CANBERRA, Australia, July 5, 2007
Australia PM: We're Not In Iraq For Oil
John Howard Insists Oil Has Nothing To Do With Country's Involvement In Iraq
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Australian Prime Minister John Howard denies any connection between Iraq's oil and his country's role in the war. (AP Photo/Tracey Nearmy)
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Interactive Iraq: 4 Years Later The conflict wears on as the nation struggles to rebuild.
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Defense Minister Brendan Nelson's inclusion of global energy security as a reason for keeping troops in Iraq is likely to add weight to war protesters' arguments that the 2003 U.S.-led invasion was more an oil grab than a bid to uncover Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, which proved to be nonexistent.
Howard responded with media interviews Thursday in which he denied any connection between Iraq's oil and the invasion and ongoing occupation four years later.
"We are not there because of oil and we didn't go there because of oil," Howard told Sydney Radio 2GB.
"A lot of oil comes from the Middle East — we all know that — but the reason we remain there is that we want to give the people of Iraq a possibility of embracing democracy," he added.
Earlier Nelson, who became defense minister in January last year, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio that the foremost reason behind Australia's decision to remain in Iraq was "to make sure a humanitarian crisis does not develop between Sunnis and Shiites and driven by al Qaeda if we were to leave prematurely."
He said other reasons — which the government has previously stated — included supporting a key ally, the United States, ensuring stability in the Middle East and defeating terrorism.
The Middle East, including Iraq, "is an important supplier of energy, oil in particular, to the rest of the world, and Australians ... need to think what would happen if there were a premature withdrawal from Iraq," he told ABC.
In a speech on Australia's current and future security threats, Howard highlighted diminishing oil supplies as a danger to global peace.
Howard, a close ally in U.S. President George W. Bush's war on terror, sent 2,000 troops to support U.S. and British forces in the Iraq invasion.
Australia maintains 1,000 troops in Iraq supported by 600 air force and navy personnel in the region.
The opposition Labor Party, which opposed the war, has pledged to remove most of Australia's troops from Iraq if it wins elections due late this year.
Labor defense spokesman Robert McClelland accused the government of shifting from its denial that oil was a motivation for the war.
"It's taken them four years to acknowledge that fact," McClelland said.
Defense analyst Hugh White said oil was an underlying reason for the coalition's involvement in Iraq, but Nelson had erred by raising it as the government searches for new reasons to stay in Iraq.
"In the kind of washing machine of different arguments that they've been tossing around, the oil one has come to the surface, so to speak, accidentally," White, of the Lowy Institute international policy think-tank, told ABC.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 28 Commentssomeone should ask the PM why this was decided upon, without ever asking the Iraqis if they wanted Democracy or if they wanted to die for it. You don't "give" people something that is forced on them and can cost them their lives. this is **********************************.
The lies that led us to wage wars...for oil...and related articles on the left column.
Also;
http://johnmccarthy90066.tripod.com/id472.html
The horrors of 911 to justify the preemptive attack on a sovereign nation who did not attack us; the ultimate war crime, Crimes Against Peace.
Pull your moronic head in, you drongo!
In case you are an American the term drongo is Australian for imbecile.
ROTFLMFAO!!!!!!
Is this clown really so fu*cking ignorant as to think anyone would believe this old bullsh*it? He's gone beyond idiot and moved into the realm of buffoon, just like Georgie has!
LYING DEVIL.
He just needs the horns; he already has the appearance of a devil. LOL
it is fascist nazi terrorislam stupid%u2026.
And Iraq's big oil contracts go to ...
Companies from China, India and other Asian nations are seen getting the first contracts. But don't write off Big Oil just yet.
http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/05/news/international/iraq_oil/index.htm
thank you demonic-rats%u2026
New Video From Al Qaeda Number Two
"You must be patient and steadfast," he says. "Rejoice, for victory is near, with Allah's permission, and the herds of crusaders have begun to split up and their sole concern has become searching for a way out."
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/07/new-video-from-.html
London court jails 'cyber-jihadis' for online terror
Three "cyber-jihadis" who used the Internet to urge Muslims to wage holy war on non-believers were jailed for between six-and-a-half and 10 years Thursday in the first case of its kind in Britain.
