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Dated: 1 March 2003
One of the most promising areas for oil prospecting is the Persian Golf, and
the oil that appears available there is said to be of a higher quality, is easily
recoverable, and is close to major sea-lanes. This means production costs are
relatively low.
The argument, seems very plausible however, that since the United States imports
60 per cent of its oil needs, amid its dwindling reserves plus the new reserves
of oil, which are being discovered and developed in the world, are believed
too expensive to extract and of very low quality, the U.S. has to find a way
to ensure their continued supply of oil to support its superpower status.
On the other hand, with Saudi Arabia being the largest exporter of oil, showing
increasing signs of internal instability, and known for its strong undercurrent
of anti-American sentiment, the U.S. has got to seek alternative source of oil
should the inevitability happens.
Unknowingly, Saddam Hussein's possession of weapons of mass destruction has
certainly given the U.S. the opportunity they have been waiting for. The main
reason they hadn't given the UN Security Council enough time to resolve the
situation by peaceful means, stemmed from the eagerness to put into effect details
of their plan for world dominance as are outlined in the Defense Planning Guidance
(DPB) document.
Written and developed in the early 1990s under the supervision of Deputy Secretary
of Defence, Paul Wolfowitz, contributions to the DPB have been reportedly made
by Vice-President, Dick Cheney, and Secretary of State, Colin Powell.
Leaked to the New York Times in 1992, the DPG's hegemonistic thinking when
it states that America should position itself to "act independently when collective
action cannot be orchestrated," created an uproar as it showed its total disregard
for European allies.
Having conquered the Soviet Union, which they once denounced for trying to
rule the world, the American thinking according to the DPG, is to "prevent the
re-emergence of a new rival." What this means is that if the U.S. is to realise
its objective, they would have to prepare in a manner so as to "prevent any
hostile power from dominating a region" of strategic significance to the U.S.
The question is: How will this war affect Jamaica's economy? We don't believe
it will in any significant way, except keeping the speculation and rumour mills
in production. But what does one think when Prime Minister P.J. Patterson begins
talking as if the American bombs will be dropping on Jamaica, and not Iraq?
We make specific reference to his utterances in Gordon House about us conserving
food and oil supplies in response to the armed conflict in the Gulf.
Besides, there is even unbridled speculations coming from various sectors of
the economy, namely tourism, manufacturing, the tightening up of security at
our ports of entry, and about the beefing up of security for US tourists to
our shores from possible terrorist attacks.
Even though we believe there is a new threat and there was a need to beef up
security for U.S. tourists, we nevertheless concurred with President of the
Jamaica Hotel & Tourist Association (JHTA), Josef Fortsmayr, in being cautious
about drawing too much attention to the matter of security. Since the JHTA members,
according to him, have been so "sensitized" on the matter, we feel that each
stakeholder must do what is deemed best to protect, not just their American
tourists, but also all tourists that come to enjoy our tourism product. The
Minister of Tourism, Aloun Assamba has also been urging players in the industry
not to panic because of the US/Iraq conflict.
There are also reports of increased security at our ports of entry in the wake
of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, to detect and prevent any acts of terrorism here.
But we have no need for this heightened security awareness, because before 9/11,
Lt. Commander John McFarlane and his capable officers have been maintaining
security at the port of Kingston at a higher level than had been required by
the U.S.A. and other international standards, because they have been careful
about the contamination of cargos resulting from drug-related issues.
In our lead story, industry sources point to little or now effects on the Jamaican
economy by the war in Iraq, save for a few guarded concerns here and there about
what could be the outcome should the war be prolonged. JMA president Clarence
Clarke spoke about the likely effects the war would have on the manufacturing
sector, due mainly from an increase in world oil prices. Manpower & Maintenance
Services' boss, Audrey Hinchliffe, points to a likely shortage of supplies that
would affect the commercial cleaning sector, and President of the Jamaica Hotel
& Tourist Association (JHTA), Josef Fortsmayr, talking about the likely hike
in airfares due to an increase oil prices.
If all these individuals continue with their prophetic utterances about what
is or isn't likely to happen to the Jamaican economy should the war be prolonged,
as some are predicting, then we may well be self-fulfilling our own prophecies.
However, not believing that the U.S.-led war in Iraq will severely affect the
Jamaican economy, we now join in the chorus of voices around the world for a
immediate end to military action against Iraq and for the crisis to be returned
to the United Nations Security Council for a diplomatic resolution
Certainly, the war has brought human sacrifices and the entire region of the
Persian Gulf is under threat of a large-scale humanitarian and ecological catastrophe.
Therefore, we believe the armed action unleashed in violation of international
law, is bringing suffering to innocent people. In this regard, we encourage
our government to strengthen its resolve as it relates to our stance to the
superpower policies that are changing the geopolitics of the globe in what we
see as dangerous and unpredictable ways. The multilateral platform, embodied
in the United Nations, in which small nations like ours have a voice, must be
preserved. By Delroy Whyte-Hall Views expressed are not necessarily those of
the publishers and Businessuite News Center.
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