No Appeasement for Oil! -

No Appeasement for Oil! - Blogger Mike Campbell calls it right: the drive to war isn't about oil. The drive to appease - especially on the part of the French - is:

It seems like France will do anything to secure its Iraqi oil contracts. Relishing in its anachronistic role as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, France is threatening to veto allied military action to disarm the Iraqi dictator. Said French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, "If war is the only way to resolve this problem, we are going down a dead end. Already we know for a fact that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs are being largely blocked, even frozen. We must do everything possible to strengthen this process.

The United Nations, he said, should stay "on the path of cooperation. The other choice is to move forward out of impatience over a situation in Iraq to move towards military intervention. We believe that today nothing justifies envisaging military action."

The French would trade long-term danger for short-term security of their oil supply - in the hope that "something" will mitigate the danger before it's really, er, dangerous.

Posted by Mitch at January 22, 2003 05:49 PM