Sentencing them, Judge Charles Openshaw said the men had engaged in "cyber jihad", encouraging others to kill "kuffars" or non-believers.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070705142313.zr9n5g5g&show_article=1
45 Muslim doctors planned US terror raids
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/05/nterror405.xml
NOT ABOUT OIL?
Why then, are we pushing the Iraqi government to sign a deal giving us the lions share of their oil revenues for the next 30 years?
Every other reason that we invaded Iraq has turned out to be a lie. No WMD, no 9/11 or Al Qaeda link, no peaceful Democracy in the middle east.
When they have to say it's not about the oil, it's about the oil.
Why then, are we pushing the Iraqi government to sign a deal giving us the lions share of their oil revenues for the next 30 years?
Every other reason that we invaded Iraq has turned out to be a lie. No WMD, no 9/11 or Al Qaeda link, no peaceful Democracy in the middle east.
When they have to say it's not about the oil, it's about the oil.
Posted by micma at 02:52 PM : Jul 05, 2007
non muslims of the world unite... fight against the tyranny of the fascist nazi terrorslam imperialist empire of the darkside...
it is fascist nazi terrorislam stupid%u2026.
And Iraq's big oil contracts go to ...
Companies from China, India and other Asian nations are seen getting the first contracts. But don't write off Big Oil just yet.
http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/05/ne
ws/international/iraq_oil/index.htm
CBS Newz,
Re: "Australia PM: We're Not In Iraq For Oil"
How is this news? This Australian arse-licker, Howard, has been saying this all along.
Isn't the real story, that "Defense Minister Brendan Nelson's (cited) global energy security as a reason for keeping troops in Iraq"?
Isn't this Defense Minister only staing the obvious anyway? Why minimize his acknowledgement in this way?
NOT ABOUT OIL?
Why then, are we pushing the Iraqi government to sign a deal giving us the lions share of their oil revenues for the next 30 years?
Every other reason that we invaded Iraq has turned out to be a lie. No WMD, no 9/11 or Al Qaeda link, no peaceful Democracy in the middle east.
When they have to say it's not about the oil, it's about the oil.
Every other reason that we invaded Iraq has turned out to be a lie. No WMD, no 9/11 or Al Qaeda link, no peaceful Democracy in the middle east.
When they have to say it's not about the oil, it's about the oil.
Posted by micma at 02:31 PM : Jul 05, 2007
non muslims of the world unite... fight against the tyranny of the fascist nazi terrorslam imperialist empire of the darkside...
it is fascist nazi terrorislam stupid%u2026.
And Iraq's big oil contracts go to ...
Companies from China, India and other Asian nations are seen getting the first contracts. But don't write off Big Oil just yet.
http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/05/news/international/iraq_oil/index.htm
Why then, are we pushing the Iraqi government to sign a deal giving us the lions share of their oil revenues for the next 30 years?
Every other reason that we invaded Iraq has turned out to be a lie. No WMD, no 9/11 or Al Qaeda link, no peaceful Democracy in the middle east.
When they have to say it's not about the oil, it's about the oil.
I was a fanatic...I know their thinking, says former radical Islamist
By blaming the Government for our actions, those who pushed this "Blair's bombs" line did our propaganda work for us.
More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: Islamic theology.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=465570&in_page_id=1770
Bless the Beasts and Children
Fascist nazi terrorslam kills every man woman and child in the village again%u2026 typical mo for terrorslam%u2026
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/bless-the-beasts-and-children.htm
thank you demonic-rats%u2026
New Video From Al Qaeda Number Two
"You must be patient and steadfast," he says. "Rejoice, for victory is near, with Allah's permission, and the herds of crusaders have begun to split up and their sole concern has become searching for a way out."
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/07/new-video-from-.html
Sentencing them, Judge Charles Openshaw said the men had engaged in "cyber jihad", encouraging others to kill "kuffars" or non-believers.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070705142313.zr9n5g5g&show_article=1
45 Muslim doctors planned US terror raids
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/05/nterror405.xml
and the check is in the mail
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