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From The MEMRI Economic Blog: Iraqi Writer Rebuts Alan Greenspan Over War in Iraq
In his book, “The Age of Turbulence,” released this past Monday, Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, writes, “I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.” Rebutting Greenspan’s incendiary and unsubstantiated argument is Dr. Abdul Khaliq Hussein, a retired Iraqi physician and a prolific writer on liberal themes, who currently resides in England. Writing in Arabic on the website AAFAQ (www.aafaq.org), under the heading “Was Bringing Down the Ba’th Regime for the Sake of Oil?”[1], Dr. Hussein makes a number of pertinent points: 1 Was there a shortage of oil? And was America so desperate for Iraqi oil that it would launch a war that would likely cost her lives, money and her good name? 2 Had Saddam ever prevented America from buying Iraqi oil? Was it not a fact that during the UN sanctions on Iraq in the 1990s and through the “Oil for Food Program”, 50 percent of Iraqi oil was sold to the US? [See, for example, Dr. Raphaeli’s testimony before US Congress: MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis —No. 172 of April 21, 2004 http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=countries&Area=iraq&ID=IA17204.] 3 Would America wish to take this oil for free? [After all, the price of oil is determined by market forces, and no sane person would suggest that America invaded Iraqi to get Iraqi oil at discounted price, let alone for free.] 4 What would the Iraqis do with their oil if it were not sold to America, Japan and other importing countries? 5 There is a large number of oil producing countries in the world. Why would the US single out Ba’thist Iraq as the sole target for this war? After analyzing Iraq’s misfortunes and the squandering of its resources by the Saddam regime, Dr. Hussein raises the fundamental question again: Was oil the only reason behind the bringing down of the Saddam regime? His reply: “Saddam was prepared to surrender the last drop of oil and everything else in order to stay in power. He had even allowed the international inspectors to inspect his wife’s bedroom.” Oil is important to America as it is to any industrialized country, but this does not mean that the war broke out for the sake of oil. What America has paid so far, Dr. Hussein asserts, has far exceeded the value of the entire oil reserves of Iraq. And, definitely, “there are more peaceful and cheaper methods for America to obtain Iraqi oil without the adventure of war.” Dr. Hussein concludes: "The argument that the war was for the sake oil is a false argument, which can be refuted by the simplest, fair and rational dialogue. The purpose of making this argument has always been to mislead world public opinion, and the misleading started before the war, in order to rescue Saddam Hussein’s fascist regime from its vanishing."
Posted at: 2007-09-20
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