Pipeline Brigade
President Bush is arming troops to protect
Occidental Petroleum in Colombia. What next?
By John Barry- NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL
April 8 (2002) issue — Is George W. Bush
using war as an extension of his oil policy? It looked that way
in February, when Washington announced a $700 million aid package
for the Andean region, largely to fight the twin threats of guerrilla
war and drugrunning that threaten the area. As is usual, half
the money will go to Colombia, but with a new twist: $98 million
for training and equipping a Colombian brigade of around 2,000
soldiers to protect the 772-kilometer Cano Limon pipeline. Used
to transport crude oil to the Caribbean coast from a field pumped
by Occidental Petroleum of California in partnership with the
Colombian state oil company, the pipeline is a favorite target
of rebel saboteurs.
This would hardly be the first time a nation
defended its interest in smoothly flowing oil supplies by force
of arms. Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the gulf war
that followed are only the latest conflicts over control of fossil
fuel. Bush’s critics have argued since September 11 that
his “war on terror” is really about oil, and their suspicions
have been heightened by the Pentagon’s clear intent to keep
access to bases in the oil-rich Caspian Sea region after the war
in Afghanistan winds down. But in Colombia the oil connection
is not conjecture: it was spelled out in a budget request that
specifically names the pipeline and Occidental, and appeared to
set a dangerous precedent.
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