You forget that alot of countries who jumped ship when it came to the Iraq war were also countries who were ILLEGALLY profiting off of the OIL FOR FOOD scandel that was uncovered after the invasion.
France, Russia, China... to name a few (notice their positions in the UNSC).
Whereas you seem to forget that a lot of countries, say, such as
the United States of America and
Australia, both of which participated in the illegal war, invasion, and occupation of Iraq, also profited profusely from the Oil-for-Food program. Australia, with $200 million in bribes to Hussein's regime, earns the title "the single largest payer of the illicit millions that bolstered the government of Saddam Hussein through years of sanctions," while US oil imports actually financed about 52 percent of the illegal kickpacks paid to the Hussein regime.
Let's see:
The United States was not only aware of Iraqi oil sales which violated UN sanctions and provided the bulk of the illicit money Saddam Hussein obtained from circumventing UN sanctions. On occasion, the United States actually facilitated the illicit oil sales, as happened in the Khor al-Amaya incident in 2003.
There is, for instance, the Texas-based Bayoil. Remember Bayoil?
Bayoil was "the largest provider of Iraqi oil imports into the United States." At the time when other companies around the world were sharply decreasing their purchases of Iraqi oil due to Iraq's surcharge demands, Bayoil actually "increased both its total purchases and its share of Iraqi oil exports, at one point buying about 20 percent of all Iraqi oil sold under the Oil-for-Food program." Bayoil then sold this oil primarily to U.S. oil companies and refineries, which, in turn, sold refined petroleum products, like gasoline and heating oil, to the USAian consumers.
Thus Bayoil, quote, "fostered corruption of the Oil-for-Food program by faciliating the payment at least $37 million in illegal surcharges to the Hussein regime on the oil it purchased."
And while we are at it, there is this one particular oil-hungry country whose energy companies could not directly participate in the Hussein-era Iraqi oil-fest and make their own claims. Namely the United States of America. There is also this one particular country that could not directly benefit from the Hussein-era Iraqi favouring of petroeuroes instead of petrodollars and was actually hurt by it. Namely the United States of America. Well, sure enough, less than a month after the start of the illegal US-occupation of Iraq, a presidential
executive order is signed to seize "all Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products, and interests therein" and put them under the "protection" of the United States of America -- what's that if not the biggest oil theft in the history? Oh, and
Iraq switches back to petrodollars -- what a coincidence. [/sarcasm]
Reports the
Financial Times:
The tender, for which bids are due by June 10, switches the transaction back to dollars - the international currency of oil sales - despite the greenback's recent fall in value. Saddam Hussein in 2000 insisted Iraq's oil be sold for euros, a political move, but one that improved Iraq's recent earnings thanks to the rise in the value of the euro against the dollar.
And speaking of profiteering, remind me again what's Halliburton's current tap of "unaccounted-for" profits and just how many billions of Iraqi oil money did the US CPA steal during its short reign. Was it as much as the Hussein regime is supected to have stolen from the Oil-for-Food program, or is it actually *gasp* more?
Pot, meet Kettle?