Wednesday, March 28, 2007

The neocons vs. big oil

Remember Dick Cheney's secret meetings to develop an energy policy in the early days of the first Bush administration before 9/11 "legitimated" their already-developed plan to invade Iraq and privatize the oil.

Here's a brief exchange between independent journalist Greg Palast and former Shell Oil CEO Philip Carroll last week on Democracy Now

"GREG PALAST: So I asked Shell's former boss if the neo-con's agenda matched that of the oil industry.

"PHILIP CARROLL: They're absolutely poles apart. Many neo-conservatives are people who do have certain ideological beliefs about markets, about democracy, about this, that and the other. International oil companies, without exception, are very pragmatic, commercial organizations. They don't have a theology. They don't have a doctrine. They are going to do what is in the best interest of their shareholders.

"GREG PALAST: Americans have never paid so much for gasoline. Big oil execs are grinning. They've never seen such big profits. The neo-cons say we missed the chance to stop this run-up in oil prices. All we had to do was sell off Iraq's oil fields. But big oil killed it."

Watch Palast's full report on big oil and Iraq on Democracy Now

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