPEC and controlling the world oil market. And Iraq is the key, writes Paul McGeough from Riyadh.
Oil companies waiting to pounce in Iraq
27 September 2002 | New Zealand HeraldOil companies around the world are manoeuvring themselves for the multibillion-dollar bonanza that would follow the ousting of Saddam Hussein.
S Africa denies Iraq nuclear link
26 September 2002 | BBC NewsThe South African government says categorically it has not been approached to sell uranium to Iraq. South Africa's deputy foreign minister Aziz Pahad says his government will ask the British Government to clarify “vague statements” made in Prime Minister Tony Blair's Iraq dossier published this week.
Russia fears US oil companies will take over world's second-biggest reserves
26 September 2002 | IndependentOil companies from around the world are manoeuvring for the multibillion-dollar bonanza that would follow the ousting of Saddam Hussein.
Iraq takes journalists on tour to expose Blair ‘lies’
25 September 2002 | IndependentAt the al-Qa'qa complex, 30 miles south of Baghdad, one of Iraq's main centres for producing nerve agents — according to Tony Blair's “dossier” — the director-general, Sinan Rasim Said, declared yesterday he would welcome United Nations inspectors to expose the “lies”.
Ashcroft's Baghdad Connection
25 September 2002 | NewsweekWhen the White House released its Sept. 12 “white paper” detailing Saddam Hussein's “support for international terrorism,” it caused more than a little discomfort in some quarters of Washington.
The word from the CIA: it's the oil, stupid
23 September 2002 | AgeWho should be more worried, asks Kenneth Davidson, Saddam; or the French and Russian oil companies presently in Iraq?
U.S. plans war to control Iraq's oil wealth: experts
23 September 2002 | Indo-Asian News ServiceThe U.S. is talking of war with Iraq not because Baghdad has allegedly amassed weapons of mass destruction but to control the country's huge oil reserves, say Indian analysts and oil industry sources.
Saudi Arabia Pressures Saddam
16 September 2002 | CBS NewsIn a shift likely to put more pressure on Saddam Hussein, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said Sunday that U.S. forces may have access to bases in the kingdom to attack Iraq — provided military action has United Nations endorsement.
Saddam ouster near, firms eye Iraq oil fields
16 September 2002 | Indian ExpressIraqi President Saddam Hussein's ouster by the US could benefit American oil companies long banished from Iraq, scuttling Baghdad's oil deals with Russia and France among other countries and reshuffling world petroleum markets.
Bush planned Iraq ‘regime change’ before becoming President
15 September 2002 | Sunday HeraldA secret blueprint for US global domination reveals that President Bush and his cabinet were planning a premeditated attack on Iraq to secure ‘regime change’ even before he took power in January 2001.
In Iraqi War Scenario, Oil Is Key Issue
15 September 2002 | Washington PostU.S. Drillers Eye Huge Petroleum Pool.
Spotlight on detained Kurd leader
14 September 2002 | BBC NewsSeveral countries have shown an interest in the leader of a Kurdish rebel group with alleged links to al-Qaeda, who has been arrested in the Netherlands.
Exclusive: Scott Ritter in His Own Words
14 September 2002 | TimeTime's Massimo Calabresi asked the voluble former marine about his recent private trip to Baghdad, Jane Fonda, and accusations he's a spy for Israel, Iraq or Russia.
U.S. Supplies, Calibrates and Endorses Use of Chemical Weapons in Iraq
10 September 2002 | American Gulf War Veterans AssociationAs the Bush administration works to gain world support to conduct a pre-emptive strike against Iraq, new disturbing information has surfaced with regard to U.S. involvement in the development of Iraq's chemical and biological weapons program.
Former weapons inspector: Iraq not a threat
9 September 2002 | CNNFormer U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter told the Iraqi National Assembly on Sunday that his country, the United States, “seems to be on the verge of making a historical mistake” in its calls for ousting Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
How did Iraq get its weapons? We sold them
8 September 2002 | Sunday HeraldThe US and Britain sold Saddam Hussein the technology and materials Iraq needed to develop nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction.
US pushes Middle East arms sales
6 September 2002 | BBC NewsThe US has recommended that Congress approve $2.86bn in arms deals with foreign countries including Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. The sales come as the US escalates its military action in Iraq and threatens to start a war.
The enemy of my enemy is my customer: Iraq and the Bush administrations
5 September 2002 | Online JournalSaddam Hussein received tremendous help from Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, and from US corporations, and continues to receive passive economic assistance from the current Bush administration.
