{"article":{"id":62232,"heading":"Wolfowitz: Iraq war about oil","author":"George Wright","created":"2003-06-05 16:18:02","modified":"2003-06-18 04:38:08","last_modified":"Wed, 18 Jun 2003 11:38:08","article":"

Wolfowitz: Iraq war was about oil

George Wright

Wednesday June 4, 2003

Oil was the main reason for military action against Iraq, a leading White House hawk has claimed, confirming the worst fears of those opposed to the US-led war.

The US deputy defence secretary, Paul Wolfowitz - who has already undermined Tony Blair's position over weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by describing them as a \"bureaucratic\" excuse for war - has now gone further by claiming the real motive was that Iraq is \"swimming\" in oil.

The latest comments were made by Mr Wolfowitz in an address to delegates at an Asian security summit in Singapore at the weekend, and reported today by German newspapers Der Tagesspiegel and Die Welt.

Asked why a nuclear power such as North Korea was being treated differently from Iraq, where hardly any weapons of mass destruction had been found, the deputy defence minister said: \"Let's look at it simply. The most important difference between North Korea and Iraq is that economically, we just had no choice in Iraq. The country swims on a sea of oil.\"

Mr Wolfowitz went on to tell journalists at the conference that the US was set on a path of negotiation to help defuse tensions between North Korea and its neighbours - in contrast to the more belligerent attitude the Bush administration displayed in its dealings with Iraq.

His latest comments follow his widely reported statement from an interview in Vanity Fair last month, in which he said that \"for reasons that have a lot to do with the US government bureaucracy, we settled on the one issue that everyone could agree on: weapons of mass destruction.\"

Prior to that, his boss, defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, had already undermined the British government's position by saying Saddam Hussein may have destroyed his banned weapons before the war.

Mr Wolfowitz's frank assessment of the importance of oil could not come at a worse time for the US and UK governments, which are both facing fierce criticism at home and abroad over allegations that they exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein in order to justify the war.

Amid growing calls from all parties for a public inquiry, the foreign affairs select committee announced last night it would investigate claims that the UK government misled the country over its evidence of Iraq's WMD.

The move is a major setback for Tony Blair, who had hoped to contain any inquiry within the intelligence and security committee, which meets in secret and reports to the prime minister.

In the US, the failure to find solid proof of chemical, biological and nuclear arms in Iraq has raised similar concerns over Mr Bush's justification for the war and prompted calls for congressional investigations.

Mr Wolfowitz is viewed as one of the most hawkish members of the Bush administration. The 57-year old expert in international relations was a strong advocate of military action against Afghanistan and Iraq.

Following the September 11 terror attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon, Mr Wolfowitz pledged that the US would pursue terrorists and \"end\" states' harbouring or sponsoring of militants.

Prior to his appointment to the Bush cabinet in February 2001, Mr Wolfowitz was dean and professor of international relations at the Paul H Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), of the Johns Hopkins University.

