Alan Greenspan says Iraq invasion motivated by oil

(This article should be of interest..... By the way, the oil we are dying for is killing our planet. Have a happy day.)

By Jeannine Aversa
September 17, 2007 06:40am

FORMER Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, in his new book, says the US went to war in Iraq motivated largely by oil.

Mr Greenspan said: "I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil."

His book also criticises US President George W. Bush for not responsibly handling the nation's spending and racking up big budget deficits.

A self-described "libertarian Republican," Mr Greenspan takes his own party to task for forsaking conservative principles that favour small government.

"My biggest frustration remained the president's unwillingness to wield his veto against out-of-control spending," Mr Greenspan wrote.

Mr Bush took office in 2001, the last time the Government produced a budget surplus.

Every year after that, the Government has been in the red. In 2004, the deficit swelled to a record $US413 billion ($A493.75 billion).

"The Republicans in Congress lost their way," Mr Greenspan wrote. "They swapped principle for power. They ended up with neither. They deserved to lose."

In 2006, voters put Democrats in charge of Congress for the first time in a dozen years.

Mr Greenspan's memoir, The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World, is scheduled for release today. The book is a recollection of his life and his time as Fed chief.

Mr Greenspan, 81, ran the Fed for 18 1/2 years and was the second-longest serving chief. He served under four presidents, starting with his initial nomination by former President Ronald Reagan.

He says he began to write the book on February 1, 2006, the day his successor - Ben Bernanke -- took over.

The ex-Fed chief writes that he laments the loss of fiscal discipline.

"Deficits don't matter," to my chagrin, became part of Republicans' rhetoric."

Mr Greenspan long has argued that persistent budget deficits pose a danger to the economy over the long run.

Large projected surpluses were the basis for Mr Bush's $US1.35 trillion ($A1.61 trillion), 10-year tax cut approved in the summer of 2001.

Budget experts projected the Government would run a whopping $US5.6 trillion ($A6.69 trillion) worth of surpluses over the subsequent decade after the cuts.

Those surpluses, the basis for Mr Bush's campaign promises of a tax cut, never materialised.