And Here We Are…
By Huh. I wonder why the United States didn’t invade Libya for its oil at some point between 1991 and 2003. I also kinda wonder why, if we’re invading Libya for its oil, the war isn’t already over. The interests of Britain, France, and the United States don’t exactly coincide where oil drilling and oil concessions are concerned, which makes it odd that one of the three hasn’t stepped up to finish the job, and presumably to ensure the access of domestic oil investors. Finally, I’m mildly curious why we haven’t yet invaded Venezuela; as we know, “the U.S. has long made clear that it will not tolerate hostile or disobedient rulers in countries where it believes it has vital interests, and that’s particularly true in oil rich nations (which is one reason for the American obsession with Iran).” While I remain deeply skeptical about both the decision to intervene in Libya and the course that intervention has taken, I suppose you can count me as someone– somewhere– who doubts that oil is the driving consideration for US involvement in Libya.
I look forward to Glenn explaining why this rhetorical question: “Is there anyone — anywhere — who actually believes that these aren’t the driving considerations in why we’re waging this war in Libya?” and this statement: “That’s not to say that Gaddafi’s “resource nationalism” is the only or even overriding motive for the war in Libya,” aren’t contradictory; the first clearly implies that anyone who believes that oil isn’t the driving consideration for why we’re waging war in Libya is a dupe, while the second allows that oil may not be the only, or even overriding, motive for the war in Libya. It would have been nice if Glenn had made more clear what a radical retreat his “Update”, which reads in part “It’s just hard to believe that any rational person would believe that the war in Libya is unrelated to the fact that Gaddafi has been increasingly obstructionist in allowing Western oil companies access to that nation’s oil and that Libya is so rich in oil,” is from his initial post, which is explicit in claiming that the United States, Britain, and France have launched a war for oil.