Well, yes and no.... Everybody knows the huge oil potential which Iraq posesses. That article seems to be saying that because no one in the West has really gotten much of it yet, that means they aren't interested in it.
That is not the greatest reasoning, IMHO.
The Economist made a pretty good case about how the UN Inspectors got kicked out in the mid 1990's. Why, they rhetorically asked, didn't the UN council use force at that time? "Russia and China, two of its [Security Council's] permanent members, had opposed military action all along. As soon as Saddam Hussein began digging his heels in firmly against further inspections in 1995 and 1996, the council split. Russia and China, wanting sanctions lifted so they could recover past debts from the Iraqi government and return to oil business as usual, resisted the use of force to back up the inspection teams. France, keen that Russia should not scoop up all the oil contracts, eventually did the same."
Just my two cents (with a little help from the Economist,)
-- Pete |
