The Violence of Oil and Gas Pipelines!

The Violence of Oil and Gas Pipelines!

In 2016 the United States dropped bombs on seven, what are commonly described as “Muslim Countries”: Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan. These military operations were justified by the Obama Administration as a war on terrorism or ISIS. Was “Terrorism” the true motive of these operations?

Retired General Wesley Clark, West Point Valedictorian, Vietnam Veteran and Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO during the Kosovo War, published a book in 2003, Winning Modern Wars. In this book he recited a conversation he had with an unidentified Military Officer in the Pentagon who, shortly after the 9/11 attacks, revealed a script to attack seven Middle Eastern countries: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and finally Iran. With this revelation we now know there was a premeditated plan by the United States to attack seven additional countries to Afghanistan with the passing of the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force. Which intentionally used vague language to describe the scope of the authorization in order to open the door for the expansion and use of military operations.

The motive of fighting “Terrorism” has been invalidated as well. After a trip to Syria, Republican US Senator Richard Black gives a description of the country unlike anything else you will see on Corporate American media. In an interview with Executive Intelligence Review Magazine’s Jeffrey Steinberg, Senator Black says (3:00), “Syria is one of the most incredibly wonderful nations on Earth,” and goes on to say, “The fact that America set out to topple the Government and destroy it, long before there was the faintest hint of civil unrest,… is really one of the great stains on American honor.” He describes Syria as having religious freedom greater than in the United States. Later in the interview he he gives two devastating revelations. He says (9:28), “One of my questions, is why is there war in Syria?..We know this was not a popular uprising. This was a calculated decision by CIA, MI6, French Intelligence, working with the Muslim Brotherhood, Turks, Saudis…an organized plan to topple the Government and of course, you know, we were familiar that there were competing plans for oil and gas pipelines.” Even more disturbing he says( 35:54), “…we have gone full circle from opposing Al-Qaeda, which sent three thousand Americans to a faming death on 9-11, complete circle to where we now supply them, we arm them, we finance them and it’s all coming with the approval of the highest authorities in the United States Government.” Yes, that is a current United States Senator who said these things.

Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006 may have been the decision maker behind these wars and certainly a major influence to invade Iraq. He stated in his book, The Age of Turbulence, “I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.” He seems to suggest it was his idea to invade Iraq in a quote from a Washington Post article, Greenspan: Ouster of Hussein Crucial for Oil Security, September 17, 2007, “Greenspan said he had backed Hussein’s ouster, either through war or covert action. “I wasn’t arguing for war per se,” he said. But “to take [Hussein] out, in my judgment, it was something important for the West to do and essential, but I never saw Plan B” — an alternative to war.” We can now certainly conclude that the wars in the middle east are for oil and not a war against “Terrorism.”

The violence for oil has landed on our homeland as well. In North Dakota, Energy Transfer Partners LLC, is able to impose its will with the support of local and out of State Police Departments and Local, State and Federal Governments, against the best interest of Indigenous Nations and the American public. They are constructing an oil pipeline, known as The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), under the Missouri River, which will eventually contaminate the river. According to the US Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation, Basin Report: Missouri River, “The Missouri is the longest river in the United States. It has a watershed of more than 500,000 square miles, includes portions of 10 states and one Canadian province, and encompasses approximately one-sixth of the United States. The Missouri drains the largest watershed within the United States and produces annual yields of 40 million acre-feet.” The report goes on to say, “Adequate and safe water supplies are fundamental to the health, economy, and ecology of the United States, and global climate change poses a significant challenge to the protection of these resources.” Protecting this resource from oil spills and climate change is critical to the health of the people of the United States, Indigenous and otherwise.

Water Protectors in North Dakota, the Standing Rock Sioux and other Indigenous Tribes, stood peacefully against the construction of the pipeline. Armed private security were brought in and used dogs to attack the Water Protectors. Luckily this action was captured by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now. This inspired people from all over the United States to support the effort against the DAPL bringing supplies, Money and People Power. Activists converged on Standing Rock in solidarity with the Water Protectors, they were met however with more violence. The Morton County Sheriff’s Department and outside Police Departments sprayed Water Protectors with water, from water cannons, in the frigid cold of North Dakota’s winter, they used tear gas, concussion grenades and shot the Water Protectors with rubber bullets. Sophia Wilansky, 21, nearly lost her arm to one of these grenades. Vanessa Dundon, was hit in the eye with a tear gas canister and nearly lost her eye and Marcus Mitchell, 21, shot in the eye with some kind of pellet rounds, also nearly losing and eye.

Civil Rights are ignored when it comes to protecting the profits of oil and gas companies. There were several high profile arrests of Water Protectors and activists: Standing Rock Tribal Chairman David Archambault II who was charged with disorderly conduct, an arrest warrant was also issued in Morton County for Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein and her running mate Ajamu Baraka on misdemeanor counts of criminal trespass and criminal mischief, a warrant for journalist Amy Goodman’s arrest was issued by Morton County related to the filming of the dog attacks on Water Protectors. Protectors, Physician Sara Jumping Eagle, along with the daughter of LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, who founded Sacred Stone Camp and Actor Shailene Woodly were strip searched for misdemeanor arrests. Allard said that when her daughter was arrested and taken into custody she was “strip-searched in front of multiple male officers, then left for hours in her cell, naked and freezing.” All of this violence and violations of Civil Rights against Americans protecting one of the most important watershed in the United States showed us that the profits of oil and gas companies are more important than the American values we were raised to believe in.

Let’s stop the violence and move away from fossil fuels and towards clean renewable energy. The Green Party advocates for the Green New Deal which, includes investments for renewable energy, taxes and fees for industries that increase carbon emissions and to achieve full employment with living wages in green jobs in sustainable energy. Review the Green New Deal here: https://sccgreens.org///green-agenda/green-new-deal/

The Carbon Fee and Dividend proposal, by the Citizen’s Climate Lobby, looks to return to citizens the dividends paid by the fossil fuel industries by the amount of greenhouse gas emissions they release. You can learn more about this plan here: http://citizensclimatelobby.org/carbon-fee-and-dividend/

We must stand up to the violence in the name of oil and gas.