Ex-CIA Ray McGovern on Obama's 'New World'

"Is Obama realistic about pulling troops out of Iraq and will he face up to 'big oil'?" -- The Real News Network's Paul Jay talks to former CIA officer Ray McGovern.

Watch the story below:

On Tuesday, Barack Obama gave a speech on American foreign policy, stating that on his first day in office his mission would be to end this war and safely redeploy combat brigades within 16 months. After this redeployment, he will keep a residual force to perform specific missions in Iraq, targeting any remnants of al-Qaeda, protecting service members and diplomats, and training and supporting Iraq's security forces, so long as the Iraqis make political progress.

Ray McGovern, former CIA officer, addresses the question - who is going to own Iraq's oil? He says that the US will not be able to control the oil now, they are not going to have permanent military bases and the bulk of American troops will be out of Iraq within a year. "So if this is about oil, they're going to have to go back to the old sharing and buying oil, and a fair share for the various companies involved."

The game is over with Iraq, so the question now is: how does this strategic change affect the real players in the area? McGovern says the rightist extremists of the Israeli government would do everything they can to get the US more involved in that arena. They can involve the US in a war with Iran and cause a provocation that Iran will be forced to respond to, and if that happens, the US is in there with both feet.

Is Iran really a strategic threat to the United States? "Balderdash. It is not. To whom might it construed to be a strategic threat? The State of Israel. Now, is it? That is a matter of opinion." McGovern adds that if he were to position himself as an Israeli he would worry about Iran working on a nuclear weapon even though US intelligence says they are not. The way to handle this, he says, is diplomacy. "Talk to these people, find out what their grievances are, find out what their fears are, and, indeed, the head of the national intelligence council just last weekend said, you know, the Iranians have reason to fear us."

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Comments

[kellygrrrl]

seems to be "sharing and buying oil" would cost a lot less than "stealing oil"
... both in dollars and lives

[egal]

Unfortunately for lives, but perhaps fortuitously for our government, we have less influence over oil and its profits when we seek to control it, such as now. It is apparent, especially to those who are educated and experienced in international issues and diplomacy, that we can't use war to benefit our oil interests, and if for no other reason, that makes us ripe to change both our energy dependence and our relationship with those from whom we import.

Under Obama, at least. McCain is apparently not so keen on listening to the market, or perhaps he just doesn't understand the language, as in economics, and has no competent translator.

[Krikkit]

Obama could nip this Israel/Iran scenario in the bud by backdoor diplomacy making it clear that if Israel provokes Iran, they are on their own.

[theVoice0fReason]

That would be great but would probably never happen, as for far too long the ideology of the religious right wing nuts have the U.S. so indoctrinated with the premise that we must "Kick ass for Jesus, and protect his House", which cries out for actual implementation of the separation of Church and State.

Why do we go along with this?

Oh, that's right, we're "mavericks".