Scoop: US Readies Invasion Armada For Jan-Feb 2003

Removing the Iraqi government and installing a US military regime that would control the country's oil fields, is at least as important as eliminating weapons of mass destruction. That makes war with Iraq guaranteed around the end of January to mid-February. Maree Howard writes.

Following the invasion of Iraq the US will establish a military government along the same lines as the US occupation regime established in Japan at the end of World War II under General MacArthur.

If the US military remains in Iraq in numbers nobody can use oil as a weapon. Least of all, OPEC, which turned off the spigots and caused prices to rise which brought about the oil-shock of 1973 onwards.

Establishing US military rule over Iraq will also strengthen Washington's hand in relation to the other top Middle East oil producer, Saudi Arabia, effectively crippling its ability to set an independent oil policy.