by Pepe Escobar

Asia Times

08/24/04

As the neo-conservative dream of a 'liberated Iraq came true in April 2003, who would have predicted that 16 months later oil would become the ultimate time bomb for the Bush administration? And the Saudi royal/oil family cavalry is not exactly coming to the rescue .... Cheap oil is the Holy Grail of the Bush administration's global strategy. According to the sanitized version of US Vice President Dick Cheney's secret energy report published in May 2001 -- the work sessions and the people involved remain classified information -- the US in 2020 will be importing 66% of its oil, against 55% in 2001. So, the report says, oil is 'the priority of America's foreign and trade policy,' and 'Russia, Central Asia, the Caspian, the Gulf countries and Western Africa' need 'special attention.' This, in the long term, represents one of the explanations for the invasion of Iraq...

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/FH24Dj01.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp