Posted by The Crux |
Most of us strongly suspected this, but it's nice to hear a former U.S. official put it in print. London's Sunday Times reported:
"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....
"Britain and America have always insisted the war had nothing to do with oil...."
Apparently, controversy has arisen. In an interview with the Washington Post, Greenspan clarified his Iraq-related remarks from the book:...
"'I was not saying that that's the administration's motive,' Greenspan said in an interview Saturday, 'I'm just saying that if somebody asked me, Are we fortunate in taking out Saddam? I would say it was essential.'
" He said that in his discussions with President Bush and vice President Cheney, 'I have never heard them basically say We've got to protect the oil supplies of the world, but that would have been my motive.'
"Greenspan said that he made his economic argument to White House officials and that one lower-level official, whom he declined to identify, told him, 'Well, unfortunately, we can't talk about oil.' Asked if he had made his point to Cheney specifically, Greenspan said yes, then added, 'I talked to everybody about that....'
"Critics of the administration have often argued that while Bush cited Hussein's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and despotic rule as reasons for the invasion, he was also motivated by a desire to gain access to Iraq's vast oil reserves. Publicly, little evidence has emerged to support that view, although a top-secret National Security Presidential Directive, titled Iraq: Goals, Objectives and Strategy and signed by Bush in August 2002 -- seven months before the invasion -- listed as one of many objectives "'to minimize disruption in international oil markets.'" (Washington Post)
See also Greenspan Blasts Bush & Others. Thanks to Mercury Rising for pointing out the Times article.
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