"The control of oil is the game that America is playing
in the Gulf. Control not possession is the objective. America does not need
to possess Iraq’s oil. However, it must have control over how much oil that
country will produce. At the same time America is going into Iraq to gain
control of Opec.
Britain is the most forward of any country in backing
American invasion in Iraq. When in 1972 the present ruler of Iraq Saddam
Hussein nationalized Iraq’s oil it was Britain, which primarily suffered as
the two British companies British Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell were
ousted in the takeover. I think it is a fair assumption that Britain counts
on its oil companies reacquiring their former possessions in the event of an
American takeover of Iraq.
France and Germany very much fear that should the United
States invade it would turn all of the Gulf, not the regimes but the
citizenry, against America and after that we will see an escalation of
terrorist attacks. In other words France and Germany foresee that an
American takeover will in a long run do more harm than good.
The so-called Wolfowitz doctrine worked out by the US
Assistance Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz envisions the United States
running a lot more of these preemptive strikes such as this one against Iraq.
In Wolfowitz’s vision the United States will go after Iran next, and then
Syria.
The war is about oil. However, it is not the case that
America wants to physically process Iraq’s oil so that it can sell it. It is
rather that America feels it must have influence over Iraq’s oil production.
Only by having that can we be sure of regulating prices and only by
regulating prices can we be certain of keeping world economy on an even keel.
Other reasons for invading Iraq are preemptive protection
of Israel and the water resources of Iraq."