Stay Informed Spread Truth Act Daily Fact & Act #18 Monday, 7 October 2002 LMNOP Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace http://lmno4p.org ACTION Create your own statement against the war: Peace Demonstration & Vigil Resources http://www.iraqpeaceteam.org/pages/activism.html#demo FACT Iraq possesses vast areas of promising but unexplored hydrocarbon potential... Whoever gains possession of these fields will exercise enormous influence over the global energy markets of the twenty-first century... The Iraqi dissidents chosen by Washington to lead the new regime in Baghdad have threatened to cancel all contracts awareded to firms in countries that fail to assist the overthrow of Saddam... U.S. oil firms are expected to be awarded most of the Hussein-era contracts voided by the successor regime. Oiling the Wheels of War The Nation Oct 7, 2002 http://www.thenation.com/ 'The concern of my government [Russia],' said the official, 'is that the concessions agreed between Baghdad and numerous enterprises will be reneged upon, and that US companies will enter to take the greatest share of those existing contracts... Yes, if you could say it that way - an oil grab by Washington'. Government sources say they fear - existing concessions aside - France could be cut out of the spoils if it did not support the war and show a significant military presence. If it comes to war, France is determined to be allotted a more prestigious role in the fighting than in the 1991 Gulf war, when its main role was to occupy lightly defended ground. Negotiations have been going on between the state-owned TotalFinaElf company and the US about redistribution of oil regions between the world's major companies. Moscow's trust of Washington may be slipping after what a Russian UN official calls 'broken promises' that followed negotiations over Moscow's support for the Afghan campaign. Russia turned a blind eye to US troops in central Asia, on the tacit condition that US-Russian trade restrictions would be lifted. But they are still there, and other benefits expected after 11 September have also not materialised. Scramble to Carve Up Iraqi Oil Reserves Lies Behind US Diplomacy http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,805530,00.html SOURCES World Energy Outlook (2001) http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org/weo/pubs/index.asp Report of the National Energy Policy Development Group Principal Author, Dick Cheney with Oil Industry Executives http://www.whitehouse.gov/energy/ ADDITIONAL READING Hydrogen Economy: The Creation of the Worldwide Energy Web and the Redistribution of Power On Earth Jeremy Rifkin, 9/2002 DEFICIT WATCH From LMNOP's Stock Watch (http://lmno4p.org/stockwatch.htm#men) 9/26 -$6,195,917,334,028.10 (trillion) 1). Poverty is increasing. After decreasing for eight straight years and reaching its lowest level in 25 years, the poverty rate increased from 11.3% in 2000 to 11.7% in 2001. In the first year of the Bush Administration, 1.3 million Americans slipped back into poverty, with a total of 32.9 million Americans living in poverty in 2001. 2). Stockbrokers around the world are braced for a potentially calamitous week as alarm mounts over a looming, Thirties-style global financial crisis. Global Crash Fears as German Bank Sinks http://www.observer.co.uk/economy/story/0,1598,805683,00.html CALENDAR Tomorrow, Tuesday, 8 October 12n-1p Vigil to Oppose Sanctions and War Against Iraq Oakland Federal Building 1301 Clay Street http://www.epicalc.org/ Two blocks from 12th Street BART station http://bart.gov/stations/stationGuide/stationOverview_12ST.asp http://lmno4p.org/calendar.htm More in the Resources section at LMNOP http://lmno4p.org/resources.htm +=+=+=+=+ LMNOP http://lmno4p.org archives of Daily Fact & Acts: http://lmno4p.org/fa/ +=+=+=+=+