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This could not be attempted in a world of two superpowers, but has been a longstanding goal of the people closest to George W. Bush.
In 1975 in Harpers, then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger authored under a pseudonym an article, "Seizing Arab Oil."
Blissfully unaware that the author was his boss, the highly respected career ambassador to Saudi Arabia, James Akins, committed the mother of all faux pas when he told a TV audience that whoever wrote that article had to be a "madman." Akins was right; he was also fired.
In those days, cooler heads prevailed, thanks largely to the deterrent effect of a then-powerful Soviet Union. Nevertheless, in proof of the axiom that bad ideas never die, 26 years later Kissinger rose Phoenix-like to urge a spanking new president to stoke and exploit the fears engendered by 9/11, associate Iraq with that catastrophe, and seize the moment to attack Iraq.
It was well known that Iraq's armed forces were no match for ours, and the Soviet Union had imploded.
Some, I suppose, would call that Realpolitik. Akins saw it as folly; his handicap was that he was steeped in the history, politics, and culture of the Middle East after serving in Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait, Iraq, as well as Saudi Arabia-and knew better.
The renaissance of Kissinger's influence in 2001 on an impressionable young president, together with faith-based analysis by untutored ideologues cherry picked by Cheney explain what happened next-an unnecessary, counterproductive war, in which over 3,800 U. S. troops have already been killed-leaving Iraq prostrate and exhausted.
A-plus in Chutzpah, F in Ethics
In an International Herald Tribune op-ed on Feb. 25, 2007, Kissinger focused on threats in the Middle East to "global oil supplies" and the need for a "diplomatic phase," since the war had long since turned sour. Acknowledging that he had supported the use of force against Iraq, he proceeded to boost chutzpah to unprecedented heights.
Kissinger referred piously to the Thirty Years' War (1618-48), which left the European continent "prostrate and exhausted." What he failed to point out is that the significance of that prolonged carnage lies precisely in how it finally brought Europeans to their senses; that is, in how it ended.
The Treaty of Westphalia brought the mutual slaughter to an end, and for centuries prevented many a new attack by the strong on the weak-like the U.S. attack on Iraq in 2003.
It was, it is about oil-unabashedly and shamefully. Even to those lacking experience with U.S. policy in the Middle East, it should have been obvious early on, when every one of Bush's senior national security officials spoke verbatim from the talking-point sheet, "It's not about oil."
Thanks to Greenspan and Kissinger, the truth is now "largely" available to those who do not seek refuge in denial.
The implications for the future are clear-for Iraq and Iran. As far as this administration is concerned (and as Kissinger himself has written), "Withdrawal [from Iraq] is not an option." Westphalia? U.N. Charter? Geneva Conventions? Hey, we're talking superpower!
Thus, Greenspan last Monday with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now:
"Getting him [Saddam Hussein] out of the control position…was essential. And whether that be done by one means or another was not as important. But it's clear to me that, were there not the oil resources in Iraq, the whole picture…would have been different."
Can we handle the truth?
"All truth passes through three stages.
"First, it is ridiculed.
"Second, it is violently opposed.
"Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."
-Schopenhauer
When the truth about our country's policy becomes clear, can we summon the courage to address it from a moral perspective? The Germans left it up to the churches; the churches collaborated.
"There is only us; there never has been any other."
-Annie Dillard
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