THE CARTER DOCTRINE GOES GLOBAL
Klare, Michael T.
The Carter Doctrine Goes Global By Michael T. Klare Illustration by Heath Hinegardner In the first U.S. combat operation of the war in Iraq, Navy commandos stormed an offshore oil-loading...
...American military aid began flowing to these states by 1997, and U.S...
...A similar pattern is now evident in Colombia, where U.S...
...In announcing these moves, the White House has repeatedly stated that such action is needed to fight Al Qaeda and to support ongoing U.S...
...It is likely, moreover, that American forces will also use this base when deploying in the region...
...With over 65 percent of the world's oil reserves located in the Gulfstates ofthe region—from which the United States imports nearly 20 percent of its needs...
...was merely applying the doctrine when he invaded Iraq in 2003-He's not the first...
...Some 150 U.S...
...But just as U.S...
...Western Europe, 43 percent...
...But ensuring the security of Nigeria's oil fields—or those of other developing countries—would be no easy task...
...Just as existing U.S...
...In fact, it is a recipe for more quagmires like Iraq...
...It is the blueprint for the extension of U.S...
...This mission is given blunt expression in the testimony given each year by Centcom's top commander to members of Congress...
...In line with this reasoning, the Department of Defense is helping Azerbaijan to develop and deploy a small navy in its Caspian Sea enclave and is considering the establishment of a U.S...
...troops initiated a series of annual joint military exercises with their forces...
...Thus, in requesting $51.2 million in economic assistance to Azerbaijan for fiscal year 2005, the Administration affirmed that "U.S...
...And Bill Clinton, though not explicitly citing the doctrine, adhered to its tenets...
...advisers there from 400 to 800...
...access to Persian Gulf oil is not a Bush II policy or a Republican policy, but a bipartisan, American policy...
...aid to the Caspian states was followed by the insertion of a permanent American military presence in the region, the Department of Defense is beginning to search for permanent bases in Africa...
...Members of the Armed Forces face years of dangerous and ignoble work as protectors of pipelines and refineries...
...entanglement...
...Special Forces instructors from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, are assisting Bogota's military...
...On April 24, two American sailors and a Coast Guardsman were killed when a boat they sought to intercept, presumably carrying suicide bombers, exploded near the Khor al-Amaya loading platform...
...military power to the world's other oil-producing regions...
...There is, in fact, no real escape from the turmoil associated with oil production in the developing world...
...But what the report fails to mention is that these areas are no less prone to turbulence and conflict than the Persian Gulf...
...Slowly but surely, the U.S...
...Central Command (Cent-com), giving it the status of a major unified combat force like the U.S...
...The Carter Doctrine now covers much ofthe planet...
...policy calls for the use of military force to protect the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf, an extended Carter Doctrine now justifies similar action in the Caspian Sea region, Latin America, and the west coast ofAfrica...
...Here, too, coun-terterrorism is given as the primary justification for U.S...
...military specialists are advising the Colombian troops assigned to the protection of oil-exploration operations in southern Colombia, long a haven for rebel forces...
...Swooping silendy out of the Persian Gulf night, Navy Seals seized two Iraqi oil terminals in bold raids that ended early this morning, overwhelming lighdy armed Iraqi guards and claiming a bloodless victory in the batde for Iraq's vast oil empire," wrote an overexcited reporter for The New York Times...
...According to the Department of State, this aid is intended to help Georgia protect its borders and to safeguard the Baku-to-Turkey pipeline—now under construction— against sabotage and insurgent attack...
...The U.S...
...No amount of cheap oil can justify a sacrifice this great...
...So far, so good...
...President Reagan cited it to justify U.S...
...The National Energy Policy affirms that because domestic U.S...
...In the grand scheme of things," said Captain Kurt Tidd of the U.S...
...bases in the Caspian region (at present, in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan) and has deployed a permanent American military presence there...
...In October, Congress approved doubling the number of U.S...
...military bases...
...Clinton also extended this formula to Kazakhstan, another promising source ofpetroleum, and to Georgia, a major way-station on the proposed pipeline from Baku to Turkey...
...Lost revenue from guerrilla attacks has severely hampered the GOC's [Government of Colombia's] ability to meet the country's social, political, and security needs," the State Department reported in 2002...
...In fact, it was a natural expression of the Carter Doctrine...
...American military involvement in sub-Saharan Africa is at a less advanced stage, but here, too, concern over oil supplies is spurring a major increase in U.S...
...According to recent media reports, the Pentagon is seeking "barebones facilities"— essentially, airstrips with modest logistical capabilities—in Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Senegal, and Uganda...
...And they keep an eye on the Iranian threat to the Strait of Hormuz—the narrow passageway connecting the Persian Gulf with the Indian Ocean and the world at large...
...This base will be used to house a Kazakh "rapid reaction brigade" whose task, according to the Department of State, will be to "enhance Kazakhstan's capability to respond to major terrorist threats to oil platforms or borders...
