Iraq
War Was About Oil
By George Wright
Guardian
04 June
, 2003
Oil was the main reason for
military action against Iraq, a leading White House hawk has claimed,
confirming the worst fears of those opposed to the US-led war.
The US deputy defence secretary, Paul Wolfowitz - who has already undermined
Tony Blair's position over weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by describing
them as a "bureaucratic" excuse for war - has now gone further
by claiming the real motive was that Iraq is "swimming" in
oil.
The latest comments were
made by Mr Wolfowitz in an address to delegates at an Asian security
summit in Singapore at the weekend, and reported today by German newspapers
Der Tagesspiegel and Die Welt.
Asked why a nuclear power
such as North Korea was being treated differently from Iraq, where hardly
any weapons of mass destruction had been found, the deputy defence minister
said: "Let's look at it simply. The most important difference between
North Korea and Iraq is that economically, we just had no choice in
Iraq. The country swims on a sea of oil."
Mr Wolfowitz went on to tell
journalists at the conference that the US was set on a path of negotiation
to help defuse tensions between North Korea and its neighbours - in
contrast to the more belligerent attitude the Bush administration displayed
in its dealings with Iraq.
His latest comments follow
his widely reported statement from an interview in Vanity Fair last
month, in which he said that "for reasons that have a lot to do
with the US government bureaucracy, we settled on the one issue that
everyone could agree on: weapons of mass destruction."
Prior to that, his boss,
defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, had already undermined the British
government's position by saying Saddam Hussein may have destroyed his
banned weapons before the war.
Mr Wolfowitz's frank assessment
of the importance of oil could not come at a worse time for the US and
UK governments, which are both facing fierce criticism at home and abroad
over allegations that they exaggerated the threat post by Saddam Hussein
in order to justify the war.
Amid growing calls from all
parties for a public inquiry, the foreign affairs select committee announced
last night it would investigate claims that the UK government misled
the country over its evidence of Iraq's WMD.
The move is a major setback
for Tony Blair, who had hoped to contain any inquiry within the intelligence
and security committee, which meets in secret and reports to the prime
minister.
In the US, the failure to
find solid proof of chemical, biological and nuclear arms in Iraq has
raised similar concerns over Mr Bush's justification for the war and
prompted calls for congressional investigations.
Mr Wolfowitz is viewed as
one of the most hawkish members of the Bush administration. The 57-year
old expert in international relations was a strong advocate of military
action against Afghanistan and Iraq.
Following the September 11
terror attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon, Mr Wolfowitz
pledged that the US would pursue terrorists and "end" states'
harbouring or sponsoring of militants.
Prior to his appointment
to the Bush cabinet in February 2001, Mr Wolfowitz was dean and professor
of international relations at the Paul H Nitze School of Advanced International
Studies (SAIS), of the Johns Hopkins University.