2004-07-10

War In Iraq: Biggest Conspiracy Theory Since Gulf Of Tonkin Incident

The Senate Intelligence Committe of the U.S. Senate has revealed in its report that the CIA published the biggest conspiracy theory of our times – giving the U.S. Congress and the American public the impression that Saddam Hussein had chemical and biological weapons and was developing nuclear arms, that he was plotting to give such weapons to terrorists, and that he was an imminent threat.

This is not the biggest of all time. To get the U.S. involved in the Vietnam war, the then U.S. President Johnson published a conspiracy theory – that North Vietnamese torpedo boats launched an “unprovoked attack” against a U.S. destroyer on “routine patrol” in the Tonkin Gulf on Aug. 2 – and that North Vietnamese PT boats followed up with a “deliberate attack” on a pair of U.S. ships two days later. The Vietnam war lead to the loss of millions of lives in Indo-China.

So, why do American presidents publish these conspiracy theories? War helps business. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, American armament factories were faced with permanent ruin. With terrorism, they have a chance. Look at how much business that the war in Iraq and Afghanistan has provided for Bechtel and Halliburton. And American economy runs on oil. Except Iraq, no other OPEC country has untapped oil reserves. So, it made perfect sense to go where the moolah was.

In both incidents the American Congress and their media were made to look like fools. In the recent incident, some conveniently placed packets of anthrax powder helped the Bush administration gain the crucial but unquestioning support of lawmakers and the media. Any American who opposed the Bush administration was called names and doubts were expressed on their loyalty to America. Supporting the President was the litmust test that determined who was patriotic and who was not.

French, Russian, Chinese and other oil companies have established oil links with Saddam, in the expectation of cashing in once UN sanctions are over. But many are severing those links and cosying up to the Iraqi National Congress. They will have heard CIA director James Woolsey say last autumn, “France and Russia… should be told that if they are of assistance in moving Iraq toward decent government, we’ll do the best we can to ensure that the new government and American companies work closely with them.”

New Scientist (29 January 2003)