On Feb. 8, 2001, immediately after the first GW Bush inauguration, then head of ExxonMobil, Lee Raymond, met with VP Cheney just after Cheney established an energy task force. Cheney went court to keep the proceedings of the task force secret, but law suits have revealed that plans of Iraq’s oil fields were among the documents examined by that task force.
Appearing before Congress in 2005, Raymond denied that he or any ExxonMobil officials met with the Cheney task force, but newspaper accounts, one referencing White House visitor logs, indicate that he was not telling the truth or that he had a very bad memory. In December, 2002, just before the invasion of Iraq, Raymond joined the board of the American Enterprise Institute, an organization that helped design and promote U.S. policy toward Iraq, and he continues on the board even after leaving ExxonMobil in 2006.
ExxonMobil is further connected with Iraq through William R. Howell, who sits on the board of Halliburton Inc. as well as ExxonMobil. Halliburton, which Cheney used to head, has received millions of dollars in Iraq-related contracts.
ExxonMobil, already the world’s largest non-governmentally owned oil company, would double in size if it gains access to the huge Majnoon oil field in southern Iraq.
Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, has told Consumers for Peace that as much as an estimated 20 percent of ExxonMobil’s record $36 billion 2005 profit, or about $7 billion, can be considered unearned, war profit.
This is an estimate of the amount of profit that has resulted from oil prices that have been inflated because: (1) the Iraq War has severely depressed Iraq’s oil production and (2) fears that the Iraq War will spread, possibly affecting oil production in Iran and Saudi Arabia.
ExxonMobil sold $3.9 billion in petroleum products and services to the Pentagon between 1999 and 2005. In 2001 and the run-up to the Iraq invasion in 2003, ExxonMobil was the Number One supplier to the Pentagon. ExxonMobil was the leading oil campaign contributor from 2000 through 2002. GW Bush was the top recipient of their contributions.
Note: In 2004, Shell was top seller to the Pentagon; in 2005 it was BP. But the overall top average 1999-2005, goes to ExxonMobil.
ExxonMobil is the world’s largest and most profitable non-governmentally owned oil company, formed in 1999 from two companies that have had central roles in forming U.S. Middle East policy.
Between 2000 and 2006, ExxonMobil has given $3.95 million to Republican candidates. The top recipient, as noted above, was GW Bush, at $117,417. Other recipients include members of the Republican Congressional leadership, for example, $34,000 to Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House of Representatives.
In addition, ExxonMobil spent $7.14 million in 2005 on lobbying. Since 1999, it has spent about $50 million on lobbying, including the just mentioned total for 2005.
Rex Tillerson, ExxonMobil’s Chairman and CEO has made personal political contributions to Republican organizations totaling at least $14,450 since 2000.
Ralph Nader, writing in Common Dreams, notes that ExxonMobil is “making well over $1,250 a second and over $110 million a day” but this does not, as it might have in the 1970s and 1980s “prompt any action by our oil-marinated Congress and White House.”
ConsumersforPeace.org
Fallujah Says it all
FALLUJAH - In 2004 the United States destroyed Fallujah. It was a war crime and a crime against humanity. This action typifies the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. This video shows what happened, and what continues to happen daily if on a smaller scale.
Watch the video preview of
"Caught in the Crossfire".
ConsumersForPeace.org, through the ExxonMobil War Boycott, is working to stop the killing in Iraq; to end the United States' occupation of Iraq; and to bring the perpetrators of the war to justice.
To assist you in boycotting ExxonMobil and firms connected to it through its board of directors, you may wish to have Democracy Dollars.
You may wish to write to the ExxonMobil Board of Directors
