Blood Oil

Blood oil is oil that is obtained through violence and bloodshed. Throughout history blood oil has come from many countries including Nigeria and Sudan in Africa.

Before reading about blood oil in the text I knew that just like there are blood diamonds there were things like blood oil. I didn’t know however the existent of the bloodshed connected to oil. I have learned that in 1995 the Nigerian government executed nine Ogoni activists who wanted to preserve their land from being destroyed by the oil industry. Also beginning in the 1990’s a civil war broke out in Sudan and millions of Sudanese were displaced and there were numerous reports of genocide. These facts deeply disturb me and even make me question humanity. Are humans so savage that we are willing to murder anyone that stands in our way of making some money? I know that not all humans are like this but it still horrifies me that to some people making money holds 

more value than a human life.

The Invasion of Iraq 

It’s hard for me to believe that America was justified in its invasion of Iraq. There has never been any proof of “weapons of mass destruction” and the only other reason the U.S. would want to invade Iraq would be to protect Western control over the countries oil resources. I think the U.S was afraid that with Saddam Hussein controlling Iraq the global supply for oil was at risk. Even U.S allies such as France, Germany, New Zealand and Canada didn’t think an invasion was justified. People from around the world even started anti-war rallies including Rome, which had a rally of three million people, the largest anti-war rally in history. In my opinion the invasion was solely for the purpose of protecting oil.