how is this shocking?

or news? the only shocking thing is HIS name is the only one bandied about. we know there are more names on that list. the good ol' whiteboy network. king george et al
blood (the iraqi's AND our sons and daughters and mothers and fathers) for oil. yeah! that's grand
War architect said to be considering Iraqi oil deal

A neoconservative architect of President Bush's Iraq occupation could be preparing to personally reap the spoils of war, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Documents suggest that Richard Perle, top aide to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, has been in talks with government officials and its Washington envoy, and Turkish AG Group International, over a plan to drill for oil near the Kurdish city of Erbil. Perle is also in talks with the oil-rich nation of Kazakhstan, whose ruler, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has been involved in a US oil bribery investigation.

"Mr. Perle has publicly lauded President Nazarbayev as a 'visionary and wise,'" the Journal added.

Perle worked in the Reagan administration as assistant Secretary of Defense and held a seat on the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee from 1987 to 2004, also serving as its chairman from 2001 to 2003 under Bush. ...........

oil

it's why WE'RE there (one of the reasons. one of the MAIN reasons. weapons of mass destruction is not even on the list of reasons. another reason we're there is our king holds grudges. long and bad ones. he's a madman) - and it's why THEY are there too
NYT: Stolen oil profits keep Iraq's insurgency running
While many US officials and politicians routinely point to jihadism or Islamofascism as key motivating factors for Iraq's insurgency, a growing number of officers on the ground are blaming economic conditions instead, according to an article slated for the front page of Sunday's New York Times.
Richard A. Oppel Jr. reports that "there are officers in the U.S. military who openly question how much a role jihadism plays in the minds of most people who carry out attacks. As the U.S. occupation has worn on and unemployment has remained high, these officers say the overwhelming motivation of insurgents is the need to earn a paycheck."........
and the nyt article
Iraq Insurgency Runs on Stolen Oil Profits
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
BAIJI, Iraq — The Baiji refinery, with its distillation towers rising against the Hamrin Mountains, may be the most important industrial site in the Sunni Arab-dominated regions of Iraq. On a good day, 500 tanker trucks will leave the refinery filled with fuel with a street value of $10 million. The sea of oil under Iraq is supposed to rebuild the nation, then make it prosper. But at least one-third, and possibly much more, of the fuel from Iraq’s largest refinery here is diverted to the black market, according to American military officials. Tankers are hijacked, drivers are bribed, papers are forged and meters are manipulated — and some of the earnings go to insurgents who are still killing more than 100 Iraqis a week.
“It’s the money pit of the insurgency,” said Capt. Joe Da Silva, who commands several platoons stationed at the refinery.
Five years after .........