Think of the Deep Property Discounts I'll Get
Since we’ve established that the war is all about oil, thanks to Mr Greenspan, can we finally drop this “democracy” lark and invade Norway? I think Norway’s climate is much better suited to my own disposition than any of these Arab locals, and now that the curtain’s dropped and we Americans can finally begin taking advantage of our Empire, I’d really like Norway to be someplace I can go take advantage of.
The former high priest of capitalism writes in his new memoirs: “I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.” Mr Greenspan’s pronouncement will cheer the anti-war left and confound his old friends in the Bush administration.
Yet surprise should be tempered. The US right is not monolithic. Its vitality stems from its variety. Many US conservatives opposed the war. Ironically, many so-called realists disliked fighting because it was not about oil alone – they were suspicious of democracy building and upsetting once-friendly local dictators. Still more US conservatives are isolationists who believe, like any British blimp, that abroad is bloody. Another tendency, to which Mr Greenspan leans, is libertarian which opposes big government – and war is the worst big government activity of all. Many free market economists, like their Marxist opponents, fall into the fallacy of believing that everything in politics hinges on financial self-interest. True, oil has always been an important factor in Middle Eastern strategy but even countries opposed to the war believed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The real reason for the war was Saddam’s defiance and the projection of US power after 9/11.
Plus, I think a little cottage on fjord by the sea surrounded by bog for hundreds of miles and one or two reindeer is the perfect place from which to observe the world’s events. And everyone writing books in it.
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