Blood and Oil
07.06.07 - 04:44am
Oil a factor in Iraq conflict, says Australian defence minister. In other news, Pope is a Catholic, declares Vatican
Apparently, stating what must surely be the worst-kept secret of modern geopolitics, ignites a “political storm”. The Australian defence minister has declared that oil is a factor in the Iraq conflict, prompting that nation’s repellent Prime Minster, the racist John Howard, to slap him down and deny that oil had anything to do with Australia’s involvement in the war.
It is a telling insight into the level of debate on the issue, and the media’s commitment to obfuscation, that a political figure like John Howard can make such a statement without everyone falling about laughing. Perhaps we are expected to believe that America, Britain and Australia would be stomping about in the Middle East if the region’s primary export was nutmeg.
In Australia’s case the main reason for being in Iraq supervenes on Howard’s broader foreign policy, to align his nation with the United States no matter what. But it should be obvious why Uncle Sam is spending billion of dollars on the war: exercising control over the Middle East’s massive energy resources has been a primary policy aim of the US government for decades, openly acknowledged in official documents.
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