<URL: http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20030120&s=judis012003 >
WHO WILL CONTROL IRAQ'S OIL?
Over a Barrel
by John B. Judis
Post date: 01.09.03 Issue date: 01.20.03 The preferred slogan of those opposed to war with Iraq is "No blood for oil"--an explicit assumption that the Bush administration, dominated by former oilmen, is going to war primarily to secure Iraq's copious reserves for U.S. oil companies. "'Regime change' to a pro-U.S. government would permit the privatization of Iraq's state- controlled oil resources--and a bonanza for U.S. oil companies," warns Miriam Pemberton of Washington's left-wing Institute for Policy Studies. Administration officials, on the other hand, reject any oil connection whatsoever. When asked, on CBS radio, whether the likely war is over oil, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld replied, "It just isn't. There are certain things like that, myths that are floating around. I'm glad you asked. It has nothing to do with oil, literally nothing to do with oil."
Both views are half right.... [clip] -------------- John Judis is a good reporter and I wonder if this breaking of the party line will cause him to be denounced as a fan of Bush or for drifting rightwards.
Imperial Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because the West was cutting off its oil supply. They spilled and gave oceans of blood for oil.
Peter