Slippery Business Why America Attacked Iraq

Abstract

It is argued that American leaders and their British counterparts responded to the situation in Iraq as a broad foreign policy problem, not as a simple opportunity to seize oilfields. Nevertheless, the future of the global oil supply undoubtedly looms large in their policy considerations. The importance of petroleum to modern society requires little elaboration, and although experts disagree about how much remains available for extraction, the amount is finite. Demand, meanwhile, continues to increase, particularly in countries with emerging industrial economies and growing populations. US planners are undoubtedly susceptible to self-interest, but events challenge the argument that they are committed to a grand scheme to bring Iraq's oil under direct American control.