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Iraq Conspiracy
Don't know whether anyone saw this programme, which I think was broadcast on Sky Two here in the UK about a year ago, but I've just discovered it on YouTube.
The beginning of the programme is an insightful assessment of conspiracy theories on the underlying reasons for the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. The second half, though, constructs an alternative picture of the motives for the invasion that is less conspiracy theory and more a theory of conspiracies - US hunger for oil 1, the petrodollar2 3 and the American need to reassert US global economic, military and political dominance.
Make sure you watch to the end to get the full exposition of the theory of conspiracies.
- 5% of the world's population consuming 25% of the world's oil, as they state in the programme.
- A petrodollar is a dollar earned by a country through the sale of petroleum. The term was coined by Ibrahim Oweiss, a professor of economics at Georgetown University, in 1973. Oweiss felt there was a need for a word to describe the situation which was occurring in the OPEC countries, balance of trade is largely offset by its role as a reserve currency. On the other hand, the demand for petrodollars is a significant factor in increasing the U.S. trade deficit in the first place, and it also increases inflation. Given the general tendency for crude oil prices to rise and become more volatile in recent years, it may even be argued that crude oil trading may, in the long term, be a significant liability for the stability of the currency in which the trade is conducted.
Source: Wikipedia: Petrodollar - See also The Rise of the Petroeuro, an excellent article in The Republic that articulates the relationship between the American dollar, oil, and American imperial hegemony, and the threat posed by the Euro as oil trade currency.
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