Iraq and the Politics of Oil: An Insider's Perspective

I am an avid reader and have read many books in my lifetime. I found this book thoroughly riveting and informative. Granted, I am not objective…..The book is written by my husband.Gary started writing this book to help explain to our children and me why he volunteered to help our military in Iraq for more than six years. He did not have to go. He was a civilian. How could a husband/father leave his family for all those years to go to a war zone? I never understood it. Now I do.Gary is a 1973 graduate of West Point Military Academy. After serving in the army, he joined Mobil Oil Corporation and later ExxonMobil.He left ExxonMobil in early 2002 and found himself working at the Pentagon seven months later. When the opportunity for one last adventure presented itself, he took it. He went into Iraq with the initial US military elements as a civilian oil advisor. We did not know if those initial Americans would see weapons of mass destruction from Saddam or not. Our farewell at the Pentagon parking lot on Sunday morning, March 17, 2003 was a very difficult good-bye. Unfortunately, that was only the first of more than twenty similar good-byes over the following ten years. None of them were easy.I was the first person to read each chapter of his book as he finished it. I made some edits, but more than that – we talked about parts in each chapter that he had never shared with me, especially the dangerous parts. I slowly learned why he was so attracted to helping both Iraq and our country.He enjoyed working with our military and civilians in Iraq. Wonderful friendships were developed with his Iraqi oil friends. All of this comes out in the many short stories he shares. He has pride in what he helped the Iraqis accomplish in their oil sector.Gary did a lot of research for this book. He became obsessed with the oil agenda he discovered during his research. Much of it began to bother him. His health suffered. He had a difficult time accepting what he was reading, but he felt obligated to share what he learned. He was warned that some people from the former Administration would be irritated with his book, but he felt that America needed to know the facts. I agreed.

The book is a first hand account of efforts to restore the Iraqi oil industry after the war. It also details the many sacrifices made by uniformed Americans and civilians as well as the Iraqi people in those efforts.This book was written by a West Point grad, retired Army Lieutenant Colonel and former Mobil Oil executive who helped lead the efforts to restore the Iraq’s oil industry after the second Gulf War. It captures the details of the restoration activities over the many years of his involvement on the ground in Iraq. It also shows how the processes evolved (and sometimes devolved) as powers behind the scenes placed their preferred players into key positions. It also lays out numerous facts, that over time led the author to a conclusion about the real agenda which has never been voiced by our government leaders and had nothing to do with a threat posed by Saddam or the interests of the United States.Why did we go to war ? It’s been obvious for a long time that there were no WMD’s. That was all a smokescreen. It wasn’t to enrich major oil companies and fortunately, the author and others in key roles on the ground would have walked away if they sensed anything along those lines.Did we sacrifice thousands (4000+) of lives and even more casualties (30000+) for some ulterior motives (secret agenda) ? That would seem to be the case. If the reader truly understands the forces that drive our foreign policy with regard to the Middle East then you’ll be seeing confirmatory evidence step by step along the way. For those who haven’t researched the subject (similar to the author early on), then you will come to realize over time what the true objective was as the pieces come together.The book will provide insight into the following and many other questions:Why did key civilian Pentagon leaders cheer about going to war when Colin Powell stated the (erroneous) case to the UN? What were their true allegiances?Why was there so much interest by these same leaders about a secret crude oil pipeline to Israel ?Why did the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) policy of only selling Iraqi crude oil directly to consumers (refiners) later change to involve Glencore - a middle man (founded by Marc Rich who had been previously indicted by the US on dozens of counts only to receive a controversial pardon by Bill Clinton as he left office) ? Marc Rich had been a key supplier of oil to Israel over many years including oil from Iran even though sanctions were in place.I have spent over 40 years working in the US oil industry and this activity and relationship to important players in the Bush Administration were eye opening.As you connect the dots while reading the book, you’ll realize that the war was waged to benefit another country (not the US) at a huge cost in both US lives and dollars and most of those in the know don’t have the courage to stand up and tell the truth.Prepare to learn the truth

Vogler has written an important first-person account of the post-war effort to rebuild the Iraqi oil industry. This is original source material that will soon be turning up in the credits of many term papers and theses. But it is more than simply a litany of facts. Vogler connects the dots to ferret out the underlying motivation for starting the war in the first place. Stable-minded West Pointers like Vogler are not prone to conspiracy theories, but he names names and posits questions that will make him a marked man among the neocons and AIPAC lobbyists in Washington DC. Read this book. It will make you think and it will make you angry.

The equivalent of the Pentagon Papers on the Iraq war in regards to American and Israeli interest in Iraqi oil. Very enlightening, especially about our defense senior civilian leadership....sad to say, very self serving.

Gary Vogler has done us all a great service by ferreting out an oil agenda that got lost in all the shouting about WMD and the decision to invade Iraq. He has produced a book of prodigious research--filled with his own personal experiences--and thoughtful analysis. Understanding events sometimes requires removal and thoughtful contemplation to come up with truths that seemed unthinkable at the time. That is the strength of this book. Highly recommended!

Very well written! Must read for those who want facts and not supposition.

Incredible detail. Mr Vogler crystallizes those vague notions many have about the reasons for war in Iraq.