One more article on Colombia and Iraq.
Best regards, Tom Burke
----- Original Message -----
From: "Frso Web" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: <recipient list not shown:>
Sent: Friday, August 04, 2000 12:10 AM
Subject: [Fight Back] Forum Looks at Oil, Blood, and U.S. Intervention
> ------------------------------------
> Fight Back News Service
> http://www.frso.org/fight
> ------------------------------------
>
> This article is from the Summer 2000 edition of Fight Back! newspaper.
>
>
> Minneapolis Forum Looks at Oil, Blood, and U.S. Intervention
> By Alan Dale
>
> Minneapolis, MN - The Anti-War Committee and the Iraq Peace Action
Coalition
> (IPAC) co-sponsored a May forum entitled, "It's the Oil Stupid: U.S.
> Intervention in Iraq and Colombia."
>
> In recent months, the U.S. government has proposed spending $1.6 billion
> dollars in military aid to the government of Colombia, a dramatic increase
> for U.S. involvement in the Colombian civil war. In addition, the U.S. is
> the main enforcer of economic sanctions against Iraq and has carried out
> bombing campaigns against targets on a near-daily basis. The struggle over
> oil is a key part of U.S. policy toward both countries.
>
> Kristin Dooley of IPAC opened the meeting by saying, "Oil is the result of
> thousands of years of pressure on underground organic material, crushing
it
> and heating it into a liquid form; essentially, dinosaur goo."
>
> "Oil has been found on every continent of the globe. Oil and its products
> are components in the production of 60% of the world's manufactured
> products, either as a component of the product or as a lubricant or fuel
for
> the machines that make the product... There is a huge profit to be made
from
> the control of oil production and distribution," Dooley said.
>
> Meredith Aby of the Anti-War Committee said that the U.S. imports 260,000
> barrels of oil a day from Colombia. Colombia has become one of the major
oil
> producers in the Western Hemisphere and is the seventh largest exporter of
> oil to the U.S. Experts believe Colombia has vast deposits of oil and
> natural gas that have yet to be have discovered.
>
> Aby said, "Guerrilla forces in Colombia have taken a stance against
foreign
> oil companies in Colombia and the use of Colombian natural resources for
the
> profit of Colombian and international elites... The U.S. government is
> afraid that rebel groups like the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of
> Colombia) will promote a more equitable society that will not serve the
> interests of the big U.S. oil companies."
>
> In December 1999, Lisa Gizzi was a participant in a delegation to Iraq,
> formerly one of the world's major producers of oil. Gizzi said that she
saw
> a country ravaged by 10 years of war and economic sanctions.
>
> "The U.S. and its allies systematically bombed the infrastructure of Iraq
> knowing that it could not be repaired without outside help. The imposition
> of economic sanctions have prevented that help," Gizzi said.
>
> Gizzi reported that there has been a huge increase in the number of
> preventable diseases over the last ten years in Iraq, due mainly to the
> destruction of the water purification system. UNICEF has estimated that
> 3,000 to 5,000 people have died monthly in Iraq as a result of the
> sanctions.
>
> "Iraq wanted to be an independent player in the world oil market. The U.S.
> decided to use whatever means necessary to prevent that from happening,"
> said Peter Erlinder, a professor at William Mitchell College of Law. He
said
> this is part of a massive, international "chess game" going on to
determine
> the nature of the post-Soviet world.
>
> Erlinder said, "With the collapse of the Soviet Union, there is no
military
> counter-balance to U.S. imperialism." Therefore, the U.S. needs to control
> the oil supplies around the world in order to prevent any possible
> competitor nation from arising in this new era.
>
> "It is up to the people of the U.S. to organize in our own interests and
in
> solidarity with the people of Iraq and Colombia to end U.S. intervention,"
> said one event participant.
>
> The Minnesota Anti-War Committee website is at
> http://www.angelfire.com/mn/cispes
>
> __________________________________________________________
> Fight Back! / Lucha y Resiste is a newspaper that builds the people's
> struggle. We provide coverage and analysis of some of the key battles
> facing working and low-income people. This article can be reprinted,
copied
> or distributed as long as it is credited to Fight Back!. Contact us at
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>
>
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