Retired General John Abizaid admits that Iraq war is about oil

reply to post by deltaboy


Nice try, db, but look again at the quotes to which you are refering in the opening post. It clearly indicates Friedman made the statement about gas stations. That is just a follow up to Abizaid's statement anyway. Here, let me refresh that for you.

“Of course it’s about oil, we can’t really deny that,” Abizaid said of the Iraq campaign early on in the talk.

See?

[edit on 16-10-2007 by Icarus Rising]

reply to post by Icarus Rising

“Of course it’s about oil, we can’t really deny that,” Abizaid said of the Iraq campaign early on in the talk.

“We’ve treated the Arab world as a collection of big gas stations,” the retired general said. “Our message to them is: Guys, keep your pumps open, prices low, be nice to the Israelis and you can do whatever you want out back. Osama and 9/11 is the distilled essence that represents everything going on out back.”

Well they just seem to somehow made a mistake in how the general said it.



[edit on 16-10-2007 by deltaboy]

That's crazy. Where did you get that quote? The second paragraph of your quote attributes the gas station statement to Abizaid, while the quote from the opening post of this thread attributes it directly to Friedman.

“We’ve treated the Arab world as a collection of big gas stations,” Mr.Friedman said. “Our message to them is: Guys, keep your pumps open, prices low, be nice to the Israelis and you can do whatever you want out back.

Weird. Gotta love the media these days.

Ok, now I see, after looking directly at the linked article. In light of this discrepancy, I hope you can understand my questioning your original post I replied to.

peace.

[edit on 16-10-2007 by Icarus Rising]

reply to post by Icarus Rising


Halfway the mid.

daily.stanford.edu...

Some people here are totally missing the picture.

Its who the money spent on the war and gained from the secured resources, is going to, thats the point of the whole war for oil thing.

Ofcource the US Goverment is spending taxpayer money by the crap loads more then before the war, ofcource oil prices are double they were before.

The point is, all that money spent on the war and gained from securing resources and "jobs" in Iraq is going to multinational corporations, who have Bush and probably most of the political world in the US in their pockets.

War = Profit
Power over resources = Profit
Death and Destruction = Profit

Who profits? Never the people, not in Iraq, not in the US of A, only the corporations.

reply to post by deltaboy


Yeah, I saw the quote from the original article, as well as the correction at the start of said article. My question now is: did manson_322 make the change to the external quote in his opening post attributing the statement to Friedman? Because that external quote placed by manson_322 reflects the correct quote attribution.

[edit on 17-10-2007 by Icarus Rising]

reply to post by Icarus Rising


Manson probably change the quote on here, but the article has yet to change it.

the fact abizaid has stated this should mean he should be forced to stand in a court of law where all the politicians who created this war should stand for crimes against humanity, it's amazing how nonchelent we can say yeah it was for oil and while we are sat here thinking how terrible it is, people are actually dying and suffering because of it, we truly have handed our world over to greedy egomaniacs who will end up killing us all for their own ends, we gave to few, too much power when we say jump the governments should ask how high not the other way round

This is what he really meant when he says oil is important.
www.newsvine.com...

Too many other related issues are involved, he said, including the rise of Islamic extremism, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and the need to preserve the flow of oil from the Middle East. Abizaid called these major and pressing issues to be addressed.

"Any presidential candidate has got to face those facts as a matter of reality," Abizaid said. "The United States is the most powerful nation on Earth and it just can't walk away from the Middle East and central Asia and the Horn of Africa."

News Flash!

***Correction: In this article, The Daily inaccurately attributed a comment equating countries in the Arab world to gas stations to retired Army General John Abizaid. The comment was actually made by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman.***

daily.stanford.edu...

That sort of alters the tone of the discussion, I would think, given the fact that this thread is about something that was never said by the individual who is supposed to give the statement validity.

A retired US Army general is not quite the same as a NYT columnist.

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
That sort of alters the tone of the discussion, I would think, given the fact that this thread is about something that was never said by the individual who is supposed to give the statement validity.

That's just an attempt to divert this topic, again he said the most important part of it and not the least important part of it.

The only bit of it that it says he didn't say was:
“We’ve treated the Arab world as a collection of big gas stations,”

Also, it's important to note that those who claim the reason it can't be about oil is because the US Government has spent more than they have gained is very short sighted. You see, by invading Iraq American companies are now making money from that oil. That oil then goes back to members of the Bush Political Party, this money would not have came without the war - because it would be much harder (and illegal) to launder it.

Originally posted by Odium
Bush Political Party

There is no such thing as the Bush Political Party.

Otherwise, I'm not denying that oil influences anything having to do with the Middle East, but the thread hinges on the totality of the statements originally attributed to the General.

The statement left intact is that it is about oil, but that doesn't explain all the reasons the Congress approved the invasion.

This one truncated statement is being used by certain ones on this thread to prove that there is only one reason the US and its allies invaded Iraq and that is not the case, even if some spineless politicians now want to weasel their way out of their votes to invade Iraq and ignore the body of evidence gleaned from intelligence agencies around the world.

This statement proves nothing and ignores everything else the General might have said.

“Of course it’s about oil, we can’t really deny that,” Abizaid said of the Iraq campaign early on in the talk.

daily.stanford.edu...

[edit on 2007/10/16 by GradyPhilpott]

reply to post by manson_322



basterd bush i was born i niraq and this aint fair innocent ppl die each day from this war

Originally posted by SoFunkyMe

basterd bush i was born i niraq and this aint fair innocent ppl die each day from this war

Most of the dead are killed by their fellow Iraqi's. I wonder how you feel about Iraqi's killing each other and how would you personally like to see it stopped? Also, in your opinion, why do the Iraqi's keep killing each other in such huge numbers? Is that why your family left Iraq? To get away from Saddam's killers I mean?

This is not a flame. I'm genuinely interested in hearing these answers from someone from Iraq. Having spent my life in a free country under the rule of law I have a hard time imagining living around Saddam's horrors. When I look at the pictures of the Mass Graves he left behind it gives me the chills. When I see the reports of Muslims killing each other it makes me wonder why people put up with it and it is hard for me to understand.

Of course we went in there for oil. Even Alan Greenspan admits it .

To those who doubt it, explain to us how our goverment planned to pay for all the war costs.

The plan was simple, but everything went wrong - Israel convinces the US to take out Saddam, so that they both profit off the oil, but they didn't plan to have the war stretch out for so many years. They thought they would be making a profit from the oil, when in fact the war has turned into a a huge debt.

Originally posted by DJMessiah
but they didn't plan to have the war stretch out for so many years.

I think that was part of the plan. Like C0le mentioned earlier, it's not about profits, it's about control of that vital resource. I submit to you the false flag operations that lead up to the sectarian violence in Iraq as evidence.

Originally posted by Beachcoma
I submit to you the false flag operations that lead up to the sectarian violence in Iraq as evidence.

I'm curious. To what does the everyone attribute the Sectarian Violence in the Middle East Prior to the 20th Century and the need for oil? Muslims have been killing Muslims for a loooooooooooooong time.

reply to post by Blaine91555



we left from the first gulf war it was a nice country my dad said i was only 1 or 2?


[edit on 10/17/2007 by SoFunkyMe]

reply to post by Blaine91555


Sure the tensions were there, but the false flag operations exacerbated the situation. Before, it was just great resentment. After, it was downright hatred. The occupiers provided the fuse to the powder-keg, so to speak. After that, it's just a matter of sitting back and watching the fireworks fly.

all i have to say is read the book "Confessions of An Economic Hitman" by John Perkins