Mother of all troubles

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

Rapid increase in consumption of oil to support newer generations of transportation vehicles and war machines, which ran faster and better, made Persian Gulf region and other oil rich areas in the world a matter of greater interest for all powerful nations. After WW I, when Winston Churchill ordered all British Navy to switch from burning solid fuel to oil based fuel, in fact he linked the security of his nation to the oil which was produced far away from home by Anglo-Iranian oil company.

By mid 1930’s economic growth of all nations was heavily dependent on oil for fueling their modern industries and mobility to distribute their goods throughout the world with faster speed. Great Britain and USA, which had vast resources of cheap oil in their reach, had huge advantages over others like France and Germany that needed to buy it from them. Production of fuel from other sources through synthetic process would cost much more and put a big burden on any nation’s economy to make competition a lot harder. Once again, trouble was brewing in Europe but this time oil had played a big role in it on the side of need for newer markets to support the economic growth.

During WW II, oil proved to be of the highest strategic value to both sides and when it ended, new measures were taken by both British and American governments in order to deal with the most important issue facing western nations: OIL. A lot of work needed to be done after deliberate destruction of oil wells and production facilities in Persian Gulf region and Indochina which were carried in order to deny access to Germans and Japanese in case if they got there. On top of that, new agreements were to be reached between the oil companies and also between British and US governments in order to impose their control over production and pricing of this valuable commodity to avoid loss of profit while maintaining control over the access to energy sources. A new era had started in the world affairs and the race for domination of energy resources became a high priority in the agendas of superpowers in order to impose their authority over the world.

Start of cold war immediately after WW II was ended, brought the importance of oil as main source of world’s energy into spot light. British government was already involved in the oil business directly through Anglo-Iranian Oil company, which later changed to British Petroleum. US government was restricted by laws and could not enter any business directly but threw its full support behind the oil companies against British and others to ensure the security of their own share of resources.

In fact, US government had become a counselor for American oil companies and acted as their protector in international disputes for decades to come. US government documents show that, during 1960’s and 1970’s, very deep issues had arisen between American and Iranian governments resulting in exchange of threats over the oil dispute between Iran and Oil Consortium in which seven American companies had a big share. This was while American government denied having any control over oil companies and at the same time encouraging Iranian government to yield to the demands by Oil Consortium and settle for what they offered in order to avoid bitterness in relations with US and British governments.

During 1980’s, a war between Iran and Iraq broke out which dragged the superpowers into the region. During that war, American government provided indirect intelligence assistance and sold weapons to both sides while reluctantly raising US flags over Kuwaiti oil ships for their protection. In fact, US government did not respond to Kuwaiti government’s requests until they raised USSR flags over three of their ships so that Iranian and Iraqi forces do not target them.

Later on, in 1990’s Iraq attacked Kuwait and destroyed almost all their oil production facilities which provided oil companies with new opportunities and imposed incredible damages on Kuwaitis. The attack by Iraqis on Kuwait happened shortly after James Baker, the secretary of state during G. Bush sr., stated that Kuwait did not have a defense pact with United States. About a month earlier, American Ambassador to Iraq told a reporter that US government did not have any issue with Iraq if they tried to resolve their border disputes with Kuwait. This was while more than a hundred thousand of Iraqi forces were positioned near Kuwaiti borders according to the news reports of that time.

Later on, under UN mandate, US forces led a military operation to rid Kuwait of Iraqi forces and impose heavy damages on Iraqis. Saddam never expected that Americans who had helped him from the beginning of his career as an assassin and CIA agent, turn on him. Saddam fell and a new government with greater influence from Iraqi Shiite sect with close ties with Islamic government of Iran replaced him. As a consequence of all these events, American government could establish a permanent base in the region to enforce the security of flow of oil to the free world. At the same time, the three oil rich nations of UAE, Kuwait and Saudi purchased total worth of one third of all conventional military products of the whole world during 8 years from the attack of Iraqis on Kuwait. And the story goes on…