Mo Mowlam: The real goal is the seizure of Saudi oil
5 September 2002 | GuardianIraq is no threat. Bush wants war to keep US control of the region.
US helped as Saddam plotted chemical attacks, report says
19 August 2002 | GuardianThe US conducted a covert military campaign to help Iraq during its war with Iran, despite knowing that Baghdad intended to use chemical weapons in a number of battles, according to a report in the New York Times.
The logic of empire
6 August 2002 | GuardianThe US is now a threat to the rest of the world. The sensible response is non-cooperation.
Iran renews call for oil embargo
30 April 2002 | BBC NewsThe Iranian oil minister has renewed his country's call for Islamic states to impose an oil embargo on Israel and its allies in support of the Palestinians.
Scott Ritter
19 March 2002 | SalonThe controversial former chief U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq says Saddam's weapons of mass destruction are largely disarmed, the “Iraqi threat” is built on a framework of lies and President Bush has betrayed the American people.
Halliburton's Iraq Deals Greater Than Cheney Has Said: Affiliates Had $73 Million in Contracts
23 June 2001 | Washington PostAccording to oil industry executives and confidential United Nations records, Halliburton held stakes in two firms that signed contracts to sell more than $73 million in oil production equipment and spare parts to Iraq while Cheney was chairman and chief executive officer of the Dallas-based company.
The campaign issue that wasn't
13 November 2000 | San Francisco Bay GuardianDuring former defense secretary Richard Cheney's five-year tenure as chief executive of Halliburton, Inc., his oil services firm raked in big bucks from dubious commercial dealings with Iraq. Cheney left Halliburton with a $34 million retirement package last July when he became the GOP's vice-presidential candidate.
U.S. Firms Aiding Iraqi Oil Industry
20 February 2000 | Washington PostCommerce With Baghdad Grows Quietly as Washington Urges Regime Change.
US Ambassador to Iraq April Glaspie
27 May 1999 | Christian Science MonitorEight days before his Aug. 2, 1990, invasion of Kuwait, Saddam Hussein met with April Glaspie, then America's ambassador to Iraq. It was the last high-level contact between the two countries before Iraq went to war. From a translation of Iraq's transcript of the meeting, released that September, press and pundits concluded that Ms. Glaspie had (in effect) given Saddam a green light to invade.
‘Undercover Mossad agents’ in UN team
3 November 1998 | BBC NewsA UK MP has said that four members of the United Nations weapons inspection team in Iraq are Israeli spies.
The PNAC Iraq Letter sent to President Clinton in 1998
26 January 1998 | Project for the New American CenturyLetter sent from neoconservatives to President Clinton regarding Iraq and American ‘interests’ that must be protected.
Saddam's ‘Green Light’
1996 | ConsortiumIn 1980, Iraq's Saddam Hussein was suddenly a bigtime international ‘player,’ invited to the gaudy palaces of the Saudi Arabian monarchy. But there was an ulterior motive behind the flattering invitation: Saddam's army was the new protector of the petro-rich against the Iranian hordes.
Saudi Arabia
9/11 lawsuits bill causes Saudi Arabia ‘great concern’
29 September 2016 | BBC NewsSaudi Arabia's foreign ministry has said it is a matter of “great concern” that 9/11 relatives in the US may be able to sue the kingdom for damages.
Bandar “Bush” Named as 9/11 Planner in 28 Pages
15 July 2016 | Veterans TodayThe long-awaited 28 pages of a 2002 congressional report on the 9/11 attacks have been released. The document indicates that prominent members of the Saudi Arabian government were involved in planning and financing the terror attacks.
British and US military ‘in command room’ for Saudi strikes on Yemen
15 January 2016 | GuardianSaudi Arabian foreign minister also reveals UK and American officials have access to lists of targets, but do not choose them.
Documents Back Saudi Link to Extremists
23 June 2009 | New York TimesDocuments gathered by lawyers for the families of Sept. 11 victims provide new evidence of extensive financial support for Al Qaeda and other extremist groups by members of the Saudi royal family, but the material may never find its way into court because of legal and diplomatic obstacles.
Pinning the blame for 9/11
31 May 2008 | InquirerSpecial Report: A Phila. law firm wages an epic legal battle to win billions from Saudi Arabia.
BAE: secret papers reveal threats from Saudi prince
15 February 2008 | GuardianSaudi Arabia's rulers threatened to make it easier for terrorists to attack London unless corruption investigations into their arms deals were halted, according to court documents revealed yesterday.
