Oil and Gas Administration: Asking questions and making connections by
Involvement of the Bush Administration with the oil and gas industry
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Almost three years has elapsed since the United States of America invaded Iraq. And yet the blood gushes steadily from a wound that is as fresh as the day that it was inflicted. Headlines scream of more death in Iraq; the dying are invader and invaded alike, blue eyed foreign conquerors and their conquered in tones of honey and sand. In the end, all colours bleed to red.
There were a variety of justifications for this war, the notion of WMDs being at the forefront. Some spoke of the potential threat of these weapons, when married to the idea that a notorious tyrannical dictator by the name of Saddam Hussain was in control of them. (Why an entire war was necessary to remove a dictatorial regime is quite baffling in itself, especially if one cares to look at the CIA’s past
involvement in the silent overthrowing of Iraq’s government in the 1960’s, incidentally to install the very Ba’athist Party it is now against, and its role in dismantling democratic governments in countries such as Guatemala, Chile, and the Congo among many others). Along with this came the, frankly, illogical connection between secularist Hussain and the Islamist Al Qaeda, an attempt to link terrorism with Iraq. Still others, perhaps being of a more philosophical and ideologically motivated nature, argued in abstractions for the freedom of the Iraqi people and democracy for Iraq as a country. An ever–changing myriad of reasons was laid out for the world to see, lovingly polished to a gleaming Public Relations friendly sheen. ’Democracy!’ shouted Bush. ’Freedom!’ trilled Blair. ’Fast food outlets!’ cried their supporters. And the machine was set into motion.
Having noted this, we come to an interesting aspect of the war: the involvement of a large portion of the Bush Administration with the oil and gas industry. Most notably, this would include George W. Bush himself, Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Affairs Advisor Condoleezza Rice, and ex–Commerce Secretary Don Evans (who was replaced by former Kellogg’s affiliate Carlos Gutierrez in 2005).
“It does underscore that there’s never been an administration that has been so close to a single industry– in this instance, the oil and gas industry,“ says Chuck Lewis, who heads the Washington–based Center for Public Integrity about the involvement of members of the Bush Administration with oil companies such as Chevron, as in the case of Condoleezza Rice.
This all may seem redundant and recycled information to people who have believed from the get–go that this war has been about oil. But we need to ask questions and we need to do it loudly: When and why did the world start being run as if by a carnivorous multinational company rather than a government? And why are we allowing this to continue? As citizens of the world, we cannot let our focus on the situation depend upon the whims of the mainstream media and its sporadic attention to the plight of the innocent embroiled in this conflict. As the continuing violence clearly illustrates, it is imperative that we examine the motives for this war. Its aftermath has assuredly proven to be a decidedly grim and gory business.
The violence escalates, the blood of innocent Iraqis soaks the earth, mothers cry and babies wail, and the landscape is suffocated by an all pervading veil of oppression – and perhaps the most important question still remains. In whose name is does this violence continue?
More articles from this topic: Media, World
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Honestly, are you sure you want to be in medical school?
You don’t study what your parents want or study what you think will pay the bills in the long run.
You study and become the expert what you have a passion for and do it for Islam.
That’s the way you change the world. Not by landing a secure job and then complaining
about what comes on the news.
Just some truth sister, but I think you needed to hear it.
This goes for many of you.
I don’t want to see wasted talent. Be honest with yourself, you won’t have time to do this when a doctor.
I think I’d rather hear the ‘truth’ from a person who would stand up for it by putting his/her name by it, if they believe it to be so truthful.
But anyway, just to be educational and try to explain the reasons behind my personal choice; perhaps maybe it might also shed some light to you on the complexities of other people’s decisions.
I want to be a doctor because I want access into certain areas and to people I wouldn’t have access to otherwise. I want to see these people first hand, help them too inshAllah, and understand and see their stories so I can write them down.
I was contemplating journalism to do this, but it’s much harder to secure international or global assignments as a journalist, and I also don’t want to have to go through a third party to make my views known to the world.
