"The Truth about Oil and the Iraq War, 15 Years Later" Commentary by The Virginian

(article by Gary Vogler)

'The oil agenda I discovered and experienced was to supply Iraq oil to Israel. The players were the neoconservatives in the Bush Administration, their favorite Iraqi – Dr Ahmed Chalabi and the Israeli government. One of the motives was because Israel was paying a huge premium for its oil imports and this premium had just started in the late1990s. The agenda called for the reopening of the old Kirkuk to Haifa pipeline and its significant expansion. When this pipeline plan became unattainable in the 2nd half of 2003 then Chalabi took other actions to get inexpensive Iraqi oil to Israel."  Vogler

See: http://universitypressblog.dept.ku.edu/uncategorized/1395/

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The author is a good man. However, I suggest he gives too much credit to the intellectual capacity of the Neocons and their Israeli counterparts - they are not that smart, but certainly willing to place personal gain above the national interest. Some involved may have seen oil for Israeli as an intended outcome, but it would have been one of several (poorly thought out) drivers behind the neocon agenda. More broadly the perceived "interests" of Israel would have been more on the agenda, with oil being a subset of that strategic thinking.

Those in the Israeli DMI, like the US IC, with half a clue about Iraqi infrastructure, regional politics much less the O&G industry would have realized early on that any Israeli pipeline links were pipe dreams - not to mention that the Haifa pipeline no longer exists (ceased to many moons ago). The history of smuggled oil (decades old) plus Kurdish supply that has gone to Israel since 2003 underscores the difficulty of taking Iraqi oil to Israel in an overt manner.

That said, the politicos - partnered with the likes of Chalabi - and the money men tried and did create opportunity once the invasion was decided (or just after) for themselves. The willingness of those in the USG to allow this was and remains shameful.  The Virginian