Bush Administration comes out and says it.

Iraq oil will most likely be tapped to help "pay" for occupation expenses if a war happens.

Also...

If you're interested in watching a United States backed foreign coup take place, one need only tune into the ongoing strife in Venezuela.

Here's the lo-down.

The western media has largely missed this story, choosing to focus on the general strike that is taking place - and how the people are suffering under the government of Hugo Chavez.

What U.S. citizens are largely ignorant of is the fact that oil and financial interests (backed by the U.S.) are essentially trying to overthrow a legally elected Labor-friendly candidate. Banks are staging shut-downs and oil companies are capping wells, throwing the country into economic turmoil - in hopes that the military will revolt and overthrow Chavez. In 2002, Chavez was briefly put out of office, but regained power - only to have the pro-business opposition pose a economic shutdown - in its continuing effort to depose Chavez.

The message is simple. The rich and powerful are bent on regaining political power in Venezuela - at the expense of the land and it's peoples. And they are virtually assured to come out ahead one way or the other. If Chavez does not bow to pressure, oil prices will start to climb soon - resulting in a staged and ultimately false oil shortage - whose cost will be passed on to U.S. consumers. Since oil producers control the flow, they will continue to stem production until the government collapses in violent revolt, or a Chavez-led military seizes control of the oil/business facilities from their owners.