RESOURCES ON THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF
WAR, OIL AND THE MILITARY

From Economy Connection, URPE

This short resource list incorporates suggestions from many Economy Connection members, some of whom have written articles themselves. The categories overlap, but are divided according to their main emphasis. Most are from a Left point of view, but not all. This page was originally created in 2003. Much of the analysis is still relevant, but we have added a new section with articles starting in 2007.

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THE IRAQ WAR IN THE CONTEXT OF RECENT US FOREIGN POLICY:
WHAT IT'S ABOUT AND WHAT IT ISN'T ABOUT;
OVERVIEWS OF EMPIRE; HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Article by Rahul Mahajan with an overall analysis of what the Iraq war has been about and what it is not about:
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=13749
He recently wrote a Monthly Review book, The New Crusade: America's War on Terrorism.
(http://www.monthlyreview.org/newcrusade.htm).

"Behind the War on Iraq" by the Research Unit for Political Economy, published in Monthly Review. Gives lots of background and history of Iraq and foreign involvement there, with specifics about corporations.
http://www.monthlyreview.org/0503rupe.htm
It is part of a new MR Book, Behind the Invasion of Iraq: http://www.monthlyreview.org/behindiraq.htm

Article by the Monthly Review editors in the December'02 issue, which gives an overview focusing on empire, but including a lot on oil. http://www.monthlyreview.org/1202editor.htm

“The Empire Strikes Iraq,” April 19, 2003, article by Max Fraad Wolff and Richard D. Wolff
(http://www.foreignpolicyforum.com/view_article.php?aid=73)

"Just the Beginning," by Robert Dreyfuss
Is Iraq the opening salvo in a war to remake the world?
http://www.prospect.org/print-friendly/print/V14/4/dreyfuss-r.html

MERIP (Middle East Research and Information Project -- http://www.merip.org/)has a lot of information on oil and on the Middle East. The summer 2003 issue is called "America's Iraq." (http://www.merip.org/mer/mer227/mer227.html).
MERIP publishes primers on various topics, including Iraq:
http://www.merip.org/iraq_backgrounder_102202/iraq_background2_merip.pdf

A short book with more on what the war wasn't about, focusing on weapons: War on Iraq, by William Rivers Pitt, with Scott Ritter.
http://www.utne.com/utne_store/books/27-1.html

Thorough background on the decade of sanctions: Iraq Under Siege: The Deadly Impact of Sanctions and War
http://www.southendpress.org/books/iraq.shtml

Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower, by William Blum
"It is a mini-encyclopedia of the numerous un-humanitarian acts perpetrated by the United States since the end of the Second World War." http://members.aol.com/superogue/homepage.htm

Not specifically about Iraq, but this examines US prejudices and US privileges, leading to anger from the rest of the world:
"America and the World: The Twin Towers as Metaphor," by Immanuel Wallerstein
http://www.ssrc.org/sept11/essays/wallerstein.htm

WHAT BUSH AND FRIENDS HAVE TO SAY

A report on "Rebuilding America's Defenses" which has been said to be one of the theoretical underpinnings of current policy.
http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf

Cheney's famous energy report for which he refuses to name interviewees, see especially chapter 8 on strengthening foreign alliances to ensure access to energy: http://www.whitehouse.gov/energy/

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace website -- has a lot of primary sources with views of government people, and also some critiques. http://www.ceip.org/files/Iraq/index.htm - regime_change

 

OIL

(Read the Wall Street Journal -- it regularly reports on what's happening with oil companies -- and other companies -- and their plans for Iraq)

The American Tradgedy: The Quagmire of War, Rhetoric of Oil, and the Conundrum of Hegemony. Cyrus Bina. Journal of Iranian Research and Analysis, Vol 20, No 2, November 2004. (pdf)

Is It the Oil, Stupid? Cyrus Bina. URPE Newsletter, Spring 2004. (pdf)

Sept. '02 article in Nation Magazine by Michael Klare on US government concerns about oil:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20021007&s=klare.

Arthur MacEwan article on oil in Dollars and Sense Magazine:
http://www.dollarsandsense.org/0503macewan.html

"Tinker, Banker, NeoCon, Spy," by Robert Dreyfuss
Ahmed Chalabi's long and winding road from (and to?) Baghdad
http://www.prospect.org/print/V13/21/dreyfuss-r.html

After 9/11 but before the Afghanistan War George Caffentzis wrote a detailed article which analyzes how globalization and Middle Eastern politics have combined to make Saudia Arabians angry at the U.S. It has involved the increasing privatization of their economy, including giving contracts to U.S. companies for oil activities that had been government-owned.
http://slash.autonomedia.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/01/164256&mode

Also, in Feb. 2003, an article on oil and US profits, including Marxist analysis, by George Caffentzis, and an interview of him on Gloves-Off (a website for "bare-fisted" political economy):
http://www.glovesoff.org/features/caffentzis_030603.html
http://www.glovesoff.org/interviews/caffentzis_iv_030603.html

The Jan-Feb 2001 issue of NACLA (North American Congress on Latin America) focuses on oil, especially oil in Latin America, and had articles by both Michael Tanzer and Michael Klare. http://www.nacla.org/

The articles are not on the web (only the first paragraph) but you can order the issue. While not about Iraq, this background information points out how universal the US approach to oil is, and highlights the danger of US oil-related military involvement in Latin America.

