I know, I know... I'm stirring the pot again. But this is an excellent article!
Not an oil-fired war
H. Sterling Burnett
A number of politicians, media pundits and environmental special interest groups have claimed that if the United States goes to war with Iraq, it will be because President Bush is trying to gain control of that country's considerable oil reserves and infrastructure. Indeed, some people seem to believe that the only U.S. interest in the Middle East is to keep the Arab oil flowing.
The truth is that if the United States does go to war with Iraq, it won't be over oil. If oil were the primary concern of U.S. foreign policy in Iraq, then war would be one of the last things the Bush administration would be considering.
A war in the Middle East will almost certainly disrupt world oil supplies, contributing to higher, wildly fluctuating prices. There is good reason to believe that Saddam Hussein will practice the same scorched-earth policy in Iraq's oil fields that he practiced in Kuwait during the Persian Gulf war. The fields would burn and the equipment and infrastructure would be severely damaged if not completely destroyed, putting it out of use for many years. In order to cause further chaos and divert U.S. resources, Iraq might even attempt to damage oil fields in neighboring countries. ~snipped~... Read the rest at the link above.
Not an oil-fired war
H. Sterling Burnett
A number of politicians, media pundits and environmental special interest groups have claimed that if the United States goes to war with Iraq, it will be because President Bush is trying to gain control of that country's considerable oil reserves and infrastructure. Indeed, some people seem to believe that the only U.S. interest in the Middle East is to keep the Arab oil flowing.
The truth is that if the United States does go to war with Iraq, it won't be over oil. If oil were the primary concern of U.S. foreign policy in Iraq, then war would be one of the last things the Bush administration would be considering.
A war in the Middle East will almost certainly disrupt world oil supplies, contributing to higher, wildly fluctuating prices. There is good reason to believe that Saddam Hussein will practice the same scorched-earth policy in Iraq's oil fields that he practiced in Kuwait during the Persian Gulf war. The fields would burn and the equipment and infrastructure would be severely damaged if not completely destroyed, putting it out of use for many years. In order to cause further chaos and divert U.S. resources, Iraq might even attempt to damage oil fields in neighboring countries. ~snipped~... Read the rest at the link above.