Alan Greenspan on Why he Wrote That the Iraq War Was About Oil
I had an hour-long conversation with Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman. He was talking about the economy and his new memoir, The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World.
He talks about the presidents he has worked with -- from Richard M. Nixon, who made him feel uncomfortable, and Gerald R. Ford, who he liked. He talks about the years he worked alongside Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld in the Ford administration.
His Libertarian stands are much in evidence, as he assesses security issue versus civil liberties issues.
And he explained why he wrote that the war is Iraq is about oil.
Here is part of what he said:
Watch the entire conversation tonight on PBS or see it tomorrow on the Charlie Rose website.
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Why he Wrote That the Iraq War Was About Oil
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That's simple enough to answer. There is no other reason for this fraud, aka Iraq war, that stands the test of either logic-based or empirical evidence.
Mr. Greenspan would be a subject of ridicule by all with minimal intelligence, had he tried to give any other reason.
Allan Greenspan aka Nostradamus
He can predict the future
Do these folks have any shame
Who will star in
"The Fog of War-Part Two"
Place your bets now
Mr. Greenspan's explained the need for ousting Saddam with no question at all about the legitimacy and practical consequences of this action. He, along with most people, missed a very big point related to comparing Saddam with Hitler etc. It's one thing to be a ruthless dictator, and another to be a social anomaly as Hitler was. Getting rid of Saddam accomplishes nothing if in fact there are 10 million Saddams to take his place. Saddam was NOT a social anomaly, but very much embodied the thinking and aspirations of many people in his country, these being a natural response to the particular needs and conditions of Iraq.
Greenspan's miopic discourse dwells on what matters for America only, without even spending one second on what would motivate Saddam. This is so typical, and the US will continue to fail in Iraq as long as its focus is only what matters for America.
As a longtime admirer of Greenspan, I only wish he had had a little more spine and stood up to the Bush administration, rather than expressing his reservations about them now. As a result, we now have a runaway credit expansion that is on the result of bust, the housing market that already has busted, $80 a barrel oil ($3.00 at the pump yesterday!), and an out of control defecit that China owns a little over 20% of. Alan, I love you baby, you've seen us through a lot, but damn, I sure wish you had stood up to the thugs in the White House and slammed the door on them when you could have. Still, it is good the that the truth many of us suspected for years has finally been vindicated. Please make sure you have enough guts to testify against them when they are all brought up on charges at The Hague.
Nowhere..a
Sure..I'd HATE it...but can live with it..
WHY do we continue to use plastic bags...sty
Even "liberal" Americans.
hey...huff
How could Greenspan be a libertarian and head the Federal Reserve. A big mummy gumit institution for capitalists?
There is a special gas-guzzling combination that you find in America. So many oversized vehicles, in combination with stop lights at every other intersection.
In Europe, and elsewhere, it's just the other way around, where they have smaller vehicles and many more roundabouts. There is therefore less mass and drag due to the average vehicle size, plus there is less need to stop and go. On top of this, the roundabouts are'nt wasting electricity powering the darn lights, and as a bonus, you get where your going that much sooner (not counting traffic issues they tend to have due to narrower streets etc.) So there is an over efficiency in this solution that could probably make a significant impact on the "daily oil fix".
It's all about the crude, dude. I've been saying it for five years. It's so obvious--look how we ignored North Korea when they were
practically waving their missiles in our face. We ignored them because they don't have any OIL.
I'm glad Greenspun lobbed this truth bomb into the mix. We need to have a national discussion about whether we want to be a world
dominating empire, or a true democracy with
worthy principals. And his truth bomb exposes the obvious--we are throwing our sons and daughters into the fiery furnace of Iraq for OIL!
With all respect to Charlie Rose, I think he should take a more forceful position with policy makers than he has on our war with Iraq. One can be a journalist and still have a point of view. If a president wanted to invade Mars, is a journalist just limited to asking whether the invasion may be successful and how many troops may be needed? A journalist should be able to say: "Why in the hell should we invade Mars?"