<\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/Iraq\/Story\/0,2763,970331,00.html","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"US deputy secretary of defense Paul Wolfowitz claims that the US attacked Iraq because its "swimming in oil."","numcomment":31,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2003\/06\/62232.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":63657,"heading":"Oil","article":" How can he say this stuff? Everyone knows that the war was really about weapons of mass destruction?\r\nBy the way, did anyone notice that still another American soldier was shot to death yesterday? Protecting our oil, er, I mean, looking for weapons of mass destruction. You don't suppose that if these people being shot to death were the children of powerful businesss executives of movie stars the media might be paying a bit more attention, do you?","author":"Meyer London","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-07 19:15:12","modified":"2003-06-07 19:15:12","fileurl":""},{"id":63751,"heading":"Did anyone notice","article":"It was only white trash and military people who supported this war. ","author":"Omar","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-08 05:48:47","modified":"2003-06-08 05:48:47","fileurl":""},{"id":63765,"heading":"Commentary","article":"ML: Surely even you have heard by now that the Wolfowitz comment was taken so far out of context it wasn't even in the same time zone.\r\n\r\nOmar: In addition to being a Jew-hater, you're an idiot.","author":"daveman","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-08 10:21:15","modified":"2003-06-08 10:21:15","fileurl":""},{"id":63767,"heading":"Daveman is a goy hater.","article":"You see every non-Jew has a Jew hater. You have a difficult time concealing your hatred for non-Jews.","author":"Binky","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-08 10:22:34","modified":"2003-06-08 10:22:34","fileurl":""},{"id":63771,"heading":"Not at all, Binky.","article":"Being a non-Jew myself, that charge is a little ridiculous, don't you think?\r\n\r\nBut if you'd rather go through life being blind to the obvious hatred for a group of people (merely for their religion) blatantly espoused by Omar and his buddies, you go right ahead.\r\n\r\nWhatever gets you through the day.","author":"daveman","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-08 10:36:13","modified":"2003-06-08 10:36:13","fileurl":""},{"id":63812,"heading":"so then...","article":""It was only white trash and military people who supported this war. "\r\n\r\n..what you're saying is that over 70% of our total population is white trash and military.\r\n\r\nHmmm. I was not aware of those demographics.\r\n\r\nInteresting.","author":"fresca","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-08 17:50:52","modified":"2003-06-08 17:50:52","fileurl":""},{"id":63848,"heading":"If you don't like the White Trash...","article":"...theory then try this on for size:\r\n\r\nThose who supported the Conquest of Iraq:\r\n\r\n1. The Elites(Bush, Cheney, and those who pull their strings).\r\n\r\n2. Those who while in the second tier stood to personally gain.\r\n\r\n3. Sycophants.\r\n\r\n4. Those who stood to gain indirectly and supported it because it was perceived to benefit their group and causes.\r\n\r\n5. The Gullible who bought the Horse Shit PR\/PsyOps\/Propaganda used to sell the War.","author":"Diogenes","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-09 02:55:36","modified":"2003-06-09 02:55:36","fileurl":""},{"id":64138,"heading":"Return with us now...","article":"...to the top of the Board.","author":"Natty Bumpo","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-11 01:55:26","modified":"2003-06-11 01:55:26","fileurl":""},{"id":64149,"heading":"Dio you idiot","article":"Your ongoing inane tirade against the War is growing tiresome.\r\n\r\nYour stance is based on some crzy notion that the War, regardless of why it happened was a "bad" thing. There's no evidnece of that. You claim people died. People die everyday. People die in Iraq everyday. Soldiers die in War every day. Too fucking bad. That's the cost of getting rid of monsters like Sadam. Hopefully more will follow.\r\n\r\nThe overwhelming majority of the country were for the war and are happy with the results because We Won and The world is a slightly better place for it. It's that simple. If Bechtel and Haliburton and anyone makes a fucking huge profit from it...so fucking what? Sadams gone. The fact that Iraqi's can even protest against us is a mark of new freedom which is totally lost on you.\r\n\r\nNow I know you'll come back with some blowhard post, calling me a paid shill and all that paranoid nonsense and end with some quote that you have, yet again, misused, but so what.\r\n\r\nYou're views are not only silly, they are irrelevant.