HI Teribus,

>Frank above mentions two oil corporations, one American
based >multinational Exxon/Mobil and Shell (Royal Dutch
Shell) which is >very much European. Now why the latter
would the latter would >want "American domination of
the market" I cannot begin to imagine.

All you have to do is follow the flow of oil...where it's
going.Note that these oil leases are not backed by Eurodollars.

>Another he did not mention was BP/Amoco (British, BP having
taken >over the US Oil Company Amoco, BP already owned Standard
Oil another >American oil company).

Well the Brits are being thrown a crumb. They are the "lieutenants"
to Bush interests.

>The French Oil Company Total-Petrofina-Elf are certainly involved
in >Iraq and have been for years, none of their licences have been >revoked since Saddam departed.

How valid are they? Who's going to let 'em pump?

>Oil, like any other commodity, gets sold to the highest bidder.

Except that it took a war to put a corner on the market.

>What Kevin says about money is perfectly correct. The "Oil >Corporations" do make money, they employ both directly and >indirectly a vast number of people the world over, their
owners are >a vast number of shareholders, including Insurance
and Financial >institutions who manage pension funds for
millions of people.

Many who reside in the US. They make money so that the flow of
oil goes to the West. The insurance and financial institutions
are predicated on keep the flow of oil to the US. All you have
to do is follow the money and oil trail. ANd I'm sure that many
an oil CEO has written himself a large pension fund at the expense
of his employees.

>The Oil & Gas industry is, and always has been, very much >an "American game" in terms of technology - but they do not control >it, and never have.

They will if Bush and Cheney have their way. The "American game" controls a good bit of it now. It's pretty clear that oil is what the Bushes are about.

Have you noticed that there is no encouragement today for alternative energy sources (and no propaganda please about how expensive this is)
because the oil interests in the US are interested in having their markets prevail. The cost is considerable to people in the US. 87 billion is only the start. If you naively think this money is intended for Iraqi reconstruction all you have to do is look at
Afghanistan.

There are international interests in the oil business but they controlled by a cartel who keep the prices up so that consumers will pay more at the pump. The US interests in this are considerable.
Do you honestly think that France and Germany are represented in parity with US and Britain regarding oil leases in Iraq?

Frank Hamilton