John McCain slipped up and strongly implied that the Iraq invasion was at least partly in defense of a secure oil supply for the West:
My friends, I will have an energy policy that we will be talking about, which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East that will – that will then prevent us – that will prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East.
This, of course, is what Alan Greenspan argued not so long ago. The trouble is – while oil does make the region much more important for the West than, say the Congo – that was not the reason given nor the subsequent rationale provided for a pre-emptive war against Saddam. And so people have every reason to suspect some sleight of hand. We’re there for oil? We’re there for up to 100 years?
McCain’s not showing the kind of game a national candidate needs. Another reason the Clintons are hanging in.
