I presented the evidence for the importance of oil as a factor in the U.S.
intervention. Of course not just the U.S. but others such as France and the UK
also have oil interests in Libya. They did first spearhead the intervention.
But
the U.S. intervention was crucial although the U.S. tried to downplay that.
Anyway the intervention is in blatant disregard of the UN resolution now as
it is clear that it is meant not to protect civilians but to overthrow the
Gadaffi regime no matter how many LIbyans die. The demand of the resolution for
a cease fire and negotiated solution is routinely ignored. In fact both the
coalition and the rebels reject any such move while Gadaffi is in power. Coles
does nothing to counter the evidence I gave in an earlier thread. In fact this
is a bit of liberal crapola: While oil is not the only factor to think that it
is not a factor at all for the reasons Cole gives is to ignore the facts I
presented ages ago.
Of course there is no guarantee that the U.S. will necessarily be able to
control the incoming government to secure oil resources in the way that it
wants. But it will not be for lack of trying as Iraq shows.
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg20470.html
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg20550.html
Cheers, ken
----- Original Message ----
From: Jim Devine <[email protected]>
To: Pen-l <[email protected]>
Sent: Tue, June 14, 2011 3:42:03 PM
Subject: [Pen-l] Juan Cole: the Libya war is not for oil
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Informed Comment <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, Jun 14, 2011 at 1:38 PM
Libya not a War for Oil
Posted: 13 Jun 2011 11:42 PM PDT
The allegation out there in the blogosphere that the United
Nations-authorized intervention in Libya was driven by Western oil
companies is a non-starter. The argument is that Muammar Qaddafi was
considered unreliable by American petroleum concerns, so they pushed
to get rid of him. Nothing could be further from the truth. Bloomberg
details the big lobbying push by American oil companies on behalf of
Qaddafi, to exempt him from civil claims in the US.
The United States in any case did not spearhead the UN intervention.
President Obama and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, along with the
Pentagon brass, considered the outbreak of the Libya war very
unfortunate and clearly were only dragged into it kicking and
screaming by Saudi Arabia, France and Britain. The Western country
with the biggest oil stake in Libya, Italy, was very reluctant to join
the war. Silvio Berlusconi says that he almost resigned when the war
broke out, given his close relationship to Qaddafi. As for the UK,
Tony Blair brought the BP CEO to Tripoli in 2007, and BP had struck
deals for Libya oil worth billions, which this war can only delay.
Not only is there no reason to think that petroleum companies urged
war, the whole argument about UN and NATO motivations is irrelevant
and sordid. By now it is clear that Qaddafi planned to crush political
dissidents in a massive and brutal way, and some estimates already
suggest over 10,000 dead. If UN-authorized intervention could stop
that looming massacre, then why does it matter so much what drove
David Cameron to authorize it?
An argument you sometimes hear is that the new Transitional National
Council in Benghazi will be pliant toward Western interests. But
Qaddafi himself had come back in from the cold and all sorts of deals
were being struck with him by Western powers. Those who more or less
support Qaddafi and wanted to let him roll tanks on civilian
protesters has weaved itself into a pretzel with all these conspiracy
theories, while conveniently managing to leave out of the account
ordinary Libyans, so many of whom are willing to risk their lives to
bring about the end of Qaddafi’s murderous and mercurial regime.
--
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
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