2001년 이후 미국의 대 이라크 정책

US Policy towards Iraq since 2001 with respect to Iraqi Petroleum Resources

This paper attempts to deal with the correlations between the 2003 US invasion of Iraq and petroleum resources in Iraq. It focuses on the US Bush administration's real intentions for the 2003 invasion such as the control of petroleum resources in the Persian Gulf area in general, and the control of huge amount of Iraqi crude oil resources in particular. The author argues that there were several factors that drove the United States into the Iraq war. First, the Bush administration sought to restructure the political and military order and to strengthen its uncontested hegemonic power in the Middle East after the 9/11 by disarming Saddam Hussein. Second, the Bush administration wanted to control Iraqi crude oil resources and maintain a steady supply of oil to the world capitalist economy including that of the US, Europe, Japan and China. Especially, its purpose was not to directly control the Iraqi crude oil resources; however, to improve the accessibility of international oil companies, both of private and national, to the Iraqi crude oil resources. Third, a group of the American 'neo-conservatists was a driving force which had succeeded to convince the Bush administration's policy-makers on the decision to invade Iraq in 2003. This study also analyzes the inter-relationships between international oil companies and both of the American and British administrations with respect to the Iraqi crude oil resources and its oil industry.