\r\n\r\nTry discussing something you know about that is a personal fantasy. Maybe then there can be an exchange of ideas. No one can possibly relate to your inherently unique delusions.","author":"fresca","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-11 04:10:42","modified":"2003-06-11 04:10:42","fileurl":""},{"id":64203,"heading":"Notice...","article":"...totally absent from frescaw's post is anything resembling a lucid argument.\r\n\r\nIt is all name calling, taunting, and hot air.\r\n\r\nKPC has you named right: "void" caduacado.","author":"Diogenes","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-11 14:21:21","modified":"2003-06-11 14:21:21","fileurl":""},{"id":64205,"heading":"Fresh out of ideas?","article":"Fresca says: "We Won'\r\n\r\nFunksca, how many body bags came back today?","author":"Brian OConnor","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-11 14:32:28","modified":"2003-06-11 14:32:28","fileurl":""},{"id":64281,"heading":"and what?","article":""Fresca says: "We Won' "\r\n\r\nYou say we didn't?","author":"fresca","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-11 22:45:37","modified":"2003-06-11 22:45:37","fileurl":""},{"id":64288,"heading":"fresca","article":"Brian means the Left didn't win.\r\n\r\nTheir ol' buddy Saddam got the big ol' desert suede combat boot to the head.\r\n\r\nCheer up though, fellahs! Castro is still in power! All your heroes haven't been eliminated!","author":"fresca","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-11 23:48:34","modified":"2004-03-09 22:02:00","fileurl":""},{"id":64317,"heading":"In War...","article":"...there are no winners. Only survivors. (I forget the attribution)","author":"Diogenes","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-12 01:51:35","modified":"2003-06-12 01:51:35","fileurl":""},{"id":64468,"heading":"I'm kinda confused....","article":"What did we (america) win?\r\nThe war?\r\nBut what did WE win?\r\nthe war?\r\nBut what did We win?\r\nWe, the taxpayers paid for the war,\r\nbut\r\nWhat did we win?","author":"systemfailure","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-13 07:45:58","modified":"2003-06-13 07:45:58","fileurl":""},{"id":64532,"heading":"No response","article":"C'mon, Fresca. What did we win? \r\n\r\nAnd if flying machines are still dropping out of the sky, is the fighting REALLY over? How many more young, poor WIAs today? Five? Six? But I'll bet YOUR FAMILY is safe, huh, Fresca?","author":"Brian OConnor","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-13 13:50:41","modified":"2003-06-13 13:50:41","fileurl":""},{"id":64563,"heading":"Fresca your every where ....","article":"BIAAAATCH!!! . IS the war over? how come there are american soldiers dyeing every day if it is. See what the Sons of Bitches in power dont realise is that for a successful occupation; which this is there are two phases. The war and that which follows the war? The military action was a success no doubt but now what? \r\n\r\nAll of Iraq hates U because U THINK U LIBERATED IRAQ while the iraqis look at u as the sons of bitches that brought Saddam in the first place. \r\n\r\nU say ur there to protect the Iraqis and bring about change while the iraqis know ur there for the oil. \r\n\r\nYou say that the iraqis will decide their own future while the Iraqis know that U have already brought in your sons of bitches to lead the country.\r\n\r\nYou say that Iraq is better of withut the dictator but you give out contracts to american firms that are related to Dick Chenney, just as he did giving them to whoever he wants\r\n\r\nYou say that democracy will rule but the US and UK have stated that they will stay as "long as need be". What does that mean... need be? Who decides the need be?\r\n\r\nYOu say the war is about weapons of mass destruction. The whole world is saying What weapons of mass destruction.?\r\n\r\nYOu say that everything will be done on an impartial and open scale but no one but washington is carrying out the search for the weapons of mass destruction. Is it possible that if the pressure is strong enough they will "JUST APPEAR" out of nowhere. After all the US DOESNT HAVE ANY WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION" \r\n\r\nneed I go on... either ur stupid or plain dumb or playing dumb the answer is clear. This war was about everything except weapons of mass destruction","author":"Omar","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-13 18:17:51","modified":"2003-06-13 18:17:51","fileurl":""},{"id":64564,"heading":"if this war was about weapons of mass destruction","article":"Why didnt the US go after North Korea instead of Iraq? hmmmmmmm... could it be because of...... OIL... hmmmmm fresca hmmmmmmm","author":"Omar","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-13 18:23:41","modified":"2003-06-13 18:23:41","fileurl":""},{"id":64688,"heading":"Brian and Omar","article":""C'mon, Fresca. What did we win? "\r\n\r\nI suspect you already know this but I'll spell it out for you.