Al Re...Iraq Was Surviving the Sanctions
Why They Wouldn't Wait.
While the author starts out with a good, and correct premise, that sanctions were a influential part of the reasons for the war, the follow though is weak. In the start, Tom states that he felt it was all about oil. Then he disputes that, by saying, it was all about the sanctions. Then he tries to claim, Hal. co-erced GW do invade Iraq to keep Hal in the picture. Forgive me for being simplistic, but if that was GW's intent, all Gw had to do was accept the bribes France and the others were taking,make sure Hal, was getting its share of them, accept the Un inspections, and declare the sanctions over. That would have been far more dependable and cheaper than kicking out Saddam, and then depending upon the new gov. to give Hal a piece of the action.
Yes, the sanctions had a lot to do with it. But so did the world's fear of WMD, terrorists in general, and Al Qaeda in particular, oil, both in profits, and the fact that there is a real need for it in the west; and finally how to address the hate Lewis describes in his book. All of them factored in. |