...By improving pipeline security, the United States will "enhance the GOC's ability to protect a vital part of its energy infrastructure...
...firms in the development and export of Azerbaijani oil is key to our objective of diversifying world oil supplies...
...and world economies," the National Energy Policy declares...
...Clinton authorized military-to-military ties between the Pentagon and these countries' armed forces, and sent U.S...
...The 2003 invasion of Iraq should be viewed as not the first—and certainly not the last—of a long series of wars over the control of foreign oil...
...In particular, this means obtaining more oil from the Persian Gulf...
...forces [in Africa] would be to ensure that Nigeria's oil fields, which in the future could account for as much as 25 percent of U.S...
...But U.S...
...That's why Bush has established U.S...
...In 2003, the head of the European Command declared that the aircraft carrier battle groups under his command would shorten their visits to the Mediterranean and "spend half their time going down the west coast of Africa"—the location of its most promising offshore oil fields...
...Special Operations instructors have been deployed in Georgia for this purpose...
...By facilitating Azerbaijan's oil exports, "we not only help Azerbaijan to prosper, we also help diversify our energy supply and strengthen our nation's security...
...In the first half of 2004 alone, guerrilla attacks on the pipelines crisscrossing Iraq deprived that government of $200 million in lost revenue, interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi declared in June...
...The integration of the Administration's anti-terrorism and oil-protection policies is also evident in Georgia, the leading recipient of U.S...
...Today, the Carter Doctrine stretches far beyond the Persian Gulf...
...policy to ensure continued domination of the Persian Gulf and its prolific oil fields...
...oil imports in order to satisfy soaring demand for basic energy...
...and Japan, 68 percent—the international community must have free and unfettered access to the region's resources...
...basing facility there...
...It further noted that "the involvement of U.S...
...Most of this aid—approximately $300 million in fiscal years 2002-4—is being funneled through the Foreign Military Sales credit program, the Excess Defense Articles surplus-arms giveaway, and the International Military Education and Training program...
...It is time to repudiate the Carter Doctrine and the Bush-Cheney energy plan and begin the necessary—and inevitable—transition to a post-petroleum economy...
...In a world of growing energy demand," Clinton declared during a 1997 White House meeting with Heydar Aliyev, the president (and virtual dictator) of Azerbaijan, "our nation cannot afford to rely on any single region for our energy supplies...
...military is protecting pipelines, refineries, and oil-export facilities throughout Iraq...
...presence in the Caspian basin...
...And troops from the Southern Command are helping to protect pipelines in Colombia...
...The Administration has also examined other sites in the region as possible locations for U.S...
...reliance on oil from Africa, Latin America, and the Caspian region is certain to entail the same sort of geopolitical risks as have long been evident in the Persian Gulfarea...
...Seen in this light, Bush Jr...
...At the same time, forces from the European Command are helping to protect oil pipelines in the Republic of Georgia and oil-rich waters off the coast of Africa...
...But a careful reading ofPentagon and State Department documents suggests that the protection of oil is of paramount concern...
...These ties were later utilized by President Bush to facilitate U.S...
...In addition to protecting the oil of the Gulf, Centcom forces have also assumed responsibility for the protection ofenergy supplies in Central Asia and the Caspian region...
...A year and a half later, American soldiers are still struggling to maintain control over these vital facilities—and the fighting is no longer bloodless...
...In October, moreover, Juan Forero of The New York Times reported that U.S...
...military operations in Afghanistan...
...This process began in 1980, when, in seeking to implement his doctrine, Carter established the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force and established a web of U.S...
...oil production faces long-term decline, the pursuit ofadditional foreign supplies must be made "a priority of our trade and foreign policy...
...international energy policy...
...The process was accelerated in 1983, when Reagan transformed the joint task force into the U.S...
...These wars are certain to claim an increasing toll in human life and will impose a severe and growing strain on the federal treasury...
...At the heart of this effort is a $64 million "train and equip" program designed to enhance the counterinsur-gency capabilities of the Georgian army and its capacity to protect the pipeline route...
...The newly independent states of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan were eager to sell their petroleum wealth to the West, but they lacked a conduit for exports...
...President Bush Sr...
...intervention in Afghanistan following 9/11, but it is important to note that their establishment was originally motivated by a concern over the safety of energy supplies, not the threat posed by terrorism...
...basing arrangements in the greater Gulf region...
...tion in the Iran-Iraq War of 19801988 to help ensure the defeat of Iran...
...African oil is of national strategic interest to us," Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Walter Kansteiner declared in 2002, "and it will increase and become more important as we go forward...
...Other oil producers in Africa, including Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Mali, are also being awarded such assistance...
...national interests in Azerbaijan center on the strong bilateral security and counterterror-ism cooperation" as well as "the advancement of U.S...
...Fifth Fleet in July, "there may be no other place where our armed forces are deployed that has a greater strategic importance...
