Alan Greenspan claims Iraq war was really for oil
AMERICA’s elder statesman of finance, Alan Greenspan, has shaken the White House by declaring that the prime motive for the war in Iraq was oil. In his long-awaited memoir, to be published tomorrow, Greenspan, a Republican whose 18-year tenure as head of the US Federal Reserve was widely admired, will also deliver a stinging critique of President George W Bush’s economic policies. However, it is his view on the motive for the 2003 Iraq invasion that is likely to provoke the most controversy…. “I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil,” he says. Greenspan, 81, is understood to believe that Saddam Hussein posed a threat to the security of oil supplies in the Middle East.
I’ve believed this to be true pretty much since Day One of the war in Iraq. The war is wrong for so many other reasons, though, that I’ve largely ignored this, mostly because people who’ve made this argument have been ridiculed and marginalized as clueless, wooly-headed Libruls. Really, though; if Iraq’s leading export was…oh, I don’t know…broccoli…would 160,000 American troops currently be in Iraq? What, like they’d be protecting the Ministry of Produce? Jeebus, gimme a break, willya??
All Greenspan is doing is voicing an opinion that’s been painfully obvious for 4 1/2 years now…if virtually unspoken in the mainstream press. Perhaps it just been too inflammatory to make the argument that the war really is about oil. Perhaps too many who have lost loved ones in Iraq feel insulted by the insinuation that their loved one perished so that we could fill our SUVs with reasonably-priced gasoline. If I were in their shoes, I’d probably be feeling the same way. Nonetheless, the truth is what it is. Yes, I suppose you can couch your justifications in terms of “freedom”, or “democracy”, or “combatting terrorism”, but in reality Iraq is and always has been about “oil”. Period.
It would be nice if we could have a reasoned, dispassionate, and HONEST discussion about the war in Iraq. Unfortunately, Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader © has dug in his heels, somehow managing to convince himself that victory in Iraq is still achievable and indeed necessary to preserve American dignity and stature in the international community. Meanwhile, young Americans continue to die for oil…American blood and treasure squandered in the pursuit of ego and legacy. I don’t know how much more simply you can break it down. Yes, it sucks, but it’s also the reality of the perplexing dilemma that is The Worst President EVER’s © Excellent Adventure in Iraq.
NOW CAN WE IMPEACH THE LYING, MURDERING BASTARD?? Especially now that a former member of his Administration is owning up to a truth that’s been blindingly obvious to any lucid observer for the past 4 1/2 years? It’s OK, though; it’s not like King George the Worst © got a blowjob in the Oval Office from a zaftig female intern, eh? Spilling American blood is perfectly acceptable, but exchanging bodily fluids in the Oval Office?? Perish the thought…what about the honor and dignity of the Presidency?
