>> next on booktv, edwin black talk about the 1928 agreement signed by a consortium of oil companies agree created a western controlled oil cartel in the middle east. this is about an hour and 15 minutes. >> oil, we cannot survive without it. the west has done whatever we can to secure. the subjugation of entire people. one company has been at the center. that company has had many names. it was formed through a single secret pact.

that company as now known as british petroleum, and a powerful sector has created is the red line agreement. deception, fraud, war, the origin of the jihad against the west. it all comes together your british petroleum and and the redline agreement. and deception, fraud, war. and all for oil.

>> okay. very interesting.

i look forward to an out everyone also looks forward to hearing your talk. and i'm sure we appreciate the fact that you're here and we're anxious to hear what you have to say. [applause] thank you very much everyone. the are so many interesting people in the room, and i'm so grateful you of all. some from montgomery county in maryland, some from philadelphia, some from pakistan, some from israel, some from lebanon to thank you very much for all coming. there are too many to give names, but we have a very eminent crowd here. we are here to discuss an issue that we deal with everyday,

which is federal politics. and how we got into the middle east. and how we became addicted to oil, and, indeed, what we are facing. we are never going to be able to move forward in the future if we can't comprehend the history that we have come forward from. now, we actually never needed to be on oil, as in, as an energy source. most of you know that there's about 80 million barrels a day, maybe 88 barrels of oil a day used in this country, and about 67% of that issues for transportation in the united states, and about, oh, 90, 99% of that is used, is based on

automotive liquids, on fuels. but oil is older than civilization. they were using oil 65,000 years ago in caves in south africa as a sealant for medicinal purposes. the first use of oil as a major illuminant came in the mid-1800s when kerosene was invented, and people started to eliminate with it. and 1835, the electric car was invented, and throughout the remainder of the 1800s, all the taxis and the buses and

vehicles in the united states that were automotive were electric. until we switched to oil. now, how did the waistcoat into oil? how did we get into the middle east? how did we get into iraq? what is all this based on? there was never originally nations in the middle east. they were tribal regions, but nations as we know them did not exist until they were created by one country, acting in concert with the leak of nations. i'm sure, may i say one company in the concert with the leak of nations. i think you know the name of that company, i use that name from the cover of my book, it's british petroleum. i'm going to tell you how. coverage of the turn of the

century, all the ships in the british fleet were coal bearing ships. and the german fleet had already moved, we're talking about 1903. the german fleet that are removed into oil. because oil was being developed in the middle east and else where. now, when did oil actually come to the middle east? oil came to the note is primarily -- oil was discovered commercially in 1859 in titusville. in pennsylvania. the allegheny mountains were actually the middle east of the world. it exported most of the oil. the first oil exploration in the east was actually begun late in the 19, in the 1800s, and there was a company which had

obtained an exploration license from the original shah of iran. and in 1908 they struck oil and that was the first oil that was discovered commercially, which means they were able to drill down for it and does really. they didn't carry it out on donkeys, but they actually transported it commercially, distribution, and that company took on the name anglo persian. anglo persian oil company. now, there was, this oil was in the middle east, and the middle east at that time was generally controlled by the turks, the ottoman empire. and there was the term, the six man of your. many of you have heard the term the six man of europe. this was applied to the ottoman empire because the ottoman empire was so weakened from

foreign wars, from internal debauchery, from corruption, not unlike some countries we know today, that it was expected throughout europe that the middle east would fall apart at the ottoman empire would fall apart, and then when it would fall apart what would happen to the petro colonies and territories controlled by the ottoman empire? now, oil had not really been developed in the middle east but they knew it was there. the oil, the ottoman empire at that time was controlled by abdul the damned. and abdul the damned was the sultan, and he owned everything. and when it was an urge and a movement within his caliphate to

bring up democratic reforms, and allow people to own their own land, he said okay, citizens can now register their own land, i won't, it doesn't have to all be owned by the government. it can be owned by citizens. but then he said i'm also a citizen so i will register some land but any registered all of mesopotamia. [laughter] now known as iraq. and the reason he registered mesopotamia at the end of the 19th century as his own property was because he had had some geological surveys which proved that there was oil in mesopotamia, now known as iraq. now, for centuries mesopotamian now known as iraq had only two interests to the west. it had geology and geography.