...The globalization of the Carter Doctrine began in the mid-1990s, when the Clinton Administration determined that the Caspian Sea basin—until 1992 under the effective control of the Soviet Union—could become a major source of oil for the United States and its allies, thereby helping to lessen U.S...
...Indeed, the current instability in Colombia, Venezuela, Nigeria, and other non-Gulf producing areas is one big reason behind the worldwide shortage of petroleum and the resulting high gasoline prices...
...Forces from the Pacific Command guard the oil lanes of the South China Sea...
...The Department of Defense has sharply increased its aid to the two leading African oil producers—Angola and Nigeria—and further increases are likely in the future...
...energy security...
...This was the first Coast Guard combat fatality since the Vietnam War...
...involvement, but, again, it is the safe delivery of oil that is clearly of concern to Washington...
...Navy and Coast Guard forces also protect the offshore loading platforms that are used to export Iraqi oil by ship through the Persian Gulf...
...troops on familiarization visits to bases in the region...
...But the National Energy Policy also acknowledges the risks entailed in overre-liance on the Gulf, and so calls for "greater diversity of oil production...
...Although this effort has received far less media attention than the urban warfare in Baghdad and Najaf and Fal-lujah, and it is no less important: With petroleum constituting the nation's only significant source of income, ensuring uninterrupted oil exports is essential for the economic survival of Iraq's U.S.-installed interim government...
...Middle East oil production will remain central to world oil security," the report notes, and so "the Gulf will be a primary focus of U.S...
...combat operation of the war in Iraq, Navy commandos stormed an offshore oil-loading platform...
...Other Americans have come under fire while protecting some of the many installations in Iraq's oil empire...
...Enunciated by then-President Jimmy Carter in his State of the Union speech in January 1980, the doctrine defines Persian Gulf oil as a "vital interest" of the United States that must be defended "by any means necessary, including military force...
...Increased U.S...
...dependence on the ever-turbulent Persian Gulf...
...Growing levels of production and exports [from these regions] are important factors that can lessen the impact of a supply disruption [in the Gulf] on the U.S...
...Although modest in comparison to the military buildup long under way in the Persian Gulf area, these moves established a significant U.S...
...invoked it to authorize military action against Iraq in 1991, during the first Gulf War...
...Most of the U.S...
...And, while military officials tend to emphasize the threat of terrorism when discussing the need for such facilities, they have told The Wall Street Journal that "a key mission for U.S...
...aid in the region...
...So the use of force to ensure U.S...
...Heavily armed Army units patrol the vital pipeline carrying Iraqi petroleum from Kirkuk in the north to the Turkish border, and the equally critical line connecting Kirkuk with Basra in the south...
...George W. Bush's Iraq War, while duplicitous in many respects, is actually the culmination of twenty-five years of U.S...
...Centcom's principal mission is to protect the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf to the United States and American allies around the world...
...At that time, all existing pipelines from the (landlocked) Caspian passed through Russia and also faced serious challenges from ethnic minorities and internal opposition movements...
...In anticipation that American combat troops will at some point be deployed on the ground in Africa, the Department of Defense is looking for potential basing locations in and around the major oil zones...
...oil-protection effort in Iraq is devoted to protection of the country's onshore pipelines and refineries...
...To safeguard the future flow of Caspian oil, Clinton agreed to assist in the construction of a new oil pipeline from Baku in Azerbaijan through Georgia to Ceyhan in Turkey (thus bypassing Russia) and to help these states enhance their military capacity...
...oil imports, are secure...
...intervenMichael T. Klare is a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, and the author of "Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America's Growing Petroleum Dependency...
...America's vital interests in the [Gulf] region are longstanding," General J. H. Binford Peay declared in 1997...
...The opening wedge of U.S...
...involvement in Africa is military assistance and training—an approach that facilitates the establishment of close ties with the region's often dominant military elites...
...military is being converted into a global oil-protection service...
...Elsewhere in the region, the United States is helping to refurbish an old Soviet air base at Atyrau in Kazakhstan, overlooking the giant Kasha-gan oil field—partly owned by Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, and Royal Dutch/Shell—in the northeast corner of the Caspian Sea...
...In Iraq, it has exposed American troops to unrelenting danger...
...They are protecting the vital Cano Limon pipeline—which stretches 480 miles from Occidental Petroleum's oil fields in the northeast to refineries and export facilities on the coast—against recurring attacks by Marxist guerrillas...
...His National Energy Policy, widely known as the Cheney Report, came out on May 17, 2001, and called for a substantial increase in U.S...
...President Bush has made the globalization of the Carter Doctrine a central objective of American foreign policy...
...The United States is becoming part of a major counterinsurgency campaign in Colombia, with all the earmarks of a protracted struggle...
...The Cheney Report identifies many areas as possible sources of non-Gulf oil, but focuses in particular on three key areas: the Andean region of South America (notably Colombia and Venezuela), the west coast of Africa (Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Mali, and Nigeria), and the Caspian Sea basin (Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan...
...European Command, the Pacific Command, and the Southern Command...
Vol. 68 • December 2004 • No. 12
