Antonia Juhasz

With oil prices nowhere near their summertime highs, the Iraqi government has decided to further reduce its federal budget for 2009 including spending on reconstruction. Iraqi government officials recently told the associated press that spending will be cut by a third and rebuilding efforts in the war-torn occupied country will be slashed by forty percent. The disclosures, made ahead of this weekend’s provincial elections in Iraq, were made with the caveat that more drastic reductions may be in order should oil prices on the world market plummet further. The Iraqi government, which depends on more than ninety-percent of its revenues from oil, cited the downturn in a New Year’s Eve move to open almost ninety percent of its oil reserves to international oil corporations. Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani claimed that biddings on eleven oil and gas fields were necessary due to the decline in oil prices.

The role of major oil corporations in Iraq before and after the U.S. led invasion and war is but one of many focuses in Antonia Juhasz newest book, “The Tyranny of Oil.” In her latest work, the author of “The Bush Agenda,” examines the history of the Standard Oil Company in the early 20th Century, and relates it to the corporations of today and their roles in gas prices, the environment, and foreign policy. Not content to merely offer a critique, Juhasz also proposes solutions including the call for a “separation of oil and state.” Daniel Ellsberg said of “The Tyranny of Oil” that, “in a time of crisis, Juhasz bravely and expertly exposes the inner workings of an industry and a government riddled with secrets, lies, and deception. She offers critical hard evidence – without which public awareness and reform are impossible. Read this book and refuse to be tyranny’s accomplice.”

GUEST: Antonia Juhasz, author of “The Tyranny of Oil: The World’s Most Powerful Industry, and What We Must Do To Stop It.”