-
Website
http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com/ -
Original page
http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com/2008/05/mccain-admits-iraq-war-was-for-oil/ -
Subscribe
All Comments -
Community
-
-
Top Commenters
-
Popular Threads
Because of our dependence on foreign oil, we have a vested interest in not just keeping the oil flowing, but keeping it out of terrorist hands. Imagine what gas would cost if al-Qaeda controlled the oil fields.
But-for sake of argument-let's assume you're right, and the war is about oil. This would then be the prime moment for drilling ANWR; hell, it's terror free! But you've already said you don't support that.....
Would you please explain you candidate's statements?
If it's not true then is he senile.
*sighs*
"With the exception of its southern neighbor, Saudi Arabia, Iraq has more oil buried underneath it than any country in the world... The oil is trapped at such high pressure that when a well is drilled it gushes out by itself, so there is no need for the “nodding donkeys” that are used to pump oil in Texas and Oklahoma. Along with cheap labor, this accident of nature helps to explain why Iraq has the cheapest production costs in the world, at about a dollar a barrel. (In Texas these days, oil costs about six dollars a barrel to produce.)..."
Beneath the Sand: Can a shattered country be rebuilt with oil?
by John Cassidy
The New Yoker 7/14/2003
there was an article from a Brit a couple of months ago - Andrew Sullivan pointed it out...that, basically said we were there for oil, and that it was time to stop pretending, and that, from an economic standpoint, it was a wise investment- spending 1 trilliion when the estimate was that there was 30 trillion in oil reserves in Iraq. But, those pesky Iraqis, thinking that they should actually CONTROL their own oil reserves, you know, like the Saudis, and THAT is what all the bullshit about the Iraqi government vacations was about. They weren't gonna give up control of the only natural resource they have to the Oil Companies.
He finally admits the truth, but since it's bad politics, he backtrack, sidesteps, amends, clarifies, explains, pivots, etc...
He was talking about the Gulf War?
And I was born yesterday.
Hey, Grumpy, you told the truth. Stand by it. I know, I know. It lessons the impact of all that fearmongering, but it tells us why we pretty much left Afghanistan underwhelmed, left bin Laden at large, and turned our attention to Iraq.
What I think is that in order to get back on track, there will be some kind of created conflama close to November so the Repubs can use one last injection of fearmongering to sway voters their way since they can't win on Any. Other. Issue.
McCain told the truth. I'll give him that.
But he had to back away from it because speaking that truth was bad politics.
We're not stupid.
"Because of our dependence on foreign oil, we have a vested interest in not just keeping the oil flowing, but keeping it out of terrorist hands. Imagine what gas would cost if al-Qaeda controlled the oil fields."
FYI
al-Qaeda was not in Iraq until we invaded. They didn't like Saddam and they don't like the Saudis...
...and since al-Qaeda doesn't like the Saudi monarchy, imagine what would happen is they controlled the oil in Iraq AND Saudi.
When al-Qaeda entered Iraq is irrelevant, but I know it's a standard talking point.
The fact that they didn't say (and still don't say) up front that the was is for oil must mean that most of America is on "the left", then.
and when aq entered Iraq is relevant because before the war they were pretty much confined to Afghanistan.
Speech to Working Class, Indiana
Excerpts:
"This economy doesn’t just jeopardize our financial well-being, it offends the most basic values that have made this country what it is: the idea that America is the place where you can make it if you try. That no matter how much money you start with or where you come from or who your parents are, opportunity is yours if you’re willing to reach for it and work for it. It’s the idea that while there are no guarantees in life, you should able to count on a job that pays the bills; health care for when you get sick; a pension for when you retire; an education for your children that will allow them to fulfill their God-given potential. That’s who we are as a country. That’s the America most of us here know. It’s the America our parents and our grandparents grew up knowing."
::
"That job didn’t just give him a paycheck, it gave him dignity and self-worth. It was an America that didn’t just reward and honor wealth, but the work and the workers who helped create it.
"And we are here today looking for the answer to the same question:
"Where is that America today? "
::
"But I also saw that we are not powerless in the face of these challenges. We don’t have to sit here and watch our leaders do nothing. I learned that we don’t have to consign our children to a future of diminished dreams – a future of fewer opportunities. And that’s why I’m running for President today. Politics didn’t lead me to working people – working people led me to politics."
::
"We can’t afford to settle for a Washington where politicians only focus on how to win instead of why we should; where they check the polls before they check their gut; where they only tell us whatever we want to hear whenever we want to hear it. That kind of politics may get them where they need to go, but it doesn’t get America where we need to go. And it won’t change anything.
"Some of you might have seen that Senator Clinton’s spending a lot of money on a television ad that attacks me for not supporting her and John McCain’s idea of a gas tax holiday for the summer. Now, this is an idea that will save you – altogether – half a tank of gas. That’s thirty cents a day. For three months. That’s if the oil companies don’t simply jack up their price to fill the gap, as they’ve done when this was tried before. Does anyone here really trust the oil companies to give you the savings when they could just pocket the money themselves?
"It’s a shell game. Literally."
::
"But I still believe we need to fundamentally change Washington if we want change in America. I still believe this election is bigger than me, or Senator Clinton, or Senator McCain. It’s bigger than Democrats versus Republicans.
"It’s about who we are as Americans. It’s about whether this country, at this moment, will continue to stand by while the wealthy few prosper at the expense of the hardworking many, or whether we’ll stand up and reclaim the American dream for every American. It’s about whether we’ll watch the Chinas and the Indias of the world move past us, or whether we’ll decide that in the 21st century, the home of innovation, and discovery, and progress will still be the United States of America.
"Reclaiming this dream will take more than one election. It will take more than one person or one party. It will take the effort and sacrifice of a nation united. And that’s the truth."
::
"And if you do – if you decide that this moment is about what kind of country we’ll be in the next year and the next century; about how we’ll provide jobs to the jobless and opportunity to those without it; about health care and good schools and a green planet; about giving our children a better world and a brighter future – then I ask you to enlist your neighbors, and knock on doors, and work your heart out from now until Tuesday. In the face of all cynicism, and doubt, and fear, I ask you to remember what makes a nation – and to believe that we can once again make this nation the land of limitless possibility and unyielding hope – the place where you can still make it if you try. Thank you, and may God Bless the United States of America."