Oil, Oil, Toil and Trouble

Alright, raise your hand if you’ve ever read a protest sign or heard the words chanted, “No more blood for oil!”  Is this accurate?  Is it a generalization that holds any merit?  

First of all, for anyone to claim that oil has nothing to do with today’s environment would be pretty shortsighted to say the least.  However, to claim that oil is the only reason would be equally shortsighted.  

How does the role of oil play into the Saudi-American relationship?  American businessmen won concessions for oil drilling in Bahrain in 1933.  The Saudi king was eager to allow the concessions because he was broke and the British wished to colonize his kingdom, placing politics over business.  The American company, completely void of political motive, was successful in their exploration, won a concession that covered 50% of the Saudi mainland, and their anti-colonial sentiments helped Saudi rid themselves of the British in the 1950’s.  The Americans started a new company within the kingdom called the Arab American Company (Aramco) and tapped into what would become 25% of the world’s oil reserves.  With the technological and industrial advances of the times oil became extremely important worldwide, especially during WWII.  By 1950, Saudi was producing 578,000 barrels a day of crude oil – 5% of the world’s production.  Over the course of the 1970’s, ownership of Aramco changed from American to Saudi hands.  Today, Saudi Arabia houses 85% of OPEC’s spare capacity, which is to say it houses 85% of the world’s spare capacity of oil.  As you can imagine, Saudi’s oil exports are responsible for 95% of its country’s revenue.

So we know that oil is extremely important and Saudi Arabia has a metric buttload of the stuff.  

This may explain America’s interest in Saudi relations but it doesn’t explain the strength of the relationship.  Take Russia, Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Libya and Sudan for instance.  They’re major oil-producing states, but no one would categorize our relations with them as strong.  Oil certainly explains where Saudi Arabia derives its wealth, but it doesn’t explain how they chose to invest and spend said wealth.

The strength of the Saudi-American relationship is a 3-legged stool: oil, geography, and religion.  Remove one leg and the stool falls.

We’ll talk the number one rule in realty next: location, location, location.  Get out a map and imagine all shipping and flight routes from the States to anywhere from the Middle East to the Far East.  Use of a Saudi Arabian airbase and airspace in WWII helped us with logistical ties to our then allies, the Soviets.  Think of the Arab peninsula’s advantage during the Cold War’s threat of Soviet expansion.  Think of the necessary supply routes to our troops in Japan.  Now think of our current conflicts of the past 10 years.  Pretty key terrain for the good guys.

Finally, it was recognized by the US government that making the king of Saudi a global icon for the Arab world was vitally important to protecting our national interests against Soviet/communist expansion.  FDR determined “that in view of the strategic location of Saudi Arabia, the importance of oil resources of that country and the prestige of King Ibn Saud throughout the Arab world, the defense of Saudi Arabia was vital to the defense of the United States.”

That’s why the U.S. is in the relationship, but what does Saudi Arabia get in return?  Some ass-whoopin' ability.  Even when we backed Israel while Saudi backed Syria and Egypt in the Yom Kippur War of '73, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia showed a video to some Saudi government officials to illustrate the incomparable ability of the U.S. to provide support to an ally in times of war, remarking, "this is why it is imperative to maintain a strong relationship with the United States."

In conclusion, we were not shedding American blood for oil in Iraq.  On the contrary, our relationship with Saudi Arabia allows the U.S. freedom to sanction and alter the production of other oil-rich countries in order to impose political reform or at least political mediation.  Oil will always be a significant role player in the shifting sands of power (until it’s replaced by the discovery of alternative energy), but it will never stand alone as the reason for U.S. military operations.