Body Bag Demo Demands Big Oil Stop Pushing for War on Iraq

4 December 2002

From Pressure Point: Washington - Activists today staged a mass protest using people in body bags to highlight the unspoken agenda of the Bush Administration: access to Iraq's oil reserves. Over thirty protestors laid on the sidewalk in body bags outside the Washington DC lobbying office of ExxonMobil, the world's largest oil company. he activists, playing the roles of innocent Iraqi women and children, were selected for death by a giant ExxonMobil Grim Reaper. After lying on the ground in below freezing weather, the protesters rose out of the body bags with a rallying cry of "Can you hear the resistance?" holding brightly colored flags which said "No Blood for Oil! and chased the Grim Reaper and its war profiteers out of Washington DC. The demo occurred in the lead up to the National Day of Action against the War on Dec 10.

"This war is not about weapons of mass destruction," said spokesperson Chris Doran. "It's about oil. It's about guaranteed profits for oil companies like ExxonMobil and Haliburton, at the expense of innocent Iraqis and the environment."

U.S. oil companies led by ExxonMobil will reap enormous profits from having access to Iraq's oil. Based on profits of $5 a barrel, releasing five million new barrels of oil into world supply would mean profits in excess of $9bn annually. In addition, when Iraq announced in September that it would allow UN weapons inspectors back into the country, thus averting at least momentarily the US call for military action, the company's share price fell over five percent.

ExxonMobil contributed $1.2 million to the Republican Party in 2000, second only to Enron. It has spent well over $47 million lobbying the US Congress and Presidential Administrations since 1997. On September 26, the company signed a $50 million contract to supply fuel to the US Military. A peaceful resolution to this issue does not seem to be in the best interests of ExxonMobil investors.

"People all over the country are standing up and protesting the oil company's war," said spokesperson Alix Davidson. "The movement is gaining strength every day, and we will stop this insane war."

The Bush Administration is ignoring the true issue of national energy security- reducing our dependence on fossil fuels through conservation, substantial investment in renewable energy technologies and fuel efficiency standards for light cars and trucks, and investment in public transportation. These measures would produce jobs, clean our air, address global warming, and significantly reduce our dependence on unstable governments in the Middle East, whose people clearly resent our enormous military presence in the area.

The cost of invading Iraq now is estimated at $9bn a month. Yet one in five American children live in poverty, and over 40 million Americans have no health insurance. Our dependence on fossil fuels, the corporate machine which feeds off it, and the grinding social disparity and ecological crisis which is its ultimate product, are the real issues our nation needs to address. We must stop this madness.

For more info: Chris Doran (202) 213 7810 cell phone, doranchristopher@yahoo.com

Further info:
The growing movement against the war: www.unitedforpeace.org
The international campaign against ExxonMobil: www.stopexxonmobil.org
The campaign to get corporations out of government: www.pressurepoint.org