The War for oil in Basra appears to be setting the stage for Cheney’s U.S. War on Iran.

Before the Battle for Basra

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was making his third vice presidential trip to Iraq, where 160,000 American troops are deployed and the U.S. death toll is nearing 4,000.

One might ask if the bloodshed in Basra was precipitated by the U.S. Vice president Dick Cheney’s ‘surprise’ visit to Iraq on 17 March – nine days prior to the uprising. Another Iraq war-lover, Sen. John McCain (see below), accompanied Cheney. If one watches U.S. visits by U.S. government luminaries, there is always an aftermath related to these visits. It is thus hard to believe that puppet Prime Minister al-Maliki was acting on his own.

The U.S. is notrious for meddling. Tom Englehardt has an excellent essay (03.04.08) on meddling:

“ A range of other countries, all with a natural bent for “interference” or “meddling,” must regularly be warned or threatened. After all, what needs to be prevented, according to a typical formulation of their President, is “foreign interference in the internal affairs of Iraq. / None of this advice do they apply to themselves for reasons far too obvious to explain.”

Iraqi’s don’t like Mr. Cheney much more than the rest of the world. The day of arrival, a suicide bomber caused the death of 43 people in a Karbala mosque. The U.S. Embassy and military issued a joint statement blaming the so-called “al Qaeda” in Iraq for the Karbala attack. The U.S., never honest about casualty numbers either in Iraq or the U.S., put the figure at 40, with 65 wounded.

In January 2008, ORB reported over 1.2 million Iraqi deaths “as a result of the conflict [occupation] which started in 2003.”

4,000 U.S. soldiers had died for the same reason by 24 March 2008. Cheney ( see Video here) “reminded the public that U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan volunteered for duty.”

For Cheney’s infamous “SO” remark, see You Tube here

The following roundup is an attempt to make sense of the battle for Basra. This is not easy for anyone, as reporters are a discouraged species in Iraq. The U.S. bombed al-jazeera offices in Baghdad. The U.S. removed many reporters in the early days of the occupation. Those who remained were ‘embeds’ with distorted reports being the only choice for getting news to the world . Later on, death squads – including, allegedly, U.S. death squads, murdered reporters and photographers.

Cheney, in his foreign visits, is always two jumps ahead of everyone. In the 12 days of confrontation, the War for Basra has metastasized into Cheney’s War for Iran. He will manipulate Basra for his ‘Bomb Bomb Iran’ campaign.

Background: The Battle For Basra & Iraq’s Oil

CIA 01.03 map of Iraq’s oilfields
“With over 80 percent of the country’s known oil reserves, Basra holds the key to Iraq’s economy. Without its revenues the central government in Baghdad would collapse. The struggle for power in Basra is central to the larger battle for control in the new Shiite dominated Iraq. This is a report from Basra by independent filmmaker Rick Rowley of Big Noise films.” (06.12.07. Democracy Now)