– Almost all wars are resource wars. The people are told all sorts of reasons, usually something with democracy and freedom, but basically it’s about rulers needing increasing amounts of oil to maintain their positions, says Swiss historian, Dr. Daniele Ganser. Since before World War II the search for economic growth in the Western world has made oil the most coveted resource across the globe. Oil is a prerequisite for heating, transport and the development of most modern products – and it is absolutely essential for waging war. As the Nazi Field Marshal Erwin Rommel’s forces were left stranded in the desert at Haifa in Libya after the Battle of Tobruk in 1942, it was not because of superior fire power on the part of the opposing Allies – Rommel had simply ran out of oil. In fact the whole campaign had been nothing more than a desperate attempt to conquer North Africa in order to provide oil to Adolf Hitler’s Germany and fascist Italy. Hitler had formulated the mission a year earlier. In a directive in August 1941, he stated that it was necessary to conquer the Crimean peninsula in order to cut off Russian oil supplies and ensure fresh ones as the US was about to stop trading with Germany. In the early 1940s, the U.S. was the world’s largest producer of oil, and both the Nazi war build-up and the start of World War 2 created a boom for the U.S. oil industry. The United States was then a contemporary version of Saudi Arabia. From early on in the war, U.S. companies delivered oil to all the belligerents: Britain, Germany, Italy and Japan. None of them had significant in-house production and were therefore all dependent on the U.S.. American oil to the Japanese Until shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, it was American oil that fueled the whole Japanese army. Japan had no oil resources, so tankers sailed in regular service between the United States and Japan until the Japanese operations in the Indian Ocean became so threatening that President Roosevelt stopped deliveries. Similarly, the oil from the U.S. was the basis for economic growth in Germany until the war – and secured Hitler’s aggressive expansion in its first year. Without financial support and oil from the United States, the expansion and war efforts of Nazi Germany, would never have been realized. Standard Oil owned by Rockefeller and IG Farben The largest U.S. oil company in 1941 was Standard Oil of New Jersey, whose largest shareholder was the Rockefeller family – and the second largest shareholder at the time was Germany’s IG Farben, then the world’s largest chemical conglomerate. Their relationship came into existence after the U.S. invested massively in Nazi Germany during the American Depression in the 1930s, when Germany was considered a good and safe place to invest. Western oil hedged the Luftwaffe Not only Standard Oil, but also firms such as Du Pont and General Motors were partners with IG Farben – the three companies were the main reason that Hitler’s Luftwaffe was able to take to the air. The German airplanes used Tetraethyl lead (TEL) as an additive to their fuel – and this was provided by Standard Oil, Du Pont and General Motors. When World War 2 began in Europe, there was great resistance from England to the U.S. supply of oil and fuel to the Nazi Germany, and Standard Oil responded by immediately relocating all its oil fleet to Panama. From there Standard Oil continued supplying central plants in the Canary Islands and Tenerife where the oil was loaded onto German tankers for use by both German and Italian troops. Trade until Spring 1941 This traffic continued until Spring 1941 when the U.S. government published a detailed list of U.S. companies trading with the Nazis which raised a minor scandal. At the time, Standard Oil was responsible for more than 80 percent of the U.S. oil production, and it was closely tied to Chase National Bank of New York – a bank closed by the U.S. authorities on 17 April 1945 after money-laundering Nazi money throughout the war. The U.S., Venezuela and Iran supplied 85% of Hitler’s oil As oil supplies from the U.S. to Nazi Germany were finally stopped, Hitler faced a serious problem. Even at the outbreak of war, Germany consumed about three million tons of oil a year, with 85 percent of it coming from the United States, Venezuela and Iran. Just as in World War I, Germany was once again dependent on oil from Romania and the Ukraine – and once again the production wasn’t sufficient to fulfill the German ambitions for growth and invasions. When the Japanese invaded Dutch Indonesia in March 1942, the goal was to ensure access to the country’s rich oil resources. The alternative was that the Japanese war machine would face an abrupt halt. Most wars are resource wars The Swiss historian Dr. Daniele Ganser, is convinced that the underlying reason for most wars, is the need for oil. “The military machine, is dependent on oil; without oil no war. And if we look at the world’s hotspots at any given time, you will nearly always find, that massive oil interests are present, Almost all wars are resource wars. The people are told all sorts of reasons, usually something with democracy and freedom, but basically it’s about rulers needing increasing amounts of oil to maintain their positions”, says Daniele Ganser. Focus on oil in Iraq before 9/11 Even before 9/11, it was clear that the United States focused on oil reserves in Iraq, which at that time possessed the second largest reserves in the world. The West invaded the country, removed and liquidated Saddam Hussein, and the Iraqi oil wealth was divided among selected Western oil companies such as BP, Shell and Exxon. In late 1990, the Western oil giant Unocal, joined forces with the Saudi Arabian oil company Delta. Together they signed a cooperation agreement with the then Taliban regime in Afghanistan, to establish an oil and gas pipeline through the country. It was to secure supplies from the Caspian Sea through Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan and beyond to the major markets in Asia. The Trans-Afghanistan pipeline The