Bush told Blair of ‘going beyond Iraq’
15 October 2005 | GuardianGeorge Bush told Tony Blair shortly before the invasion of Iraq that he intended to target other countries, including Saudi Arabia, which, he implied, planned to acquire weapons of mass destruction.
Blair in secret Saudi mission
27 September 2005 | GuardianTony Blair and John Reid, the defence secretary, have been holding secret talks with Saudi Arabia in pursuit of a huge arms deal worth up to £40bn, according to diplomatic sources.
U.S. Told Saudis to Let Al-Qaida Gunmen Escape Says Official
3 June 2004 | ScotsmanSaudi authorities gave safe passage to three al-Qaida gunmen after the they killed 10 of the hostages they were holding at a hotel in the oil hub of Khobar, a senior security official said.
The Saudi Connection
29 October 2003 | the fifth estate, CBC NewsIs it a conspiracy or a coincidence? There is a long and tangled history between the Bush family and the elite of Saudi Arabia.
US world leader in arms sales, Saudi Arabia no 1 buyer
15 October 2003 | Agence France-PresseThe United States sells more arms than any other country, and Saudi Arabia leads the world for buying arms among developing countries, a report from the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) said Wednesday.
Saudi Arabia's Dubious Denials of Involvement in International Terrorism
1 October 2003 | Jerusalem Center for Public AffairsThis analysis was intended to disclose the critical role of Saudi Arabia in providing ideological and financial support for the new terrorism.
Saudi princes ‘linked’ to bin Laden
1 September 2003 | TelegraphStrained Saudi-US relations were dealt another blow yesterday with the publication of allegations directly linking Osama bin Laden to leading Saudi princes.
Most of U.S. forces withdrawn from Saudi Arabia
28 August 2003 | Associated PressThe Pentagon has withdrawn most of its forces from the strategic Mideast nation of Saudi Arabia, ending a decade-long buildup started after the first war against Iraq's Saddam Hussein.
Report Links Saudis To 9/11
2 August 2003 | Los Angeles TimesThe 27 pages deleted from a congressional report on the Sept. 11 attacks depict a Saudi government that not only provided significant money and aid to the suicide hijackers, but also allowed potentially hundreds of millions of dollars to flow to al-Qaida and other terrorist groups through suspect charities and other fronts, according to sources familiar with the document.
Saudis meet Bush for 9/11 talks
29 July 2003 | BBC NewsSaudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal is in Washington for talks with President George W Bush about a controversial US report that linked Saudi Arabia to the 11 September attacks. The 900-page congressional report released last week suggested that people connected to the Saudi Government might have given financial support to the hijackers.
Shell, Total and Saudis strike historic gas deal
18 July 2003 | Bangkok PostRoyal/Dutch Shell and Total on Wednesday won the first western oil company rights to Saudi Arabia's huge energy reserves since the kingdom nationalised them in the 1970s.
Huge Saudi gas deals likely to die next week — sources
29 May 2003 | ReutersSaudi Arabia's multibillion dollar gas opening will probably be dead and buried by next week barring a last-minute breakthrough between the world's top oil companies and Riyadh, industry sources said on Thursday.
Military to leave Saudi Arabia: U.S. moving amid strained relations
30 April 2003 | Chicago TribuneMarking the end of an era, the United States will soon withdraw about 7,000 U.S. military personnel from Saudi Arabia and terminate a significant military presence there that lasted more than a decade, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced Tuesday.
US pulls out of Saudi Arabia
29 April 2003 | BBC NewsThe United States has said that virtually all its troops, except some training personnel, are to be pulled out of Saudi Arabia.
Saudi envoy in UK linked to 9/11
2 March 2003 | ObserverRiyadh's former intelligence chief, Prince Turki al-Faisal, has been accused in US court documents of helping to fund al-Qaeda.
Questions over US troops' Saudi future
10 February 2003 | BBC NewsSaudi Arabia says a report suggesting it will ask United States forces to leave after the Iraq crisis is speculative. The New York Times reported on Sunday that the decision was the result of a far-reaching debate within the ruling family about the country's future.
Analysis: Tense times for Saudi Arabia
7 December 2002 | BBC NewsAn air of crisis has surrounded Saudi Arabia and its ruling family since 11 September 2001. All but four of the 19 men who carried out the suicide attacks are believed to have been Saudis and the man believed to be behind the attacks, Osama Bin Laden, was a Saudi citizen.
