<p class="MsoNormal">The US net petroleum imports for 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and
2006 amounted to 4208, 4476, 4811, 5055, and 4968 million barrels per year, and
2454 million barrels from January through June of 2007.<span style=""> </span>Over the same period of time the Iraqi contributions were 168, 176, 240, 194, and 202 million barrels per year, and 86
million barrels from January through June of 2007.<span style=""> </span>(<a href="http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_impcus_a2_nus_ep00_im0_mbbl_m.htm">http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_impcus_a2_nus_ep00_im0_mbbl_m.htm
</a>).<span style=""> </span>This constitutes 4%, 3.9%, 5%, 3.9 % 4.1% and
3.5% of our total oil imports.<span style=""> </span>A case for
going to war if I've ever seen one. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The current cost of the war is around $455 billion give or
take, and if we were to defray this cost by levying an excise tax on Iraqi oil
imports from 2003 to the present, it would amount to around $507 a barrel.<span style=""> </span>Assuming oil imports remain steady over a 10
year period this would be about $51 a barrel, and over 25 years, a little more
than $20 a barrel.<span style=""> </span>How can anyone
possibly justify paying an excise tax of $20 per barrel for 25 years simply to ensure
a cheap supply of oil from Iraq?<span style="">
</span>Ludicrous!<span style=""> </span>War for oil – total nonsense.<span style=""> </span>War for Israel – the real fulcrum of the
Iraqi conflict.<span style=""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"The United States is strongly committed, and I am strongly
committed, to the security of Israel as a vibrant Jewish state. . . By
defending the freedom and prosperity and security of Israel, (we are) also
serving the cause of America." <span style=""> </span>(President Bush: <span style=""> </span>address to the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee, Washington DC, May 18, 2004).</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We have paid a high price in dollars, international prestige
and in the lives of our soldiers for the interests of a foreign state, and we
will continue to do so until the Jewish-Zionist hold on US political life is
finally broken.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> GS</p>
<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 9/17/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Ted Moffett</b> <<a href="mailto:starbliss@gmail.com">starbliss@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div> </div>
<div>Mark et. al.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Greenspan is obviously speaking more
"freely" regarding his opinions about the Iraq war, than he
was before retiring as chairman of the Federal Reserve.
He has even recently spoken critically regarding some aspects of the
Bush Administration's economic policies. But Krugman's
dismay at Greenspan's "silence" (my wording, not
Krugman's) regarding aspects of the Bush Administration's
economic policies while they were being implemented when he was
Fed. Reserve Chairman, also applies to his silence regarding the
invasion of Iraq before the invasion.
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Nonetheless, I am pleased Greenspan is now speaking out on the
rationale for the invasion of Iraq. His voice helps to reinforce
the astonishingly disturbing conclusion that appears inescapable:
that the rationale for invading Iraq that was sold to the American
public was based on deception.
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Of course this silence, and thus complicity, with the invasion of
Iraq, regarding those who did not engage in aggressive public
critical scrutiny of the Bush Administration rationale for invading
Iraq, applies across the board: the US Congress, the US
media, and most of the American public.
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>The media especially failed in it's role as one of the
pillars of our Democratic system. The media, the Fourth
Estate, as it is called, with the other three pillars of our Democratic
system being the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of
government, served often as cheerleaders for the invasion. The
media's role as the Fourth Estate obligates it to expose
government lies or deceptions of the public about
critical issues; and invading another
nation, thus taking the US to war, must rate as one of
the most profound and important decisions.
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>However, many in the media at the time of the Iraq invasion had
valid worries about their careers being in jeopardy if they appeared in
the least bit "unpatriotic." Thus their failure in some cases to
be responsible journalists fulfilling their critical role in the Fourth
Estate. And many journalists fell prey to the blinding effects of
fear and group think patriotism. They did not deliberately remain
silent. They really believed the invasion was the correct action
based on what they were being told by the Bush administration.
</div><span class="sg">
<div> </div>
<div>Ted Moffett</div></span><div><span class="e" id="q_115159c11d044c5d_2">
<div> <br><br> </div>
<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 9/17/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Mark Solomon</b> <<a href="mailto:msolomon@moscow.com" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">msolomon@moscow.com</a>
> wrote:</span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div>
<div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2170661,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">Paul
Krugman, University of Chicago economist and NYTimes columnist has a
scathing piece on Greenspan and his revisionist history of his
involvement with the Bush tax cuts.
</a></div>
<div><br> </div>
<div>m.</div>
<div><br> </div>
<div><font color="#666666" size="-1"><b>OPINION</b></font> <font color="#000000" size="-1"> | September 17, 2007</font><br><a href="http://select.nytimes.com/2007/09/17/opinion/17krugman.html?ex=1190692800&en=d32c2835aba6487a&ei=5070&emc=eta1" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
<b><span></span>Op-Ed Columnist: Sad Alan's Lament</b><br><font color="#000000" size="-1">By PAUL KRUGMAN</font></a></div>
<div><font color="#000000">If Alan Greenspan wasn't intending to lend
crucial support to the Bush tax cuts, he had ample opportunity to set
the record straight when it could have made a difference.</font></div>
<div><span>
<div><br> </div>
<div><br><br> </div>
<blockquote type="cite"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2170661,00.html?gusrc=rss&" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2170661,00.html?gusrc=rss&
</a><span></span>feed=12</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite"> </blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite">...Mr Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve
chairman, said in an interview with the Guardian that the invasion of
Iraq was aimed at protecting Middle East oil reserves: "I thought the
issue of weapons of mass destruction as the excuse was utterly beside
the point."
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite"> </blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite">In the book Mr Greenspan writes: "Whatever
their publicised angst over Saddam Hussain's 'weapons of mass
destruction', American and British authorities were also concerned
about violence in the area that harbours a resource indispensable for
the functioning of the world economy. I am saddened that it is
politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq
war is largely about oil."
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite">-----------</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite">Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett</blockquote>
<div><br> </div></span></div></div></blockquote></div><br>
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