Never mind the river of blood, there's Black Gold under them thar sandy dunes!

Dennis Kucinich's statement concerning the Supplimental Military Spending Bill that was passed yesterday can be read here. It is a blistering indictment of the administration's reason for remaining in Iraq as an (unwelcome) occupying force and it's motives behind the 'incentives' being offered up before the current government in Iraq. The main crux of Kucinich's criticism is the Iraq Hydrocarbon Legislation, which will effectively cede exploration, development and production rights to the majority of Iraqi oil fields to US and other multinational energy companies.

“The benchmarks in today’s war supplemental force the Iraqis to privatize their oil industry by demanding passage of the Iraqi “Hydrocarbon Act.” The war supplemental blocks over a billion dollars in reconstruction funds if the Iraqis refuse to comply.

This administration has misled Congress into thinking that pending Iraqi legislation before their Parliament is about fair distribution of oil revenues. In fact, except for three scant lines, the entire 33-page hydrocarbon law creates a structure to facilitate the privatization of Iraq’s oil.

The truth is that the “Hydrocarbon Act” will open Iraq’s oil reserves to foreign investors, giving them, and not the Iraqi people, the ability to develop the majority of Iraq’s 80 known oil fields. The Iraq National Oil Company would maintain control of only approximately 17 of these oil fields.

If this happens, Iraq will be the only country in the Middle East that does not maintain government control of its own oil industry.

The wealth of Iraq, their rich oil resources, should remain in the hands of Iraq for the benefit of the Iraqi people."

As Greg would say, "Gotta love those Petrodollars!"

Kucinich had even stronger words on the subject this morning on Democracy Now!:

Well, first of all, this is a question that is for the people of Iraq to decide when they’re not under occupation. You have to keep in mind that this process that the Bush administration has been pushing began even before the invasion of Iraq. They were meeting with oil companies, looking at how they could create a beachhead, essentially, in the Middle East, and they have been looking at the prize of Iraq oil for many years now.

And so, you have to remember that even though it looks like this legislation isn’t going anywhere, there is enormous pressure being put on the Iraqi government, and you can bet that before too long they’ll put the kind of pressure on them that the Iraqi government will break, will relent, and go ahead and pass this law that will permit about 80% of its oil to be controlled by multinational oil companies. Now, keep in mind that Iraq has as many as 300 billion barrels of oil. At a market price that looks like it’s going toward $70-a-barrel, you can be talking about $21 trillion worth of oil, 80% of which will be under the control of multinational oil companies, if it’s up to the Bush administration.

This is a crime, literally. And so, I’m challenging it. I’m letting the Congress know about it, and I’m going to keep an eye on this, because I think it’s the basis for a war crime charge.

When Amy quoted an article from the Plain Dealer of Cleveland citing the criticism of Kucinich's concern about the bill by the in step Republican Party spokesman:

I wanted to read from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, your hometown paper. It says, “Republicans dismiss him altogether, with Republican Party spokesman Dan Ronayne saying, ‘It sounds like congressman Kucinich is trying to get noticed with a nutty conspiracy theory.’”

he responds thusly:

Well, if you look at the facts, the facts speak for themselves. Prior to the invasion of Iraq, Vice President Cheney was meeting with oil company executives. They were planning this takeover of Iraqi oil. You know, everyone knows that it has one of the largest oil supplies in the world. This war has been about oil from the beginning. And I’ve been one of the few people who’s been willing to challenge it and say that. And I think the American people need to know that our government has been instrumental in trying to push the privatization of Iraq oil for the profit of multinational oil companies. Our soldiers shouldn’t be there in Iraq. We need to bring our troops home. And when someone looks at the long test of truth over the last five years, I’m the one who’s been telling the truth. This administration has not told the truth. And some of my colleagues in Congress have kept their head in the sand, while there’s been enormous catastrophe in Iraq, loss of life there, loss of lives of our troops, up to over $500 billion wasted already in American taxpayers’ funds. I mean, someone has to stand for the truth here. Someone has to stand for the Constitution.

One unfortunate omission from Kucinich's statements are an acknowledgement to the immense damage and loss of life that has been incurred on the side of the Iraqi nation and people. Arthur has plenty to say about that here:

Notice anything missing? Oh, it's nothing much. Nothing very important. Only a few small details.

Over 650,000 dead Iraqis, the overwhelming majority of whom never threatened or harmed the U.S., or even wished to. The number is probably much closer to one million now.

A completely devastated and destroyed country, which huge numbers of people have been forced to flee, and to which they may never be able to return.

The Iraqis -- the dead, mutilated, maimed, and displaced Iraqis -- did not have a choice.

I know it's not pleasant to think about, but we as a nation are being looked at as the architects of this mess and when we are called to account for it it will likely not be easy to explain away as "unwise policy".