Ex-Saudi intelligence chief defends princess
26 November 2002 | CNNA former chief of Saudi intelligence and brother of a Saudi princess Monday evening defended his sister against reports she may have been the source of funds that ended up in the hands of two of the September 11 hijackers.
Saudis stall western oilmen
10 September 2002 | GuardianAny breakthrough by western oil groups into Saudi Arabia's massive gas exploration and development sector seems to have become a remote possibility.
Oil companies re-evaluate Saudi gas scheme
9 September 2002 | Financial TimesOil company executives are considering whether to continue with $25bn of planned investments in the Saudi Arabian natural gas sector after receiving a final offer of commercial terms from Riyadh last week.
Saudis block access to natural gas by outside oil companies
9 September 2002 | CNN MoneyIn a move that could hurt relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia, the oil- and gas-rich country is refusing to open its most promising natural gas fields to outside companies, according to a published report Monday.
In Surprise Move, Saudis Bar Western Oil Firms From Key Natural Gas Fields
9 September 2002 | Dow JonesIn a move with implications both for U.S.-Saudi relations and the profits of Western oil companies, Saudi Arabia has said it won't open its most promising natural-gas fields to the companies.
Embassy blamed for bombings
7 September 2002 | GuardianSaudis accuse British staff of destabilisation campaign.
Mo Mowlam: The real goal is the seizure of Saudi oil
5 September 2002 | GuardianIraq is no threat. Bush wants war to keep US control of the region.
Dollar falls as Saudi investors ‘withdraw billions’
21 August 2002 | GuardianThe dollar today fell from recent highs against the euro and yen following a report that Saudi investors were pulling billions of dollars out of the US. According to the Financial Times, disgruntled Saudis have withdrawn as much as $200bn (£131bn) as relations between the US and Saudi Arabia come under increasing strain.
Saudi's withdraw billions of dollars from US
20 August 2002 | Financial TimesDisgruntled Saudis have pulled tens of billions of dollars out of the US, signalling a deep alienation from America.
Britons left in jail amid fears that Saudi Arabia could fall to al-Qaeda
28 July 2002 | ObserverSaudi Arabia is teetering on the brink of collapse, fuelling Foreign Office fears of an extremist takeover of one of the West's key allies in the war on terror.
Expat Brits live in fear as Saudis turn on the West
28 July 2002 | ObserverSaudi Arabia's community of foreigners is trapped between bombings by Islamic terrorists, police torture and palace feuding.
Banks to shut doors on Saudi royal cash
17 July 2002 | GuardianWestern banks may refuse deposits from members of the Saudi royal family under guidelines drawn up to identify “politically exposed” wealthy individuals whose assets could in future be confiscated.
A year of attacks on expats
30 January 2002 | GuardianDetails of eight bombings involving expats living in Saudi Arabia.
Saad al-Fagih: The coming Saudi eruption
29 January 2002 | GuardianAs al-Qaida prepares its next move, the House of Saud is desperate to get US troops to leave the Arabian peninsula.
Some Light Shed On Saudi Suspects
25 September 2001 | Washington PostAs many as a dozen of the 19 suicide hijackers who staged America's worst terrorist attack were young Saudis dedicated to fighting for Islamic causes, the majority of them with roots in a remote, southwestern region of their country that has been a center of religious dissent, according to a U.S. government official and experts on Saudi Arabia.
Saudis cancel US talks
10 September 2001 | BBC NewsSaudi Arabia has cancelled high-level military talks with the United States in protest at Washington's support for Israel, according to a Saudi newspaper report.
Saudi Arabia snubs US again
10 September 2001 | BBC NewsReports from Saudi Arabia say it has cancelled its annual military co-operation talks with the United States in protest at what it sees as Washington's support for Israel.
Saddam attacks oil ‘conspiracy’
23 January 1999 | BBC NewsIraqi President Saddam Hussain has accused the USA, in collusion with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, of working to manipulate the price of oil and negate Opec's oil-pricing policies.
Saudi Arabia Is Denounced By Baghdad: Saddam Turns Up Heat in Mideast
13 January 1999 | New York TimesThe battle to sway Arab public opinion about Iraq broadened Tuesday as Baghdad accused Saudi Arabia's rulers of betraying the Arab cause and colluding with the United States to punish the Iraqi people — the first time that the government of Saddam Hussein has lashed out so pointedly against the leading conservative Arab government in the Gulf.