until oil, the own interest the west had in mesopotamia was that it was the midpoint between london and india. it was the right way to send your mail. it was the right way to ship cotton back and forth. it was a trade route. wants oil had been discovered, once oil was not drilled out of the ground but they knew it was there, they became concerned that this was now the cradle of civilization, the term cradle of civilization was of course not a genuine term since there was civilizations going back 35,000 years to the cave dwellers in what is now france, but in the 1860s a guy called henry robinson had a member with his royal geographic and said mesopotamia, which was indeed the birthplace of civilization.

now, because the industrial revolution completely bypassed the ottoman empire, once the sultan, abdul the damned common recognize that had something of value, he didn't try to develop it himself. he tried to auction it off to the greater bitter. england and germany were rivals for power, and were also facing the run up to nationalism. now, what is nationalism? nationalism was the effort by dominated peoples to throw off the yoke of a classy as ago that nasty regimes, and identify themselves as a national people that could govern themselves. there was army nationalism, jewish nationalism which is

called zionism, many different forms of nationalism, each based on either national, on geographic borders, online which, on religion, on culture, any of them, any other variety of reasons. so abdul the damned registers all of mesopotamia, and he auctions off the rights to build a railroad from berlin to baghdad, called the berlin to baghdad railway. in those days, a railroad was more than just a means of transportation to a railroad was a military asset, a way to move troops. so, he also gave them a 40-mile, a 40-mile right-of-way on each side, and they had the berlin to baghdad railway company had the rights to exploit the oil.

who owned the berlin to baghdad railway company? the deutsche bank. you need to understand this. because even today no one knows who owned or now owns the oil of mesopotamia. the deutsche bank had the right to exploit it. so, they're exploiting the oil. they are doing mineral surveys. they're getting ready to have a major drilling operation. and winston churchill says we need oil for our naval fleet. they used to say oil don't grow in england. where are you going to get it? mesopotamia, called the sultan and he said we want that oil. we want the right to dig up the oil. the oil is not out of the ground yet. the sultan said i can't give it a. i gave it to the deutsche bank.

he said we want it anyway. break your deal with the deutsche bank. now, why was, why was winston churchill and england capable of pressuring the sultan in this fashion? i told you a moment ago that the ottoman empire was broke. how broke or they? they were actually bankrupt. and as a result of this, the national debt of the ottoman empire was owned by the international debt commission that controlled taxes, levies, revenues. and if they wanted to charge an extra, charge an extra shackled to cross a bridge, they need to get permission of the bank of london. sale they were at the mercy of the british. 1903, british tell the turks, you've got to break your deal

with the germans. up at about 1909 with so much pressure coming in, the sultan finally agrees to break his deal with the germans over a small technicality, all the bribery in the world couldn't stop the sultan of from breaking his deal over a triviality in a contract with the deutsche bank. what did he do? he gave it to the anglo persian oil company, through the pressure of the winston churchill and the british government. at that point there was a private family but it was used for oil and imperialism. it was used to project the british need and desire to obtain oil. 1909, they are ready to sign the papers. what happens? well, i told you that there was nationalism breaking out all

over europe at the end of the 19th century. hungarian, bulgarian, armenian, jewish, the zionist movement started in earnest in 1898. approximately 10 years after that, turkish nationalists began their effort, arab nationalism began in earnest, and you've heard of the young turks at this group was the young turks. they are getting into powerless. they are ready to sign the papers. the young turks have their revolution. the papers never get signed. they grab all of the assets of the sultan. the palace, he has 19 unix. they spare the unix. they hang achieve unit from the bridge. instead of killing that sultan to exile him with a portion of his harem, with which all the songs had harems, and they actually lived in errands 24/7

until the old guy died. and then they had a systematic fracture size were all the brothers who kill each other and the guy left standing became the new sell. so the arab nationalist took over. and they said okay, now they own is a national property of the turks. and you'll have to deal with those. the problem was this was actually subject to international law. how did this get subject to international law? i told you there was a treaty called the berlin to baghdad railway company. excuse me, that was a contract. that contract was elevated to international law by taking that contract and turning it into the berlin to baghdad railway company railway pact of 1930 which was government to government. and so the trick is nationally took over the country had to

abide by international law. the problem was, i told you that the sultan actually registered all of mesopotamia in his personal property, not as the property of the government. so they have no way to seize his personal property since they were now determined to take their personal property rights. all right, so who owns the oil of mesopotamia? well, obviously the deutsche bank thinks it owns the oil because it had the proper documents in the first place. the british think they own it because they were just about to sign the papers when the doors were broken down. such a disaster in the story. the final ruse was an entity was developed called the turkish national bank. now, the turkish national bank