BUSH'S IDEALISM
Bush is a democratic idealist in the Wilsonian mold. Like Wilson who wreaked his health and presidency over his democratic vision of world peace Bush will go down fighting for his view that Iraq is key to democratizing the Middle East and ending the scourge of Islamic terror. Bush's belief in democracy is as strong as his belief that Jesus is his Lord and Savior. In fact, in Bush's mind the two beliefs are almost indistinguishable. Like Wilson Bush has a messianic passion for freedom and believes that it is the answer to peace and civilization in the Middle East. Bush's democratic globalism is for him a religious principle, and for him to desert Iraq would be a betrayal of God and country. Oil, WMDs were secondary reasons for invading Iraq. Freedom is the reason: that is why our troops are still fighting there and that is why they will stay until Bush leaves office.
Nice regurgitation of the Bush Doctrine, AS.
Did you slam a quart of Kool-aide to start?
Jeez, if Bush was only as smart as Wilson,
or even half as smart, things could have
worked out better, perhaps. Put another way,
Wilson was way smarter than Bush, and still
managed to be a naive & dangerous President.
As Bush has famously said, "It's a hard job!"
Of course it's not "our" oil. It's exxon's and bp's. and it's our patriotic duty to make sure they get it. God said so.
Greenie was pathetic. It was the 3rd interview I have followed with him. He has contradicted his writing (or whoever wrote it for him) and his answers so many times he is obviously losing it. He coudldn't even stand up for what he said on other interviews. He is only interested in trying to make his tenure look good in history. Another sad commentary on the puppets and pretenders of people we get stuck with in leadership. He really looked and sounded pathetic. I remember when he was made Chairmen of the Fed. As a Real estate Broker for 21 Years, Greenspan had the easiest economy too play with and he completely blew it. Having the biggest engine ever in history, the biggest opportunity for a whole general population to grow into the largest middleclass as well as generate tax revenues that could have obliterated debt (much more than balance the budget) and maintain low interest rates, he has failed all around. He knows it, and he as much as admitted it. His 40's and 50's worldview made him so paronoid about inflation, while everyday hardworking Americans were looking for jobs with wages enough to replace the decline in manufacturing, and the changeover to services and technology. Greenspan's policy only served to enable the Bankers, Wall Street, and Global Corporations and gutted middleclass Americans. He also bought right into the Fascists Elitists view of Governemnt married to Big Business (Globalization, and Big Oil) the control of labor through a heavy dose of consumer debt and heavy Defense Spending, while allowing unchecked market spending and fraud, and not the least of his mistakes: the buying into Foriegn Policy dictated by the price of and the flow of oil, instead of President Carter's correct economic assumptions of those dangers, and policies to manuevor us away from the inherently dangerous policy.
Spookcatcher, thank you for laying out the "realpolitik"
or real agenda behind these corporatists. It's so refreshing to hear penetrating analysis and logic in a sea of comatose-t
Regarding Mr. Greedspin (I don't take credt for this creatice touch), I think the thugs got to him enough to start the "backpedal
I especially applaude your remark about "the CONTROL of labor through a heavy dose of consumer debt." Turn the middle class into a fearful indentured servant and you can run a tank over them.
When are Americans going to wake up and realize that it has never been a free market? When will they realize that the real welfare queens of the military-p
How can all these criminal disasters not be obvious to the 30percenters?
He is as delusional as George jr. kind of like looking for commies under our bed during the cold war with Russia.
Wars and the fear of wars make lots of money for the industrial military complex.
“The economic security of our country”. Translated imperialism.
"A nation that spends more year after year on military offense (and I mean offense) than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death". (Gunnels)
Greenspans ideological opposition to surpluses was the most interesting comment.
He was worried we'd pay off all our debt, and the government would get involved in purchasing stocks... like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, China, Kuwait...
... all that income they're earning without lifting a finger would be just horrible for America... home of and defender of capitalism can't be trusted with the concept... sheesh!
No worries now... Bush has nearly doubled our debt... no surpluses to be had in the foreseeable future... hundreds of billions just to pay interest..
Dear Mr. Rose,
I am glad you posted on this interview with Alan Greenspan, I must say it was such an excellent interview.
I was surprised, shocked really, as to how very much myself and Mr. Greenspan are in the same stream of consciousness.
Thanks Mr. Rose for all the exceptional interviews you have brought us over the years, they are beyond an doubt a record for posterity, you are the best.
Seems you and Mr. Greenspan have much in common too, especially the thirst for knowledge.
We (Humanity) waste *FAR* too much of our energy on inane and destructive enterprises, I hope that changes soon. Agape.
Greenspan's rationale for deposing Hussein is more cogent than that of the Bush admin. However, what did he DO about it at the time? This account smacks of a retrospective judgement.
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