\r\n\r\nWe won the knoeledge that Sadam will never threaten us or anyone else again in any way. \r\n\r\nThat's it.","author":"fresca","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-14 13:40:46","modified":"2003-06-14 13:40:46","fileurl":""},{"id":64689,"heading":"Give us time","article":""Why didnt the US go after North Korea instead of Iraq? "\r\n\r\nI would hope we would finish the job and dismantle the rest of the despotic Islamic regimes left in the wasteland of the middle-east first. Then we can talk about Korea.\r\n\r\nWhich particular middle east wonder are you from "omar" ?","author":"fresca","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-14 13:44:51","modified":"2003-06-14 13:44:51","fileurl":""},{"id":64690,"heading":"Where's Saddam?","article":"Fresca,\r\n\r\nWhere is he? You seem to have knowledge the rest of us don't! And where's OBL? WE have gained nothing, and now that their liitle pipeline bit the dust, it looks like the Capitalist pigs gained NOTHING also!","author":"Brian OConnor","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-14 13:49:59","modified":"2003-06-14 13:49:59","fileurl":""},{"id":64692,"heading":"must keep eating!","article":"Everything and anything. More now or I'll eat you.","author":"corporate pig @ pentagon troth","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-14 13:58:32","modified":"2003-06-14 13:58:32","fileurl":""},{"id":64693,"heading":"Out of context","article":"Here is the actual Wolfowitz quote (The Guardian has since apologized for "misconstruing" what was written)\r\n\r\n"The difference between North Korea and Iraq is that we had virtually no economic options with Iraq because the country floats on a sea of oil. In the case of North Korea, the country is teetering on the edge of economic collapse and that I believe is a major point of leverage whereas the military picture with North Korea is very different from that with Iraq." \r\n\r\nThe sense was clearly that the US had no economic options by means of which to achieve its objectives, not that the economic value of the oil motivated the war.\r\n\r\nSo, now you know. This thread is baseless.\r\n","author":"Ted","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-14 14:01:35","modified":"2003-06-14 14:01:35","fileurl":""},{"id":64695,"heading":"To Ted","article":"Ted stop confronting us with the truth, it gets in the way of our hate. We don't care about researching the issues we are only looking for easy answers.\r\n\r\nWar for Oil\r\nJews Bad\r\nSaddam Bad, but not as bad as the Jews","author":"Lies Lies Lies","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-14 14:08:54","modified":"2003-06-14 14:08:54","fileurl":""},{"id":64717,"heading":"Just love those frescawlies\u00ae","article":""We won the knoeledge that Sadam will never threaten us or anyone else again in any way. \r\n\r\nThat's it."\r\n\r\nOf course Saddam never threatened us in any way. Had he the U.S. Nuclear Arsenal (5 Trillion Dollars Worth) would have turned Iraq into a Radioactive Green Glass Parking Lot.\r\n\r\nThe problem with frescaw's position is that it has to avoid the truth at all costs.","author":"Diogenes","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-14 15:40:22","modified":"2013-11-11 00:23:06","fileurl":""},{"id":64770,"heading":"Dio","article":""The problem with frescaw's position is that it has to avoid the truth at all costs."\r\n\r\nDio\r\n\r\nWhere to begin\r\n\r\nI'm sitting here laughing at what a complete idiot you are.\r\n\r\nKnow actually know just about notjhing of the subjects on which you pontificate the most.\r\n\r\nYoure entire world view can be summed up as follows.\r\n\r\nIf Bush or the Jews did it, it must be bad.\r\n\r\nWhat a fucking moron.\r\n","author":"fresca","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-14 23:17:27","modified":"2003-06-14 23:17:27","fileurl":""},{"id":64775,"heading":"Fresca","article":"like I said u can take an ass to the water but U cant make it drink. No ofcourse OIL didnt have anything to do with the Iraq war. You know what else Black is white, war is peace, The sun shines at night and Fresca is the most tolerant intelligent person u will ever meet. If the last point doesnt give it away I dont know what does. \r\n\r\nThink whatever U want. Its not like ur opinion means shit. Even if U wanted to stop the war ur just a useless cog that doesnt have any influence over anything. Who cares what U think? When the time comes to send Americans off to another war theyll draft u or ur brother or whatever and then U wont be so cocky\r\n\r\nBIAAAAAACTH!!!","author":"fresca","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-14 23:32:14","modified":"2004-03-09 22:02:00","fileurl":""},{"id":64851,"heading":"Don't Worry","article":"Yes, Iraq has the world\u2019s second largest oil reserves, you guys are so smart.