was not turkish, not national and not a bank. [laughter] like all the banks in turkey at that time. it was actually a put up by british economic interests, and when they weren't looking, the guy in charge of this turkish national bank, a man by the name of telephone given, otherwise known as mr. 5%, took an interest with shell oil company, because i told you oil has been all over the world with the deutsche bank, the berlin to baghdad railway, and now he was getting a controlling interest in turkish oil which was now, in which was in mesopotamia i did mention shell oil company. i did mention that there was oil

being, not from the middle east from the 1850s. and it was an effort to move it across the ocean and tankers. had never done that before. so they went to a little jewish guy who owned a little trinket store in london. marcus sander, the little trinkets guy, and marcus samuel said okay, i support little jewel boxes, and these jewel boxes have seashells all over them. and so because i am importing back and forth i will commission a ship capable of running oil and i will call this ship the const and the malik's and the clever cannot now i will have a company i will call shell. you know him as lord beardsley. i know him as marcus sander, the little trinket guy from london.

and so that's how the shell came to be. there were two branches of show. there was british show and royal dutch shell. okay, so they make the secret combination, and they realized, you should realize, that oil is always more viable in the ground then drilled. so their idea was to keep the oil in the ground with the demand coming up. now, why was the demand coming up? because people needed it for ships. people need it for a limitation, and people needed to do something new that was coming in the 20 century called the internal combustion machine. so the bridge decided we are going to have to get this oil and we're going to have to get it away from turkish petroleum because of the ottoman empire is

starting to tumble. the powers to be in europe are getting closer and closer to a war. it's 1913, okay? there are all sorts of incidents. there are secret pacts, and everybody is so interested in avoiding a war, they are preparing for war that will actually cause a war. so, the british government says the only thing we can do is we can own and control this anglo persian oil company. and force everybody through pressure to give up their interest and become british national. that meant that they took the dutch royal show guys, they may then become british citizens. parliament passed a huge -- effect, but i have a copy of the book?

parliament passed a huge investment of millions of dollars. just one moment. this was a lawless tribal region. they voted this in public. they debated this in public, and he said we're going to take possession of this oil company. we're going to fund it and we're doing it publicly. and in parliament they said, these places that we're going to, this was one of the objections, are in the country which has no central control whatever. in a country which has surrounded by warlike tribes, which is enhanced of turkmen tribesmen whose influence proportionate locally for the capacity to terrorize and raid, and his policies directed by no respect for foreign undertakings or treaties. it is as though we are still in our gunpowder near the furnace.

okay, so, to have is though, they pass it by a narrow margin, they put the money into anglo persian oil company and they say you can function as a company, but if there's a military issue you will do exactly as we say and you have no control and you will not do anything against our interests, and in case of war he will sell us your oil and not germany. fine, that's done. they are just about getting ready to force everyone to give up their share when does gulbenkian guy, he has like a corner of the entire enterprise and says wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. i'm an independent businessman.

you can't take my share of this oil, remember, the oil is still in the ground, never gotten out. they said we're the british government. he said guess what? i've got some of the most powerful, expensive british barristers in the country, and they're all going to see you and tie you up for years in less you pay me what i am title ii for my portion. and my portion has been whittled down through boats, through procedures, but i own 5% of all the oil in mesopotamia, because i pick, because my operation picked up the option from the baghdad railway company which had the borders on either side. okay. so there were lots of pressure, lots of meetings, lots of subterfuged, lots of threats. they come up with a deal that video is ready to sign. they walk in the door.

he looks at the deal, no, no, no. i don't like it. and he goes out. time after time after time. so they're getting ready to finally give him everything he wants, and then what happens? 1914, the duke it gets shot and world war i begins. turkey goes, allies with germany, against england. and they say, and winston churchill and the british government say hey, you know the company we are going to give millions and ninth of dollars for? its german and turkish property, we will seize it as a war, as any property. and not only are we going to seize it as any me property, turns out -- in any property, turns out there's a little tiny land turned education company that with horse and buggy that

goes rent and delivers lamp oil, and the name of that little baby company owned by deutsche bank is called british petroleum. we are going to rename this whole outfit british petroleum. it's going to be ours, and we've got it. oil has never been brought out of the ground. there was a gusher in persia in 1908, highly self arrived, can't really use it properly. but to have to fight this war. and the first thing the bridge do is they invade, to the persian gulf, they invade for island, and they invade mesopotamia as the very first thing. they push all the way to baghdad and they say from the steps of baghdad, we come as liberty, not conquerors.

