Alan Greenspan claims Iraq war was really for oil Graham Paterson
AMERICA's elder statesman of finance, Alan Greenspan, has shaken the
White House by declaring that the prime motive for the war in Iraq was
oil.
In his long-awaited memoir, to be published tomorrow, Greenspan, a
Republican whose 18-year tenure as head of the US Federal Reserve was
widely admired, will also deliver a stinging critique of President
George W Bush's economic policies.
However, it is his view on the motive for the 2003 Iraq invasion that is
likely to provoke the most controversy. "I am saddened that it is
politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq
war is largely about oil," he says.
Greenspan, 81, is understood to believe that Saddam Hussein posed a
threat to the security of oil supplies in the Middle East.
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* Fed veteran Greenspan lambasts George W Bush on economy
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Britain and America have always insisted the war had nothing to do with
oil. Bush said the aim was to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction
and end Saddam's support for terrorism.