MILITARY

(There are differing opinions on the Left about the effects of military spending on the economy. Some view it as directly taking money from social programs. Others view military spending as one of the few methods acceptable to capitalists for the government to stimulate the economy; military spending is then used as an excuse to cut social spending.)

The Political Economy of U.S. Militarism, Palgrave, 2006
by Ismael Hossein-Zadeh
http://www.cbpa.drake.edu/hossein-zadeh/books/books.htm

James Cypher, "Return of the Iron Triangle: The New Military Buildup" in Dollars and Sense, Jan-Feb 20002:
http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2002/0102cypher.html

William Hartung and Frida Berrigan have written extensively on the military, and you can search the internet to find many articles. One pamphlet is "The Hidden Costs of War." http://www.fourthfreedom.org/php/t-si-index.php?hinc=Hartung_report.hinc
Links to other reports can be found on the website of the Arms Trade Resource Center of the World Policy Institute:
http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports.html
William is co-author of an article called "The Military-Industrial-Think Tank Complex" in the Jan/Feb 2003 issue of Multinational Monitor: http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2003/03jan-feb/jan-feb03corp2.html

Stan Goff's critique is from the point of view of a former career military person who is now a leftist. See the website of a new organization he has been involved with: http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/  and search the web and Counterpunch for articles he has written.

BENEFITS TO US CORPORATIONS

(Again, read the Wall Street Journal regularly!)

US Labor Against the War (http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/) has produced a report: "The Corporate Invasion of Iraq: Profiles of US Corporations Awarded Contracts in US/British Occupied Iraq." This report provides much needed information to Iraqi workers and their resurgent labor movement about the US companies that are their new employers.
http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/images/CorpInvasion.061503.v1.4.pdf

"More bucks for the Bang; CEO pay at Top Defense Contractors" is a report by United for a Fair Economy:
http://www.ufenet.org/press/2003/MoreBucksForBang_pr.html

"Selling Off Iraq: how to 'privatize' a country and make milions" by Tim Shorrock, in The Nation, 6/23/03
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030623&c=1&s=shorrock

WHO GETS HURT

Dollars and Sense article by Rodney Ward:
"In Harm’s Way: The Working Class on the War Front and the Home Front"
http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2003/0503ward.html

For a local assessment of the effect of war spending see National Priorities Project: http://www.natprior.org/

Frida Berrigan article on social costs of the war: "Proud to Be an American?"
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0502-10.htm

WEBSITES YOU CAN SEARCH

A few general websites with a lot of articles on oil and related topics:

awareness/dialogue/dissent -- A collection specifically on oil: http://sweb.uky.edu/~jahanl1/911/oil.html

Stuart's Guide to Politics (http://www.geocities.com/stuart323_99/ )-- A Kansas website which has a section on economics and oil.:
http://www.geocities.com/stuart323_99/economic_cost_oil.htm

Truthout and Portside also have a lot of information on oil. Portside has Left articles; Truthout reprints a combination of mainstream, foreign and Left articles -- they seem to find some great mainstream articles. You can search both sites for the topics you want, or subscribe to receive daily emails.
      http://www.truthout.org/
      http://groups.yahoo.com/group/portside/

Znet and Z Magazine: http://www.zmag.org/

British media:
      Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/
      Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/

RELATED RESOURCES

Two Economy Connection members have articles relating to Iran:

Reza Ghorashi's article, "What Should Iranians Do? Why War with Iraq?," published in CounterPunch, attributes the war to the US desire for a New World Order, leaving behind its former allies. The Iraq War has tremendous implications for Iran and its array of political forces, which he discusses. http://www.biairan.com/news/today/essay/counterpunch.htm

Kamran Nayeri has written an article in Farsi, "War and Peace at the End of the American Century."
(http://www.bonyadekar.com/bahs/bahs013.pdf).
The article, intended for labor and anti-war activists, analyzes the war against Iraq in the broader context of global capitalist crisis.

Book on the connection between concentration of financial power and the loss of civil liberties for those who don't have it:
The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, by Greg Palast: http://www.gregpalast.com/contents.htm

Legal issues:

"A US-led invasion of Iraq will be unequivocally illegal under the UN Charter and international law generally.  A new report from the Center for Economic and Social Rights, TEARING UP THE RULES: THE ILLEGALITY OF INVADING IRAQ, rejects efforts by the U.S., U.K, and Australia to circumvent the U.N. Security Council and claim legal justification for a war against Iraq."
http://www.cesr.org/iraq/docs/tearinguptherules.pdf

A British organization for journalism in areas of conflict, with description and a range of political viewpoints:
The Institute for War & Peace Reporting (www.iwpr.net)
http://www.iwpr.net/iraq_index1.html