1917, the war is going very badly for the turks. the war is going very badly for the germans. the british have pushed with india as one of their main assets, have pushed all the way to the northern part of mesopotamia. at that time there were three major sections of mesopotamia. there was basra in the south, which was mainly shia. there was the baghdad section in the middle, which was mainly sunni. and there was the kurdish section in the north and kirk cook. where is all the oil? all the oil is stating, for the oil is sitting in a section in the northern part of her, and

beyond. that section was actually owned and controlled in a fight between persia and turkey and russia, and a few years earlier through a lot of international arbitration, that bank of the most petrol is, the most bridges come the most wealthy was given of and given the turkey. so now it is turkish property. not, but it is in turkey proper. so there is a cease-fire at the end of the cease-fire, as the cease-fire is taking called from which meant everyone stops where you are, arnold wilson, the civil administrator, arnold, the civil administrator for all of mesopotamia, and the control of the british, because they have

occupied it through their invasion, says we are going to break this cease-fire and we're going to invade the next couple of miles, we're going to take that land from turkey, even though there is a cease-fire, and we're going to get that oil into mesopotamia. and that's what they did. they broke the cease-fire. they grabbed that land. there was no authority. london denied they had given permission. new delhi had denied they had given permission. the guy did it on his own. he was the project of power of the annual persian oil company which was going to fall all the way with them. and he said and now we can reunite, or excuse me, we create a brand-new country that never existed before. we will take basra in the south, baghdad in the middle, kirkuk in

the north, this extra piece of turkish territory with the oil, we will call it iraq. that's how iraq was made. so, now we have a new entity called the league of nations. now, the league of nations is supposed to bring a new era of peace. this is the war to end all wars, and what a war it was. let me tell you about this war. i don't usually read from my staff, but -- and i'm never going to find this part. [inaudible] >> i will answer that question afterwards, but it was always a kind of historic name, like you could call the yukon, or you could call the piedmont, or you could call capitol hill or something. it wasn't a technical name.

but it hadn't an impact, okay? i can't find it, so they go to the league of nations. they are deciding how to divide up the middle east, because the sixth man of europe is now dead to they are cutting up his carcass and they're trying to decide who is going to grab the oil of mesopotamia and where the lines are going to be drawn. these are the famous mapmakers of the paris peace conference in 1919. now, while the diplomats are working on self-determination, the oil ministers in the background are dividing up the middle east to conform to the needs for oil. and consequently, a deal is made

between the french and the british year they tried to make it with the united states, but the united states, which was the basis for the deal, wilson's 14 points, self-determination, was not allowed to participate because the congress vetoed the united states involvement in the league of nations. so england and france had it to themselves. and they work out a deal where the french would get syria, and lebanon. and the british would get palestine and iraq, and pipelines would go from mesopotamia from northern iraq down through syria, down through lebanon, down to haifa. and that would be controlled by the french, and the oil would be

controlled by anglo persian oil company which was the comment name, there's an angle everything but it was one company controlled out of london. now, there was one problem with this, as part of the deal, to defeat the turks, the british in courage the local tribesmen of the arabian peninsula to rise up against turkey. and who are we talking about? were talking about faisal, okay? and faisal, london said the faisal, we will give you your national aspirations. we will give you your state in the middle east, but all, but we need you to attack the turks,

their trains and help us getting. well, look at the lawrence of arabia story. everyone knows the lawrence of arabia story. at the same time, britain was a telling the zionists, that is, the jewish nationalists, that they would help them get their state in their jewish homeland in palestine. now, it was not only the british who did this, the famous balfour decoration, there's a similar declaration in the united states, a similar declaration in france, in germany, even in turkey agreed that the jews should be allowed to have their states, or their homeland at that time, which was discussed. well, faisal said britain and france have divided up our area but you promised it to us. faisal makes a deal with the

president of the zionist organization in 1919, and says we will support a jewish country in palestine. you can bring in as many immigrants as you want, as long as we get what we want. and what we want is we want our own country. and where is that country going to be? this is arab nationalism. did they want palestine? no. they wanted syria. because syria was the center of gravity for the islamic world at that time. so the british said fine, you will come to the paris peace time and you have your seat around the table like everybody else, and it's okay with us if you have your national aspirations fulfilled in syria. and the french said, it's not okay with us. all right.

