Dan is right as Mark Twain said something to the effect that we want to
get the facts straight so we can distort them properly.
    But perhaps Golda Meir made the most revealing comment when she pointed
out that Moses lead the childen of Israiel all over the Holy Land and
settled in the only place that didn't have any oil.
    Bottom line is unless something very extra-providential happens, Bush
II (Hulagu II) and his coterie of Joshua wannabees is going to get his
bloody war to save humanity and for those who really hate the USA and
Israel it will be  most advantageous to their cause as the only way we see
to drive a 4d finish nail is with a nine pound hammer. Sharon and Bush are
right on the heals of General William Booth with his "Big Base Drum". Your
new "Plutonium" credit card is just around the corner, shoppers.
For an alternative see  http://www.counterpunch.org/gordon02132003.html

Charles

----------
>From: Daniel Pearlman <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: laureates against the war
>Date: Fri, Feb 14, 2003, 1:18 AM
>

> Let's get the facts straight about the importance of Persian Gulf oil to
> the U.S., now and in the future.  Here are snippets from web-docs to which
> I give the URLs:
>
>   "The Middle East is still an important source of petroleum for the rest
> of the world and contrary to popular belief, the relative importance of the
> region as a source of supply is set to expand, not decline.  Saudi Arabia
> alone has 25% of the world's known oil reserves and Iraq 10%.
>
>   "It goes without saying that stability in the Middle East and continuity
> of oil supply at constant prices is right now an important strategic
> objective for the whole Western world - including the EU which is the
> word's 2nd largest oil and gas consumer.
>
>   "Supply and Demand 2001:
> While the United States imports 55.47% of its daily petroleum consumption,
> only 28% comes from OPEC countries and only 14.03% from the Middle East
> Gulf States."
> -- http://www.eurolegal.org/usmideast3.htm#INTRO
>
> The above figures are contradicted by another report:
>
> "During 2001, about 48 percent of U.S. crude oil imports came from the
> Western Hemisphere (19 percent from South America, 15 percent from Mexico,
> and 14 percent from Canada), while 30 percent came from the Persian Gulf
> region (18 percent from Saudi Arabia, 9 percent from Iraq, and 3 percent
> from Kuwait).
> http://www.cis.state.mi.us/mpsc/reports/energy/02summer/oilimports.htm
>
> But forget current percentages of imports.  Ask, rather: Is the U.S. really
> going to be less dependent on Middle Eastern oil in the future?  Read this
> beginning of a recent article in the NY Times:
>
> "Growing US Need for Oil From
> the Mideast Is Forecast
> By Jeff Gerth
> New York Times
> December 26, 2002
>
> "As President Bush seeks to reduce American reliance on oil imported from
> the Persian Gulf, new government studies predict that in two decades the
> West will be even more dependent on oil from Saudi Arabia and other Middle
> Eastern producers. ...
>
> Late last month, the Department of Energy's Energy Information
> Administration forecast that in 2025 the majority — 51 percent — of world
> oil production would come from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
> Countries. About two-thirds of OPEC production, in turn, emanates from the
> Persian Gulf. The Energy Information Administration, or E.I.A., says OPEC
> now produces 38 percent of the world's oil.
>
> The information administration projects that Saudi Arabia will need to
> produce 22 million barrels a day by 2020 to meet increased world demand,
> far in excess of its current production of about 8 million barrels. "We're
> going to rely more and more on the Middle East markets for oil," said Fatih
> Birol, the chief economist for the Paris-based International Energy Agency,
> or I.E.A. The group's recent World Energy Outlook, which estimates energy
> markets through 2030, mirrors the forecast of the American energy agency."
> http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/oil/2002/1226need.htm
>
> ==Dan
>
>
>
>>U.S. oil comes from Venezuela, Mexico, & Nigeria, not the mideast.
>>European oil comes from the Mideast. Japanese oil comes from the
>>mideast. Some place in the Cantos there is a line or two about someone
>>scrabbling through the soil of Persia looking for oil. (Iraqi & Arabian
>>oil came much later.) Pound was touching there on one of the major
>>sources of World War I.
>>
>>The outcome of the Iraqi War will be U.S. control of the lifeblood of
>>the EU and Japan. We could be seeing the opening stages of a replay of
>>sorts of World War I. The U.S. & England against Europe -- with the
>>other players (India, China, Japan, Russia) to line up on either side
>>depending on future events.
>>
>>This is the _only_ "rational" reason for this war. The official claims
>>are pure nonsense, and no war being needed for _access_ to oil, but only
>>for _control_ of oil which the U.S. does not itself need.
>>
>>Carrol