Bush: We are there for the oil
We have been told over and over that the war against Iraq is not about the oil. The U.S. is not looking out for its own selfish interests, they told us, no no, we are altruistically promoting democracy, not to mention defending ourselves. Well. Not everyone was fooled, of course, and many of us knew we’d been lied to from the outset and before. Indeed, U.S. troops were protecting the Iraqi Oil Ministry from looting while all other government buildings were being stripped bare, so I thought it was pretty obvious that the peace movement was right. I never expected Bush to admit it.
I was wrong. Today, Bush argued we must protect Iraqi oil otherwise we run the risk that the new owners of the oil would cut oil production. Phillip Verleger of the Institute for International Economics, hardly a bomb-throwing radical, noted that
Essentially, by making that statement he has stated that his energy policy is totally bankrupt…. The reason they have studiously avoided [any link between oil and the U.S. mission in Iraq] is it provides a huge incentive for taking big steps now to reduce U.S. oil imports. The only way you can do that is through conservation measures .. such as imposing an oil import fee or raising the gasoline tax.
Why such an apparent wild shift in policy? I’m sure it’s not a newfound commitment to honesty. Rather, I imagine the White House calculates that the payoff for fearmongering the day before the election outweighs the cost of being caught in yet another lie later on this week.