\r\nWith the possible exception of straight out stealing the oil, the economical gains to the US will get out of this war; An increase in supply of oil, not that we needed it, studies were predicting a 2004 world oil surplus, without Iraqi oil reserves. However, the opening of the Iraqi market, does mean the US can stop buying oil from the oppressive Saudi government, stop supporting them and encourage their fall. Which I though the left was against the US supporting \u201cbad\u201d regimes. But let me guess the so called \u201canti-war\u201d movement is also against the US stopping support for these regimes, otherwise they may be forced to blame someone else other than American foreign policy. That would be a shame! Secondly the Iraqi oil market will be back the US dollar, as opposed to the Euro, that should give them a nice hunk of change. Still only a drop in the bucket compared the cost of this war. (See to make a profit, your revenue has to be greater than your expenses)\r\n\r\nBut what Wolfowitz was saying, (for those who have trouble reading) was that the US couldn\u2019t have achieved these goals without toppling Saddam. Seriously, anyone here really think if Bush had made these two demands Saddam would have rejected them? (Saddam, was not an Islamic fundamentalist, he\u2019s no idiot. He knew his \u201cJihad\u201d boys wouldn\u2019t stand a chance against the US army. All he cared about was holding on to his power. If that meant buying is way out than so bee it. He just didn\u2019t have enough to offer.\r\n\r\nBest of all, Oil, the so called gift from Allah, (really us) Muslim leaders have nicely pissed away half of it. In 20 years, it will all be over, assuming the house of Saudi, continues its ways, and increasing the massive national debt. Islamic society will crumble this can not be prevented, only minimized. It appears now, that the US will get progressive governments and more importantly self-sufficient economies going in Iraq and Iran, leave the Arabs, under the house of Saud or some other Islamic government, it doesn\u2019t really matter, without oil revenues, their will be no money to pay the western engineers and scientists that are keeping the scam of a progressing society alive. If we assume that their institutes of \u201chigher\u201d education continues studying the Koran rather than say ECONOMICS, or something else useful. The Arabs are going to hit the ground very fast and very hard, and I am going to enjoy watching them burn. As nothing short of intervention will save them, and as long as that\u2019s \u201cImperialism\u201d and there is no political gains; NO leader, left or right will ever risk offering a helping hand.\r\n","author":"Be Happy","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-15 14:26:53","modified":"2013-11-11 00:23:07","fileurl":""},{"id":65057,"heading":"still waiting to hear","article":"how Iraq was a threat to the US or had attacked the US at any time or why Saddam was an immanent threat to the US?\r\nWhen did Iraq attack the US or threaten the US?\r\nWas it the WMD that werent there?\r\nWas that the threat?\r\nC'mon now...ya gotta do better than that","author":"3200fps","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-17 09:39:53","modified":"2003-06-17 09:39:53","fileurl":""},{"id":65078,"heading":"Feeling threatened?","article":"Wait, is somebody going to threaten the United States? Bring it on! umm, well other than maybe China in 50 years telling the Yanks too \u201cnicely\u201d mind their own business, that is about the closest the US will ever get to being directly \u201cthreatened\u201d. So live in peace my child, you will be protected and all you have to do is stick you head in the sand, and show complete indifference for the plight of the third world humans.\r\nOr you can accept the fact that we are all of one race, and that the concerns of others are the concerns of us. Saddam has and would continue to kill thousands of Iraqis, we could wait until he tried to kill Americans, (as if that would ever happen) but then we would be assuming that American lives are more valuable than that of ordinary Iraqis. It\u2019s a catch 22, good if you want to get out of helping, but certainly not an enlighten view.\r\nToo bad, if only all the criminals in the world, rapists, and murderers threaten people who could defend themselves, imagine if they only attacked cops, army personal and martial arts masters what a nice world that would be. Sadly, the creators of misery feed off the less fortunate.\r\nStill waiting to hear another alternative to war, in which the Iraqi people would be better off.\r\n","author":"Don't worry, your safe","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-17 13:15:44","modified":"2013-11-11 00:23:09","fileurl":""},{"id":65187,"heading":"ALL PEOPLE PLEASE NOTE THIS STRAWMAN","article":"THIS IS THE TYPICAL DISTORTION OF THE ACTUAL QUESTION BEING USED TODAY TO ANSWER THE IRAQ WAR PROBLEM.\r\nSee that now, it wasnt a war for WMD, or to enforce UN security council resolutions.\r\nNow they change the precursors for war and hense history.\r\nNOW the story goes.....\r\nWe needed to protect those poor Iraqis from Saddam and see how much better they are now and that we are the worlds police.\r\nWhat a crock of shit.\r\n-government programs on your TV\r\n-just sit on back, to blind to fucking see...","author":"3200fps","parent_id":62232,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-06-18 04:38:08","modified":"2003-06-18 04:38:08","fileurl":""}]}