{"id":131465,"date":"2016-09-09T03:38:44","date_gmt":"2016-09-09T03:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/09\/to-the-victor-belong-the-oils.html"},"modified":"2016-09-09T00:33:46","modified_gmt":"2016-09-09T06:33:46","slug":"to-the-victor-belong-the-oils","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/09\/to-the-victor-belong-the-oils.html","title":{"rendered":"To the Victor belong the Oils!"},"content":{"rendered":"

He's talked about it before, but at the "Commander-in-Chief Forum" last night, Trump doubled-down on the idea that when we went into Iraq, we should have done a whole bunch of things differently, especially … keep Iraq's oil.<\/p>\n

In the past, Trump argued that this would have paid for improved veterans benefits; last night, he twisted it around that this would have prevented ISIL from getting oil revenue from it.<\/p>\n

Like so many of Trump's foreign policy plans, this one suffers from a host of difficulties both logistical and moral.<\/p>\n

For example, he suggests that we could have "kept the oil" by keeping some people there in-country at the oil wells. But those people (troops) need a logistical pipeline. And the oil needs to be transported, to either refineries or to port facilities. So now you need troops surrounding all of that, too. Pretty soon — well, you've basically had to occupy the entire country, indefinitely, to take their oil.<\/p>\n

And, meanwhile, the Iraqi people are, I am sure, nodding and smiling and saying, "Thank you, America, for siphoning off all our oil, our only real natural resource, so that we don't mistakenly use it for evil."<\/p>\n

The logistical difficulties are backed up against moral difficulties, starting with international law and the Geneva Conventions, which basically say, "No, invading another country and then taking their stuff<\/i> is a naughty thing." Even if there's a possibility that naughty people inside the country might take the stuff themselves and sell it for their own nefarious purposes.<\/p>\n

An analogy would make this clearer. Everyone around the world was scandalized over the looting of Iraqi museums immediately after the downfall of the Saddam regime. What if a President Trump, in that same situation, ordered<\/i> the looting of Iraqi antiquities, to be shipped overseas and auctioned off to wealthy private collectors to (a) help pay for the war, and (b) keep the artifacts safe from hypothetical Muslim extremists who would destroy them. And, of course, we would also sponsor archaeological digs in Iraq, surrounded by barbed wire and tanks, to extract still more cultural treasures to sell back home.<\/p>\n

That's effectively the same thing, with the exception that, in the case of oil, there were a lot of people who were already accusing the US of getting into the war solely to raid Iraqi oil fields. Trump's answer would seem to be, "No, of course that's not why we did it, but, hey, as long as we're here …"<\/p>\n

So, let's sum up: Trump's Iraqi oil policy is (a) a wild-assed idea that is impractical and\/or prohibitively expensive to actually do, and (b) a dick move against the Iraqi people, a violation of international law, and a placement of profit over principle.<\/p>\n

In other words, par for the course for Donald Trump.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/a>
\nTrump Lays Out His Master Plan To ‘Take The Oil’ From Iraq<\/a><\/span>
\nTo the victor goes the oil!<\/p>\n

That was the theme of Donald Trump’s master plan for how he would keep the Middle East from reigniting after he swiftly dispatches the Islamic State as president. <\/p>\n

Asked at the NBC News’ Commander-In-Chief forum about he planned to keep the Islamic State out of Iraq once he defeated them, Trump returned to his oft-recited call for the U.S. to “take the oil” from Iraq, and even offered a few details how he would g…\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He's talked about it before, but at the "Commander-in-Chief Forum" last night, Trump doubled-down on the idea that when we went into Iraq, we should have done a whole bunch of things differently, especially … keep Iraq's oil. In the past, Trump argued that this would have paid for improved veterans benefits; last night, he … Continue reading “To the Victor belong the Oils!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,532],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts","category-elections-2016"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":132655,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/01\/26\/i-suspect-they-werent-giving-standing-ovations-in-the-middle-east.html","url_meta":{"origin":131465,"position":0},"title":"I suspect they weren't giving standing ovations in the Middle East","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 26-Jan-17 10:06am","format":false,"excerpt":"Amongst the rest of the hot, rambling mess that was \"the greatest speech ever,\" Donald Trump managed to give aid and comfort to Iran, and to every other nation that sees the US as simply a rapacious empire that wants to take their stuff.[1]'The old expression, \u2018to the victor belong\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":132627,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/01\/24\/trump-restarts-the-dapl-and-keystone-xl-pipelines.html","url_meta":{"origin":131465,"position":1},"title":"Trump restarts the DAPL and Keystone XL pipelines","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 24-Jan-17 9:52am","format":false,"excerpt":"Because of course he is. The tar sands must flow, and if they flow across and\/or into water supplies and aquifers, well, that's all part of Making America Oily Again.Trump once had a financial stake in DAPL[1], but it seems he sold off his stock in the various companies involved.,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133521,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/20\/even-oil-companies-are-on-board-with-the-paris-agreement-will-trump-be.html","url_meta":{"origin":131465,"position":2},"title":"Even oil companies are on board with the Paris Agreement. Will Trump be?","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 20-May-17 5:21pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Large global businesses fear one thing worse than legal restrictions on their business: uncertainty about the future. Having a known and understood framework for climate change issues is of value to global energy companies because it helps them direct their business and spending. Plus, y'know, not having civilization collapse due\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":135783,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/01\/09\/everyone-gets-offshore-oil-drilling-except-seems-florida.html","url_meta":{"origin":131465,"position":3},"title":"Everyone gets offshore oil drilling … except, it seems, Florida","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 9-Jan-18 8:55pm","format":false,"excerpt":"After Trump's Interior Secretary Zinke announced that pretty much everywhere would now be open to offshore oil drilling (and it was also announced that a bunch of regulations put in place around offshore drilling in the aftermath of the BP oil disaster a few years back), there was a lot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/unnamed-42.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":133868,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/16\/when-snake-oil-becomes-a-big-money-making-mainstream-scam.html","url_meta":{"origin":131465,"position":4},"title":"When snake oil becomes a big money-making mainstream scam","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 16-Jul-17 1:36pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, of course, let's not kid ourselves -- that's been true for a long time. Big Corprations do it. Donald Trump does it. Why shouldn't Gwyneth Paltrow cash in as well on homeopathic medicines, crystal magic, and dubious uses for jade eggs? And if it all means a further breakdown\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":139017,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/06\/04\/the-oil-and-gas-must-flow.html","url_meta":{"origin":131465,"position":5},"title":"The Oil (and Gas) Must Flow","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 4-Jun-19 6:32pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Should disrupting pipeline construction draw multi-decade jail terms? (No.)","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/pipeline-protesters-dakota-pipeline.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/pipeline-protesters-dakota-pipeline.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/pipeline-protesters-dakota-pipeline.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131465"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131474,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131465\/revisions\/131474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}