Lantos agrees with Greenspan: Iraq war was largely about oil

[babylonsister]

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/09/16/lantos-agrees-with-greenspan-iraq-war-was-largely-about-oil/

Lantos agrees with Greenspan: Iraq war was largely about oil.

In his new book, The Age of Turbulence, former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan asserts, “I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows. The Iraq war is largely about oil.” Today on CNN’s Late Edition, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos (D-CA) said he agreed with Greenspan “to a large extent,” adding, “I think it is very remarkable that it took Alan Greenspan all these many years and being out of office for stating the obvious.

Watch it at link~

UPDATE: Defense Secretary Robert Gates rejected Greenspan’s claim. “I wasn’t here for the decision-making process that initiated it, that started the war,” Gates said. But he added, “I know the same allegation was made about the Gulf War in 1991, and I just don’t believe it’s true.”

Transcript:

BLITZER: Alan Greenspan has a new book that has just come out, Chairman Lantos, entitled, The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World, in which he makes a very, very sharp charge about the war in Iraq. I’ll read it to you: I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows. The Iraq war is largely about oil. Do you agree with him?

LANTOS: To a very large extent I agree with him, and I think it is very remarkable that it took Alan Greenspan all these many years and being out of office for stating the obvious. It is self-evident that this administration would not have taken the position it has had it not been for the oil issue.

[TwilightGardener]

1. So...is everyone going to start admitting this now? Has this been the

800-lb gorilla in the room for long enough? Jesus H.

[babylonsister]

2. Funny that Lantos criticized Greenspan for finally owning up; has he ever? nt

[TwilightGardener]

3. Exactly. I think Lantos is an all-right guy, but except for Kucinich, I

haven't heard anyone in either the House or Senate bringing up the oil as a reason for war--UNLESS it's couched in the phrase "vital interests".