so, what happens on july 24, 1920? on july 24, 1920, in san remo, the league of nations announces that everybody, all these people can now become independent, but in order to become independent they have to be under the tutelage, under the mandated tutelage of other nations, like france and england. and so, france would get syria, and england would get palestine. at the very same time, on that same day, the oil ministers announced their pact and treaties that would allow a french oil company, which there was no french oil company, there

was just a coalition of little importers. they put these importers together in one giant conglomerate called to tall. and that's where it came from. this was the total accumulation of all these little company because they never had oil business in france of course. it was no petroleum oil and friends. and that same day, july 241920 passionate july 24, 1920, designers met in london to say there is now a mandate for a jewish homeland in palestine legally under the league of nations. and we will now raise money and little blue boxes. many of you have seen dinner i certainly have, nichols and times and shekels and dollars,

to buy legally all the land that we need to build the homeland. so let's see. faisal and arabs get nothing. now, on that same day, july 24, 1920, the french feeling threatened by faisal tell him you have 4 48 hours to get out f town. and they give him the notice just a few hours before the 48 hours expired. on that same day, july 24, 1920, 10,000 arab warriors attacked the french. the french were not going to give up the syria, and they went at them with their lances and their c.a.m.e.l.s. and their horses with their sabers come in their world war i carvings.

and the french used tanks, machine guns and bombardment mode them all down. that day, july 24, 1920, was the beginning of the jihad against the west. the one you see on fox news every day. and what did they call it? the term that is used today for israel introduction into the world was actually developed on march 20 march 24, 1920. and faisal said, we are not just in a desert anymore, on c.a.m.e.l.s., we have telegrap telegraphs, trains, we have

movements. you'll be hearing from us. and that's what happened. there was a huge uprising, a huge jihad in mesopotamia now known as iraq against the british. these translators turned on their british officers, killed them. people were beheaded. there were arsons, explosions. the brits decided to totally emasculate in iraq by indian icing it. they decide we're going to bring in 20 million indians, and turn this into a piece of india. and it will export its cotton and its dates and things like that. and, of course, to go along with the oil come will export that to us. and the local arabs that this is

nothing but further emasculation. the only way they would stop was continue aerial bombardment. winston churchill decided he was going to use gas bombs to bomb them. the guy in charge of this operation was a guy called, nicknamed bomber harris. what does he do? he later went on to firebombing dresden. they beat these guys into submission. the tribal regions. and they said okay, and now what we're going to do is to give you democracy, we're going to give you your own kingdom. they came up with a king, and this king, this was the king of iraq. he was from the saudi arabian peninsula. his name was faisal, and who made him taking? the british made in 18. and where was he crowned? he was crowned in london. and what were his duties?

anything he wanted to do, as long as nothing conflicted with the will of the british king. and that was the king of iraq. and periodically, the people would rise up. they would blow up the oil installations, because by this time there was actually a gusher being cultivated in iraq. .. -- we have

international treaties. we have the league of nations, we have all this kind of stuff. he said i've got my investment from 1903 which is part of the railway treaty, 1903, and i'm going to litigate you until your second generation pass from the earth, unless i get what i want. for years, they go back and forth. we've got a document. is this what you want. yes, it's perfect. they come to the room, he looks at it, no, this is not what i want. and he goes back. over and over again, countless, nerve wracking negotiations. i know you've all been involved in nerve-wracking negotiations. billions of dollars are riding on this one man's signature and no one is willing take him on because he's got a promise of

litigation from the biggest lawyers in england. finally, because the gusher went into the air, the drilling succeeded, they said, okay, we'll make a deal. he said, okay, but i get all the oil and -- 5% of oil in the middle east and before i show what the red line is bawl, who was to divide that oil, britain and france, problem, the u.n. under wilson decided that there would be no discrimination against minorities. so when britain and france put their oil companies angelo persian to divide up the whole thing, woodrow wilson said, wait a minute, where's our oil? american standard oil said we want in too, and he said we're a

minority. can we get in. you can't discriminate against us and that's started the open door policy. you must open the door to all-comers. we're coming, we're getting in. as soon as we get in, you can close the door. [laughter] >> they finally get a meeting together, and he doesn't like any of the map marks because he said these countries didn't exist before they were created by the league of nations. these cities didn't exist or don't exist. they were here, they were there so he took a big thick pen and he drew it around the entire middle east. he said whatever is in this area that i drew the red pen around, that's yours and i get 5%. and no one's allowed to develop any oil in the middle east outside of this -- inside of

this red line unless i get 5%. and that's where the red line agreement came from and no one has been able to see the red line agreement until i published it by having unrestricted access to the british petroleum corporate archives. also shell, turkish petroleum, anglo persian, anglo iranian and many other -- many other companies. in order to defend the companies within the red line agreement, the allies had to constantly fight local wars, local insurrections and, of course, now they had every reason to destroy all viability for the electric cars because now they could bring out more expensive oil-consuming cars and now they could have a reliable means of getting this oil from the middle

east. so they paid these people a pittance for their oil. they became fabulously wealthy and finally, the arabs rose up against them; kicked them out and said we're going to run our own oil companies and anglo persian and the allies said, you're not going to have any refineries, no one's going to fix them, no one's going to repair them. they threw them out anyway and when they did, they changed the sign from anglo iranian oil company to the british petroleum company when they were finally thrown out of iran. and ever since we have been dependent upon oil and ever since the price has been going up and ever since the political cost is even higher than the cost per barrel. thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. [applause]

