Statement by Denis J. Halliday - January 26, 2003
Former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations
Former head of U.N. Oil-for-Food Programme
The obscene haste of Bush to go to war, beside his friend Tony Blair, is very hard to understand. In the absence of any immediate threat to the Middle East, or to the United States, from Iraq, one has to seek another rationale. Is it the messianic fervor driving the kind of simplistic thinking that gave us the Bush concept of the “axis of evil”? Or is it a determination to enhance Israel with total disregard for the well-being and human rights of the people of Palestine? Or is it about oil? I believe it is primarily the latter.
Since 9/11 the relationship between Washington and Saudi Arabia has become fragile.... And this comes when Venezuelan oil is all but stopped and the future of large Mexican supplies is in doubt.... The Bush administration perception is that Iraq constitutes one very large reserve tank -- a “tank” of some 120 billion barrels. And control of that tank has become paramount for American economic superiority. Control also would represent leverage over Europe and Japan – an important part of U.S. ambitions for empire in the coming years.
Former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations
Former head of U.N. Oil-for-Food Programme
The obscene haste of Bush to go to war, beside his friend Tony Blair, is very hard to understand. In the absence of any immediate threat to the Middle East, or to the United States, from Iraq, one has to seek another rationale. Is it the messianic fervor driving the kind of simplistic thinking that gave us the Bush concept of the “axis of evil”? Or is it a determination to enhance Israel with total disregard for the well-being and human rights of the people of Palestine? Or is it about oil? I believe it is primarily the latter.
Since 9/11 the relationship between Washington and Saudi Arabia has become fragile.... And this comes when Venezuelan oil is all but stopped and the future of large Mexican supplies is in doubt.... The Bush administration perception is that Iraq constitutes one very large reserve tank -- a “tank” of some 120 billion barrels. And control of that tank has become paramount for American economic superiority. Control also would represent leverage over Europe and Japan – an important part of U.S. ambitions for empire in the coming years.