The Real Reason for War?

Here’s an interesting piece, suggesting that the real reason for war in Iraq is not simply oil, but the currency in which oil is traded. At the moment the standard is the US dollar, but Saddam Hussein switched to the Euro in 2000, and the article suggests that it is this move, in light of the dollar’s depreciation against the Euro, that has made it essential for the US to establish control of Iraqui oil.

To be honest, I don’t have enough background knowledge on the macroeconomic effects of the oil industry to judge whether the article is claptrap or sound analysis, but it certainly seems to explain some of the more glaring holes in the Bush administration’s non-justifications for war. It certainly feeds games of fantasy geopolitics: The US is seriously out of control under Bush, and must be contained – an alliance of European and Middle Eastern oil-producing nations would be a way to acheive this. It’s either that or – almost as unlikely! – an international socialist revolution.

Posted at 1pm on 12/02/03 by Jack Mottram to the politics category.
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