>> can you take some questions. [applause] >> and i'm now i'm going to take some questions because i could have talked for two hours by they have me on a schedule here so let me take the first question from this woman. where are you from? >> i'm from maryland. >> maryland, okay. >> can i borrow that? >> i never can you please the mic. >> hi. fiesal, was he the king of hussein of jordan? >> the other -- this was a cousin and this was from the same family, and so they were from the hashmites so it's kind of like they were bringing somebody from brazil in to be the president of the united states, or something of that nature. so the kings were always

resented and so every time the people in that part of the world heard the word "democracy," they said a-ha, that means oil. so they had -- they finally overcame all the hashmites in iraq but the hashmite family is still in jordan. let's have another question. >> whatever happened to -- [inaudible] >> galavnkian sided with the nazis in indirectly through portugal. he had some trading and was declared an enemy alien. his et cetera were seized. his company became a leading corporation now called anadarko. he made a magnificent museum of some of the most beautiful

artworks. his estate and his museum cooperated with me completely, giving me full access for the first time to publish of him. he was quite a character. we only scratched the surface. but the red line agreement is only a theory now, and while the lines still exist and some of the companies still exist, there's been so much petropolitical insurrection it's -- >> where's his museum in all that? >> the museum is in lisbon, portugal, which was neutral during the war. yes, what's your question. >> ron, silver spring, why did the companies, including bp give you access? >> why did they -- well, why did they give me access? >> all the companies that i've investigated, carnegie, rockefeller, ford, general motors have given me

unrestricted access. only ibm tried to stop me from getting the information about ibm in the holocaust which was completely unsuccessful. so what i did with the heirs of -- the heirs and controllers of this property was i asked nicely, they weren't sure. i asked even more nicely and then i finally spent a long period of time in england in the countryside where all these documents are in a little known archive and they gave me complete access and they gave me permission for the first time to publish the red line agreement. until all that time all the red line agreements were hypothetical renderings of what they really were. i have the actual red line agreement. who else has a question? yes, and you are from pakistan, yes? >> isn't it true that the great bar settled on 2.5% from him.

>> no, you say isn't it true they settled on 2.5%. they each two big sides gave 2.5% of theirs and that became 5% and that's why he's known by mr. 5% but very astute to you that they each gave up 2.5%. who else has a question? yes. >> i just wanted -- there's so much duplicity in all this, i'm surprised that any of these agreements were ever honored at any point in time because no one trusted anyone, ever. >> well, the guy who trusted them the least was galvuncian. [laughter] >> and he -- he said that -- he once said the oil companies couldn't be trusted anymore than wildcats. that's an interesting phrase in

the oil business. and so -- [laughter] >> if you really went to the strictest interpretation of the law, of international law, you would have to say that deutsche bank and the berlin to baghdad railway controlled all the oil of mess pocontain -- mesa potamia. >> how do you resolve over the kirk oil? >> it's going to be on a tentative law known as possession is nine tenths of the law. he who drills the oil, he who possesses the oil owns and controls the oil. we see that today in libya. who's actually possessing the oil? the guys who are possessing the oil get the benefit of the oil. but remember, as soon as oil is

out of the ground, it loses its value. and so as oil is kept in the ground, as it's kept more scarce, the price of oil goes up. so whatever is going on in kirkuk -- and that issue that you talked about was litigated for years in the international courts. and turkey lost. they were voted down and the current dispute really will be solved the way all other disputes are in the oil business, the man who's got it keeps it. dies and fights to keep it and keeps the money. who else has a question, yes, please. >> in all of your discussion -- >> my bad back. >> in all of your discussion, you failed to mention how american oil companies got? exxon, mobile, how were they able to -- >> okay. well, i left out about 99% of

the book 'cause i'm hoping you all go get the book, what happened is five major oil companies led by standard oil -- your question is how did the oil companies muscle in. five major companies opened -- put up a company called near east corporation. and the near east development corporation demanded one-third of all of the red line proceeds, all of the wealth of the red line. they did not give the 2.5% that this man was talking about. that came from the british and it came from the french. and so they had the force of the state department, this is private enterprise. they had the force of the president's office. they had the force of american military and there was always the threat that if united states oil interests were not honored,

