Saturday, February 15, 2003

Who is motivated by Oil?  A senior Pentagon adviser accused France of striking a deal with Saddam Hussein to oppose military action in return for a lucrative oil contract. Richard Perle, a former US Assistant Defence Secretary, said the French anti-war stance was driven by economic interests. French oil giant TotalFinaElf has exclusive exploration contracts worth $US40-50 billion to develop the massive Majnoon and Bin Umar oilfields in southern Iraq, he said. "What's distinctive about the Total contract is that it's not favourable to Iraq, it's favourable to Total," Mr Perle, the chairman of the Pentagon's Defence Policy Board, said during an address in New York. [John Robb's Radio Weblog] John Robb had in the past repeated the "war for oil" line to explain the US government's motivations many times. It's nice to see that he is, at the very least, willing to consider that other countries might have that motivation. comment () trackback ()  12:20:57 PM     Anti-war protesters take to streets. Protesters against a war with Iraq are marching in London in one of the biggest protests ever seen in Britain. [BBC News | Front Page | UK Edition] It turns out they got almost twice as many people as the Countryside Alliance protest. Unfortunately, like the US media, the BBC doesn't even attempt to answer the question of how many were socialists protesting against civilization in general, and how many were legitimately opposed to the impending war. comment () trackback ()  12:08:54 PM     Michael Powers at Strike the Root - Every Passenger a Terrorist: A Critical View of Airport Security - an entertaining romp through the TSA gauntlet. [rrnd] [End the War on Freedom] I don't think entertaining is quite the right word, myself. More like "disgusting," or "un-American." comment () trackback ()  11:52:07 AM     From The Federalist: "It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters." -- Edmund Burke [End the War on Freedom] Unfortunately in a democracy they also forge fetters for the rest of us. comment () trackback ()  11:05:55 AM

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