Cheney Sucks and the War for Oil (and how Powell got used)

First off, let's talk about what a tool our Vice Pretzeldent is. We'll let Bob Woodward carry the torch on this one.

You can read a quick synopsis of Woodward's latest book right over here.


Then we get a closer look at why we really invaded Iraq.

HOUSTON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. oil companies are slowly building their relationships with the Iraqi government in anticipation of a new legal regime that will allow them to invest there, the Iraqi ambassador to the U.S. said Monday.

"I see very strong interest from U.S. energy companies in Iraq," Ambassador Samir Shakir Mahmood Sumaida'ie told Dow Jones Newswires after a speech in Houston.
The companies "have visited me at the embassy and expressed that interest," while "waiting for things to be put in place," he said.

The passage of a new investment law in the next two or three weeks and a new hydrocarbons law "within this year" will create the right conditions for major U.S. investments, he said.

U.S. oil companies are "already building up their relationship with the ministry of oil" and providing training to Iraqi technicians, said Sumaida'ie, who added that he would meet with Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) executives on Monday.

The Iraqi oil sector has suffered from the turmoil that has submerged the country since a U.S.-led coalition overthrew Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003. Violence and the lack of a federal petroleum law has kept foreign companies at bay.

But oil majors are reportedly discussing investments in the Iraqi Kurdistan, where the security situation is better than in other areas, the region's oil minister said recently.

[full story]

Finally, we'll take a look at how the Neocons leveraged resources here to try and take them over there.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell's wife says in a new biography that President George W. Bush used her husband to sell the war in Iraq.

In "Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell" by Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post, Alma Powell describes the administration's treatment of her husband as callous.

"They needed him to do it because they knew people would believe him," Mrs. Powell said.

Powell, the first black secretary of state, gave DeYoung six interviews for the book. He told her he never considered resigning even though he had disagreements with the president about the 2003 invasion.