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.

Oh.. but I thought it was about fighting them there, so we don't have to fight them here? What about all the other right wing freak slogans? Don't tell me they're not true either!

It's pretty amazing to see Greenspan come right out and say it. The administration simply fixed the intelligence and facts to support a case for war, launched it, paid KBR and Halliburton billions, and the price of oil skyrocketed.

Still, consider what Greenspan is saying. Suppose he's right. That would mean that the Bush cabal caused the deaths of thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands Iraqis for economic reasons. It's not that wars haven't been started for that reason before, but it's very brazen to do that when you lead the most powerful nation to ever have existed.

Bush, of course, will not be held to account, unless it's in terms of how future generations think of him. I doubt he much cares about that. Still, it would be remarkable if somebody would actually speak out WHILE they are employed as a Bush toadie. I know that's asking a lot because anyone that tried was fired.