All about oil?
Ireland's airwaves have been filled these past few days with pompous types blathering away about Iraq as if their opinions carried some weight. They don't, of course. The common refrain uttered by all of these is: "It's all about oil." But is it?
If it were all about oil, the world's most powerful economy could simply buy it. After all, Saddam was once very happy to sell it to Uncle Sam when he needed the dollars for his nefarious purposes.
If it were all about oil, it would certainly make more sense to buy it than to go to war for it. A cornered Iraqi thugocracy might set the wells on fire. Remember Kuwait?
If it were all about oil, and a war went badly wrong, Bush would be out of the White House in 2004.
No, if it were all about oil, the thing to do would be to buy it. So let's hear a more original argument, please.
