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Gates Rebukes Greenspan’s Claim That Iraq War is “Largely about Oil”
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ShareSeptember 16, 2007 11:48 AM
ABC News' Mary Bruce Reports: Secretary of Defense Robert Gates responded to allegations by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan that the war in Iraq is largely motivated by oil in an interview Sunday morning.
"I have a lot of respect for Mr. Greenspan. I've known him a long time and I disagree with that," Gates said on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."
"I wasn't here for the decision making process that started the war. I know the same allegation was made about the Gulf war in 1991, and I just don't believe it's true."
In his new book - "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World" - Greenspan says he is "saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil."
Gates went on to defend the administration’s decision to go to war: "I think that it's really about stability in the Gulf. It's about rogue regimes trying to develop weapons of mass destruction. It's about aggressive dictators. After all, Saddam Hussein launched wars against several of his neighbors. He was trying to develop weapons of mass destruction, certainly when we went in in 1991. So I think what we were going after was an aggressive dictator who was a destabilizing force in the entire region."
Greenspan’s book is set to release nation wide on Tuesday, September 18, 2007.
September 16, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (2)
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Greenspan says he is "saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil." Voters should read and re-read Greenspan's opinion. This is a huge subsidy of men and women (but where are the Bush twins?) and dollars. This subsidy is being paid for with future tax dollars, it will be felt for decades sucking away wealth from better uses. The families that have and will continue to lose loved ones will feel the loss forever, over many generations and will not / can not be compensated for their loss. Instead of the nations that buy oil, the costs of making the Middle East market safe for oil should be paid for by the nations that sell Middle East oil. That way, the costs are built into the cost of oil and passed on to consumers. And the sellers of Mid East oil would no longer benefit from terrorism driving up the cost of oil.
Posted by: David Schwalje | Sep 16, 2007 1:12:57 PM
The factual basis for Mr. Bush's Iraq War and its correlation to oil and profit apparently falls upon the feigned ignorance of Secretary Gates who, as the President's lackey, continues to replenish the feeding trough where the Bush family for generations has lined its pockets while others have sacrificed life and limb for unjust causes. Such is the case with the war in Iraq which was initiated upon false pretenses and continues unabated while our Congress sits on its thumbs.
Posted by: mongo100 | Sep 16, 2007 1:20:46 PM
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