Billions Missing in Oil Revenue

My first thought – this is not surprising. This enterprise, or war if you prefer, has always been about the theft of natural resources – and the relationship of oil to the United States dollar. The narrative connecting oil to US dollar hegemony has not, will not, and cannot be discussed by the mass media. It will not be discussed by any political candidates. It will not be discussed by those host of political analysts who’ve infested Sunday morning television programming. Simply, it will not discussed because they are all on the same page.I do not believe they are all on the same page for the same reason, however that must be the subject of another post at a later date. Still, by and large, there is broad unanimity about the Iraqi oil seizure initiative among America’s political and business elite.

And now this…the accounting is not what it is supposed to be…and note the view attributed to oil expert Erik Kreil – that Iraq (as if that is a real independent entity) issues statements about oil production. To believe there is actually some-thing, some nation, some organization, some collective, some legal entity named Iraq with the independent capacity to assert its “oil production” requires a tremendous suspension of disbelief. If this were a Hollywood movie, I might tag along for the ride. Instead, this is a real-life tragedy with body counts in excess of 650,000.

You’ve met the Producers and the Directors. They are all American. They are you.

clipped from www.nytimes.com Between 100,000 and 300,000 barrels a day of Iraq’s declared oil production over the past four years is unaccounted for and could have been siphoned off through corruption or smuggling, according to a draft American government report. Iraq and the State Department, which reports the numbers, have been under relentless pressure to show tangible progress in Iraq by raising production levels, which have languished well below the United States goal of three million barrels a day. Virtually the entire economy of Iraq is dependent on oil revenues. Erik Kreil, an oil expert at the information administration who is familiar with the analysis, said a review of industry figures around the world — exports, refinery figures and other measures — could not account for all the oil that Iraq says it is producing. The administration also took into account how much crude oil was consumed internally, to do things like fuel Iraqi power plants and refine into gasoline and other products.