Reply #7: Fraid not - if you are paid or indoctrinated to believe otherwise. [View All]

[nightfire]

In late February 2003 while visiting London I happened to be invited to be an audience member at a television program called 'Question Time," where the imminent attack on Iraq was the topic. An hour or so before the main program began we were divided into groups of 30 or so and sent off to separate small studios to observe two-person debates of sub-issues. In my case the subject was, paraphrasing: "Is the (coming) Iraq Intervention about Terrorism or Oil?"

In a half hour exchange with a young smug Tory, a left-wing politician made an excellent case that oil was a major, if not the only, concern, or so I thought. In the audience were academics (a lot of economists), business people, staff journalists, civil servants, and other upper middle class sort of folks. At the end of the session, when the moderator asked how many believed that oil was the driving force behind Bush's rush to war, not a single hand went up (other than mine).