That’s kind of my plan InshAllah…to go inside the Muslim world, to have the resources available to me to be as free as I want in travel, InshAllah. And trust me, part of the great thing about being a doctor is the flexibility in timings, how much you want to practice is up to you. You can also work for international medical relief agencies and this would personal give me all the time I need for material to write about.
So I’m sorry that you think I’m complaining about what comes on the news, I’m not, I just want to enable myself to be able to go there and write it for myself, God willing.
I hope that helped you a little bit in understanding my personal decisions, and maybe give some other people some idea that you can really do anything in life and tailor what you want to do to what you like to do, have a passion for, and are good at.
Salaams!
Also, might I just add…it’s not about money but adventure!
Somerset Maughaum was a doctor turned writer (one of my favourite writers of all time)...and so was Dr. Zhivago in Boris Pasternak’s novel (he was a poet and a doctor)...doctors have a lot in common with writers, actually. Doctors aren’t just people who treat medical problems, they must understand and have a greater perception of the human condition, and the person as a whole. A good doctor can communicate well with people, read into them, work with them, and be highly perceptive. A good writer must do all of these things and then transcribe them for humanity to understand and perhaps benefit from.
So really it kind of goes hand in hand.
Secure job, shmecure shob, it’s not all secure when you’re running around Chechnya or in the jungles of Borneo, but it will make an AWESOME story.
Also, because of a geeky nature and love of novelists, here is a quote from Wiki I think would be super interesting for y’all to read:
About Somerset Maughaum studying medicine:
“Many readers and some critics have assumed that the years Maugham spent studying medicine were a creative dead end, but Maugham himself felt quite the contrary. He was able to live in the lively city of London, to meet people of a “low” sort that he would never have met in one of the other professions, and to see them in a time of heightened anxiety and meaning in their lives. In maturity, he recalled the literary value of what he saw as a medical student: “I saw how men died. I saw how they bore pain. I saw what hope looked like, fear and relief…” Maugham saw how corrosive to human values suffering was, how bitter and hostile sickness made people, and never forgot it. Here, finally, was “life in the raw” and the chance to observe a range of human emotions.
Maugham kept his own lodgings, took pleasure in furnishing them, filled many notebooks with literary ideas, and continued writing nightly while at the same time studying for his degree in medicine. In 1897, he presented his second book for consideration. (The first was a biography of opera composer Giacomo Meyerbeer written by the 16-year-old Maugham in Heidelberg.)
Liza of Lambeth, a tale of working-class adultery and its consequences, drew its details from Maugham’s experiences as a medical student doing midwifery work in the London slum of Lambeth. The novel is of the school of social-realist “slum writers” such as George Gissing and Arthur Morrison. Frank as it is, Maugham still felt obliged to write near the opening of the novel: “...it is impossible always to give the exact unexpurgated words of Liza and the other personages of the story; the reader is therefore entreated with his thoughts to piece out the necessary imperfections of the dialogue.”
~ Anam, I really don’t see why you need to explain yourself to Anonymous. We all have our own individual/personal reasons for the decisions we make in life. ( although i was personally interested in your story 
)
Aww Ayesha, thanks…I’m sure that by now Anonymous is just like…whatever, I don’t care that much, thanks for being a universal cure for insomnia, hahaha
OMG… how did you know it was me??? “Your email will not be published” LIES!!! just kidding love Wish you could be here for our event :( —- anyone who is reading this comment please buy your tickets online !
Anyways, God bless you , the WM and all of us
Love you sister
Ayesha
Anam,
I enjoy how you write just as much in the comment section as you do in your articles! Anonymous’ post seemed caring, if a little misguided, and probably could have went without reply. If I didn’t know that WM staff weren’t eligible, I’d say you were just gunning for comment prize. Wait a second…are we eiligible? Come to think of it, no one ever said we weren’t…
Now if you are thinking the whole point of the post was to try to win the comment prize in case we are eligible, you’re not totally wrong.
Alas, my plan to make a grab for the comment prize has been exposed!
Or…has it?