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Politics : Foreign Policy Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (1544)	1/2/2003 4:52:51 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15987

And if we DONT take over the oilfields who's going to pay for the long-term nation rebuilding there? There's quite a difference between "taking over" the oil fields and forming a partnership.. It's like the line in "Kelly's Heroes" where Don Rickles suggests how to get the crew of the Tiger Tank to cease fire and give them access to the bank full of gold... "Maybe they're Capitalists!!!..... Make a deal!!!"... IMO, Iraqi oil will pay for their rebuilding, either directly, or by way of a combination of lower oil prices and direct US foreign aid (since low prices are great for the global economy).. The quid pro quo will be an Iraqi state that stands the chance of achieving a predominant place in the Arab world, acting as a spoiler against Islamic militancy. It may not work.. There are certainly no guarantees of success.. But it's better than doing nothing and almost certainly guaranteeing that the middle east turns even more militant as their economies fail and regimes can no longer quell the rising dissent caused by the demographic trends. Reminds me of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA when Lawrence asked the British intelligence leader Dryden what their real interests were in the Middle East "I couldn't say" he slyly replied. They were pretending to support freedom for the Arabs but were actually just trying to secure those oilfields. I highly doubt that AS... I don't believe oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia until the '30's. More likely the British were trying to secure the eastern flank of the red sea and protect the Suez canal. Yep... first oil well was discovered in 1938, well after the Saudis came to power. chevrontexaco.com Hawk