by Glenn Frankel
LONDON, Dec. 31 -- The United States gave serious consideration to sending
airborne troops to seize oil fields in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi
during the 1973 Arab oil embargo, according to a top-secret British
intelligence memorandum released Wednesday night.
The document, titled "Middle East -- Possible Use of Force by the United
States," says that if there were deteriorating conditions such as a
breakdown of the cease-fire between Arab and Israeli forces following the
October 1973 Middle East war or an intensification of the embargo, "we
believe the American preference would be for a rapid operation conducted by
themselves" to seize the oil fields.
It cites a warning from Defense Secretary James R. Schlesinger to the
British ambassador in Washington, Lord Cromer, that the United States would
not tolerate threats from "under-developed, under-populated" countries . . .
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Eric Margolis, "Did the U.S. Go to War
for Oil?," The Wisdom Fund, April 27, 2001
Eric Margolis, "The Lust for Blood and
Oil," The Wisdom Fund, March 10, 2002
Enver Masud, "A Clash Between Justice and
Greed Not Islam and the West ," The Wisdom Fund, September 5, 2002
Robert Dreyfuss, "The Thirty-Year
Itch," Mother Jones, March 1, 2003
Edward Said, "A Window on the
World," Guardian, August 2, 2003