united states would disrupt the oil cart, if i could use that term. you see, right at about the time of world war i, the american petroleum institute said well, we've looked at texas and we've looked at california and we've only got about 40 years of oil left in this country. and if we don't get from mesmotamia we're going to run out of oil and this was done between the changeover between electric cars and oil-consuming vehicles, bearing in mind that starting in world war i oil was weaponized and the automobile was weaponized through various means including the tank and mobile -- and mobile machine gun units so it was all done through commercial diplomacy, okay? who else has a question, yes. how much more time do i have? good. >> i have a couple of questions.

>> oh, you only got one. >> and i'll just pick one. >> okay. would you just explain how the claim of the mr. 5% -- the british had decided that they had seized this property in world war i, what was the legal mechanism by which he still maintained his claim? all the other things the british did during world war i seemed to hold up. why were they so legally worried about their position that it would be tied up in court for years? >> because the -- the question is, why was this man's 5% so valuable? why was he able -- this one man alone able to blackmail, deceive, manipulate and cajole all of england, all of france, its entire infrastructure? the oil was coming out of the ground. it had to go somewhere. now, remember, when oil comes

out of the ground, it's got to go into one of three places. further into the ground through a river of oil, in a storage tank or it's gotta be consumed unless it's capped, of course. and the longer they waited, the more money they were losing, the more opportunity they were losing and they finally said, let's buy them off. the problem is, they couldn't figure out how to buy them off. every time they bought them off the way he said they wanted -- he wanted to be bought off, he raised the ante. and because he had preexisting commercial rights based on a preexisting treaty, the berlin to baghdad railway that he had bought into, he would be able to litigate this thing forever, he would be able to -- which they do litigate these things forever. he would be able possibly even

to stop the oil from being exploited claiming that his property was being stolen. so with the lawyers that he had in london which were some of the most eminent men in the great -- in england legal trade, they just said the best way to do this is to buy them off. the problem is, that every time they thought they had the paperwork done, the purchase got ever more dear and ever more complicated. that even galbunkian says the oil is up; let's share in the profit. let me ask this gentleman. yes. >> so the other piece in this story is the saudis. i know you didn't have time in the time to get into the complexity but the saudi monarchy started in 1924. the british clearly supported it but ultimately they came with the americans.

and that has been a very complex relationship ever since. >> right. >> there are a lot of complex relationships -- the man asked about aramco; asked about the saudis. the saudis went on their own. they formed their own oil entity and they went outside the red line agreement even though the red line encompassed all of -- all of saudi arabia. and so basically the red line agreement, meaning the map circumnavigated that territory. basically, the saudis were the shrewdest ones while all the inhabitants of mesopatamia and others who had oil wanted to use it for a national tool of fighting against the west, the saudis said, we just want to make money. [laughter]

>> so they teamed up with someone else who wanted to make money, standard oil. they made aramco and ever since, they've been making money. >> why why did the british support -- support them taking over the arabian peninsula? >> why the british support that, because through the power of the american commercial military complex, we pushed this to enable standard oil, our own company was an angelo persian known as british petroleum which was owned and controlled which by the way only margaret thatcher undid the ownership, the british ownership of british petroleum, which now wants only to be known as bp by the way. so the americans pushed this so they could get their piece of the pie. remember, under the league of nations mandate, that was nondiscrimination clause and nondiscrimination was don't discriminate against our oil

companies. who else has a question. one here, yes, janice. >> back to the electric cars, i assume they were based coal mainly. were there industrialists on that side pushing against oil and no one argued? >> okay. all right. you want to know what happened to the electric car you realize you asking me about one of my other books, internal combustion. it wasn't based on coal, okay? it's like this. i told you that in 1835, if you'll allow me to digress to answer this question -- i told you that in 1835, the first electric car was invented in 1838, the hydrogen fuel cell was nevented. i know -- 1838. i know everybody thinks this is brand-new technology but it is over -- well over 100 years old.