construction of this Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline, which is scheduled for completion in 2016, was initially strongly opposed by the Afghan people and especially among the various Afghan warlords, who were not controlled by the central Taliban regime in Kabul. The invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 is therefore seen by many observers as a desire to ensure and secure this pipeline through military presence. The U.S. interest in securing oil supplies and consumption is due to both the U.S. oil industry and the U.S. dollar. Since the early 1970s it has been the standard procedure, that oil transactions are paid in dollars, and no other currencies. The currency confusion – If you look at the so-called Brent oil coming from North Sea oil fields in the area between Norway and the UK, the price is listed in dollars. Today, no one finds it strange that we don’t use the Norwegian krone, pound sterling or for that matter the Euro to pay for the oil. This linkage between one country’s currency and a global demand for a raw material is extremely dubious, to say the least, says Dr. Daniele Ganser. In practice, the 1971-73 petrodollar agreements, automatically strengthens the U.S. dollar whenever oil is being traded, 24/7 around the globe. The dollar’s value is artificial, created by hijacking the whole planet’s trading of a given natural and very essential ressource. It is generally unknown to the public, that before 2000, Saddam Hussein announced plans to sell Iraqi oil for EURO, generating positive reactions in European financial circles. But after the invasion in 2003, when Iraqi oil production was taken over by Western oil companies, the oil trade has remained in dollars. Tying the global demand of an energy resource, to the currency of one particular country, ensures almost perpetual prosperity for that one currency. The system can only be threatened by alternative energy sources or countries that attempt to waive the agreement and go their own way. All attempts to leave the oil-for-dollar agreement since 1971 have been halted, by monetary or ultimately military invasions. The foreign military presence in Afghanistan has now secured the Trans-Afghanistan pipeline, between the Caspian Sea and the major markets in India and Asia. Through Ukraine, future access to the major oil sources in the Russian continent are secured. Gaddafi wanted to nationalize Libyan oil fields Similarly, in 2009, Libya’s dictator Mohammar Gaddafi announced his plans to nationalize Libyan oil fields and introduce a new currency, based on the more than 144 tons of gold reserves in the country. He would henceforth not recognize the U.S. dollar as payment for anything at all. The plans were effectively shelved when Libya was invaded in March 2011, and Gaddafi was killed. According to the former head of Libya’s National Bank, Qasem Azoz, Libya’s gold disappeared shortly after the invasion. Libya’s oil trade also, still remains in dollars. It is a fact that all attempts to leave this petrodollar agreement have been halted under great economic and political pressure, ultimately with American military intervention. The friendships between Saudi Arabia and the United States, and the extensive trading links between the Saudi and U.S. oil industries are historic and well documented. As the organizers of the attacks on 11th September 2001 should be found, international observers find it strange that the Bush administration focused on Afghanistan, rather than Saudi Arabia – although 15 of the 19 alleged hijackers were residents of Saudi Arabia and the alleged ringleader, Osama bin Laden was a Saudi national. The Bush family, the CIA and Saudi Arabia The Bush family’s close friendship with the Saudi royal family and the Bin Laden family is widely recognized and a part of American history. When former President George H. W. Bush in 1976-1977 was director of the CIA, he had amongst other things, the priority task to initiate and build the Saudi security structure -based on the American model. This came as a counterpart oil-for-dollar contract – at the time, the United States was in the process of building strategic military bases throughout Saudi Arabia, to protect the Saudi oil fields. This military alliance consolidated the value of the oil / dollar agreement, officially securing the U.S. dollar, while the U.S. and Saudi Arabian oil industries literally boomed. In 1953, the oil company Zapata Petroleum was founded. A joint venture was made between George HW Bush and former CIA staffer Thomas J. Devine, who coincidently quit his CIA post to enter private business. Thus, the documents declassified in 1993, confirm that George HW Bush, until 1963 was both director of Zapata Oil and employed by the CIA. This was 14 years before he became director of the CIA. In 1979, George HW Bush founded the oil company Arbusto Energy, in Midland, Texas, along with a number of local businessmen, including James R. Bath, representative of Salem bin Laden (older half-brother of Osama Bin Laden) and of the Saudi Binladin Group. Arbusto Energy has since led a Chequered existence, and has also been associated with fraud and money laundering scandals in the CIA infiltrated Bank of Credit and Commerce International. The BCCI was forced to close in 1991, by the international court in Luxembourg. In 2002 it was revealed to have continued activities long after closure. Over the last 100 years, high level politics, decisions concerning oil, foreign policy and global Development, have been heavily influenced by increasingly powerful families. Effectivly shaping the global agenda to fit private financial interests. Through links with firms such as the Carlyle Group, the same families today have created vast personal and private corporation fortunes with billion dollar values. War has become a political and economic necessity. Carlyle Group is the world’s largest private capital investiment company. The Carlyle Group payroll has a shifting string of former presidents and ministers from the United States and governments around the world.