Was It An Oil War After All?

Poland's recent declaration that it is seeking access to Iraqi oil makes us wonder whether that might have been the coalition's goal all along

17 July 2003

It always looked like an odd assortment of countries that involved themselves in the US-led coalition to invade Iraq and topple Saddam. One wondered what nations as diverse as Spain, Italy, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia had in common. The answer, it may turn out, may be a need for cheap petroleum.

Polish Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz recently dropped a diplomatic bombshell when he announced that his country hoped to gain access to Iraqi oil. "We have never hidden our desire for Polish oil companies to have access to sources of commodities," Cimoszewicz recently told Poland's PAP news agency. Access to oil, he explained, "is our ultimate objective."

There are currently around 250 Polish soldiers based in Kuwait and Poland is preparing to head a multinational peacekeeping force scheduled to arrive in central Iraq in September and will eventually send up to 2,300 soldiers to the region. The Polish government backed the Anglo-American decision to go to war with Iraq earlier this year.

In other news, a group of Polish companies recently signed a deal with Kellogg, Brown and Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton, Vice President Dick Cheney's old company. It was not immediately clear how much the deal was worth.

The recent announcements may just add up to a coincidence. Or not. What is clear is that the public will likely view any future coincidences with extreme skepticism. Because it looks like a case of spoils of war being distributed among loyal allies.