General Wesley Clark saying plans to attack Syria were hatched within weeks of 9/11/01

[freshwest]

32. Oil found in the Sudan 30 years ago caused the civil war. It was well known.

Last edited Sun Sep 8, 2013, 11:55 AM - Edit history (1)

Chevron found it in 1983 and left in 1984. The USA got nothing out of Sudan, but other nations have. Congress made it illegal to do business there. We still have sanctions in place.

Sudan: Oil Money Is Fueling Civil War

by Karl Vick - June 11th, 2001

...The situation has further stoked Western outrage over the Sudanese government's human rights record. While no American companies are involved -- U.S. law prohibits them from doing business in Sudan -- the involvement of Canadian and European firms in extracting Sudanese oil has prompted "disinvestment" campaigns like those directed against firms that did business with apartheid-era South Africa.

"These are war crimes," said Eric Reeves, a Smith College professor who works against companies doing business in Sudan.

The criticism has fallen hardest on Talisman Energy Inc., a Calgary-based firm that was little known outside Canada until it bought a 25 percent stake in Sudan's most promising oil field. The Muglad basin is classic geography for oil, a sedimentary plain exposed by two plates being pulled apart. Unfortunately, the same area roughly defines the boundary between Sudan's north and south.

Except on maps, the country's two halves have never become one. The Muslim Arabs of the arid north historically preyed on the Africans who live in the wetter south and practice Christianity or traditional beliefs. British colonialists actually separated the two. National independence in 1956 was quickly followed by a sporadic war for southern secession. And although the fighting was in abeyance when Chevron Corp., the U.S. oil company, sank wells north of Bentiu in 1978, the discovery of oil helped renew the conflict in 1983...

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=86

The people of the USA have stood firm and have frustrated American oil companies who want to get Sudanese oil:

Oil Companies Complicit in Sudan Civil War, report alleges

Posted: 2011/06/20

...The main impetus for settling the dispute has been pressure from Europe and the United States, because the 20-year civil war hampered their ability to extract the enormous oil reserves that lie predominantly under the border region. Southern Sudan produces over 80 percent of all the country’s oil, which contributes around 70 percent of total Sudanese exports. US oil companies felt that they have been hampered by Washington’s uncompromising stance on Sudan, and felt marginalised by other foreign oil companies that were working more closely with the Khartoum regime...

http://www.mathaba.net/news/?x=627199

The USA knows the oil is there and didn't go war to get it as alleged. Washington needs our votes to elect people strong enough to stand up to them, as some have. And they need to hear from us that we still care and don't believe in playing games with the lives of the people there.

More about the history of the Sudan and oil and the nations in charge of the oil business there that didn't stop what was going on:

Sudan: One Part Oil, Two Parts Religion Equals A Deadly Mixture

...Oil companies such as Canada’s Talisman Energy, Sweden’s Lundin Oil, Malaysia’s Petronas and China’s state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) are business partners of the government of Sudan...

China and Malaysia alone have over 60% ownership in the consortium Developing Sudanese oil. China provides diplomatic cover for Sudan via its seat on the UN Security Council Credit and a huge market. Sudan receives bridge loans from Malaysia to service its IMF Debt.

http://www.markswatson.com/sudoil.html

Role of Oil In Sudan

The US–backed 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) brought an end to the civil war in Sudan… but the threat of a return to conflict remains close because of the huge oil reserves, mostly located in the south, which fuels Sudan's economy.

Sudan's ruling National Congress Party has always denied there is a link between the CPA and oil. Recently the foreign minister of Sudan Ali Karti said the intention in signing the CPA was to end the war, and nothing more.

Khartoum has changed a lot since the war ended. Peace has boosted oil production to a half million barrels a day. The new prosperity is easily visible on the streets of the Sudanese capital. Skyscrapers are being built, new bridges constructed, fancy cars cruise the city, and foreign bank accounts are available and popular.

Hafiz Mohammed, an analyst based in Khartoum, thinks that oil revenue sharing is a key part of the CPA...

http://www.voanews.com/content/role-of-oil-in-sudan--112715444/157134.html

It's definitely not over. But all we could do was to sanction them. No one has invited us into Sudan.

Syrian groups have. I'd prefer Assad's trading partners to pressure him. Iran complained Assad used CW and object to anyone who uses CW. Assad may listen, as they are his sponsors.