so after the american civil war, there were a number of trusts -- you've the term antitrust. there was a trust and monopoly, generally secret for wool and for cotton and for iron and for steel and for oil. and there was also a bicycle trust, all right, if you're following me. one guy controlled all the bicycles in the united states. not schwinn, this guy was -- his name was colonel pope in hartford, connecticut. he had the patent rights to the bicycle. and if anybody in kansas or in missouri or in idaho wanted to build or buy or sell a bicycle, we're now paying him off. he would send his lawyers to litigate. well, at the same time, there

was a battery monopoly, and the battery monopoly also blood up and litigated all the people who were making batteries because at that time -- does everybody know what a battery is? how a battery works? okay. do you know how you know how does battery run? it's like how electricity is of run, throughout wall. >> it's a chemical reaction. >> well, it's two disparate metals connected by an appropriate metal. there's a charge and a discharge. and they used to call a battery wireless. and they called it a wireless because you're able to have electricity stored away from the generating source. and that proliferated the batteries along the railroad lines through something called the telegraph.

so batteries are becoming expensive. somebody finally put a battery on a horseless carriage. they called it not a carriage but a car. that became the electric car and then they decided to create a super monopoly of batteries and bicycles in trains. this is fat cats on wall street, speculators to try to control all transportation in america, and they came up with an entity called the electric vehicle company. and the electric vehicle company -- not only took possession of all the battery technology, they also took possession of all the automotive technology. and everybody decided the dodge and the cadillac, all these names that you know decided to join the electric vehicle company in this massive cartel. the only guy who wouldn't join

them is henry ford. he litigated with them for about 10 years. it was all based on a really awful patent. he litigated against them so he could sell his model t's. in one of those days i have a copy of an impersonal combustion back. if you bought a model t you got a warranty and a lawyer. the consortium behind the electric company would sue the employees of ford, the suppliers of ford and even the customers of ford if you drove a ford model t. when an electric company finally got control of all the electric vehicles, they discontinued their own excellent technology in favor of the antique-looking internal combustion machines

that you know of. they never made them in mass production. that was ford. they wanted them to be elaborate. what you see to be in the museums was ford who made in every man's car. so the electric vehicle company went on to create the electric boat company which makes submarines and nowadays they make batteries -- oh, i believe there's an energizer bunny who is now advertising their product. and i hope that answers your question. i'll take one more. and you came down from philadelphia, right. >> yes, i did. >> i saw a documentary maybe 10 years ago and it had to do with modern electric cars that were surreptitiously being destroyed. >> yes. it's called who killed the electric vehicle, the electric car. that was the second killer of the electric car. the first killing -- >> why it was done? >> why was it done, by the oil industry. >> no, the car industry did it. the car industry did it because the electric vehicle and other

forms of nonpetroleum vehicles are actually the simplest vehicles. in fact, at that time -- we're getting far afield here but -- in fact, i once gave this presentation here in the back. the electric vehicle at that time was considered to be a sissy car. and you see it was noiseless. it didn't really have engines and things like that. it didn't have a heavy crank. and the men said, if you want a he-man's car you'll get an internal combustion machine with an explosion in it and you got to have a heavy crank and you have to have a toolkit to fix it. and so they said, you need a muscle car. the other thing about the electric car, was the electric car didn't stink. now, why was that important?

because there were 100 million horses in the united states, and they were pulling everything and they were dropping dead at the side of the road from being overworked. there was horse dung everywhere and more people were killed from horse manure-bourne mosquito illnesses -- what was the question. >> why in modern times did they make these prototypes. >> oh, the modern cars. >> and then they destroyed them. >> and why did they destroy them the second time around? >> yeah. >> what they wanted to do was internal the combustion machine. they wanted to have a great after-market. >> why did they -- >> why did they do them in the first place? >> it was a bright idea. they want to do it, if you really want to know who killed the second -- who killed the electric car, the second time

around, after world war i, you have to probably go to the people who made that movie. there was a really good movie -- and i know the principles who were involved in the mission controls and all that. the only reason -- do you want me to stop? am i done? okay. you have to understand something, folks, all the stuff you hear about oil and energy from big media, from big corporations, from the government is really a distraction, a falsehood or an exaggeration. they can have this stuff now and they wanted to. we don't need to invent the wheel. we need to excavate from where it was buried 100 years ago. i'll give you an example, there's a man in this room, a friend of mine named gal who's looking for something for the open fuel standard which said there's more than one means of propelling a car and you could

use other types of fluids. and that has been not implemented as it should have been. we have many alternatives, compressed natural gas, electric cars, hydrogen. there's different types of vehicles. let me tell you what i do, me. i drove a car on water. and what kind of car did i drive on water? general motors gave me an equinox, a factory production hydrogen-fueled equinox. i went to the public shell station on santa monica boulevard and when i pulled up there was a canopy and in the canopy was water water -- went into the novel through -- was turned into hydrogen through an electric zap,