Think Progress

McCain implies U.S. invaded Iraq for oil.

During a townhall event in Denver today, John McCain made this eye-opening observation:

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.

Watch it:

[flv http://video.thinkprogress.org/2008/05/McCainIraqOil.320.240.flv]

The comments echo the words of former Fed Chief Alan Greenspan, who wrote that he is “saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.” Perhaps McCain truly is reading Greenspan’s book.



52 Responses to “McCain implies U.S. invaded Iraq for oil.”

  1. Crusty Old Bastard says:

    Not only is he old but he is slow. Most of us have known Daddy Bush and the Dick ordered King George the Dumb into Iraq. How else could they get $120 per barrel for stolen goods?


  2. jay_severin_has_a_small_pen1s says:

    I’m certainly interested in the details of his plan.


  3. Buckie Boy says:

    Well, DUH….Bush, oil failure guy, Cheney, oil criminal guy, what they heck do you think they did this? To get the terrorists? Not a chance, they could give a rats ass about OBL.


  4. jay_severin_has_a_small_pen1s says:

    Oh. And anyone who doesn’t think the oil industry, the cartels, and the Bush Administration/Republican Party aren’t manipulating the prices to maximize their profits before they are ousted from power, you is dumbs. Can’t be done? You make me laugh. Enron did it. This is actually easier than that.


  5. Bad Eye says:

    So that means that he’s going to let the terrorists run free?

    Wow…he really is trying to distance himself from Bush!


  6. JMOHR says:

    His plan is to have Hillary as president and let her obliterate the Middle East.


  7. Xisithrus says:

    Yes, we will attack Brazil instead of Iraq.

    Snark


  8. Xisithrus says:

    Wow, Joey Two Times has morphed into Jowley Three Times


  9. Arctic Ghetto says:

    It must have been nap, nap time when he spoke there. Over the clatter of parrot applause and incomplete sentences his aides must have been sending one thought in unison. “Shut up John. Nix, nix. Shh. No, don’t sat that.”


  10. Left Coast Mike says:

    jay_severin_has_a_small_pen1s Says:

    THE CATCH…You don’t get to know the plan until he is elected.


  11. McWars says:

    The nomination battle between Hillary and McCain needs to come to a head. Obama needs to know who’ll be his opponent!


  12. cavjam says:

    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

    FREE PONIES FOR EVERYONE!

    I don’t if many here remember Firesign Theater, but McSenile’s too trite opening reminds much of FT’s “Dear friends,….”


  13. galmud says:

    LOL McCain mentioned the unmentionable. He really needs Lieberman by his side at all times


  14. Keith says:

    The Project for the New American Century (PNAC) said we must control the Middle East because of the importance of OIL (but that it would take a New Pearl Harbor before the people would go along). The Pentagon’s Lily Pad Strategy said the same.


  15. Badmoodman says:

    “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…”

    - – Sounds like Josh Lyman’s assertion that President Jed Bartlet had a secret plan to fight inflation.


  16. stjack says:

    i’ve said it before, and i’ll say it again. if there’s a way — or, even if there’s not a legitimate way — to run someone other than mccain in november, that’s one of only two possible explanations for why mccain repeatedly says incredibly dumb things on the campaign trail. the other, of course, is that they’ve just given up.

    perhaps one more: they know the media’s going to go super easy on mccain until the dems figure out who their nominee’s gonna be.


  17. Badmoodman says:

    #11: The nomination battle between Hillary and McCain needs to come to a head.

    – - I’ve thought for some time now that one of them should name the other their VP choice.


  18. impeachcheneythenbush says:

    Funny…someone speaks the truth, which we’ve all known anyway. Of course, it wasn’t done intentionally, and it’s even more amusing to watch McCain’s spokespeople now backpedaling for him. Oh yes, and I understand that McCain talked to the press on his airplane after this townhall meeting, and said he was referring to the FIRST Gulf War. Hmmmm….I believe the American people were told that one was to “liberate Kuwait.” And of course, the real fear of Iran is NOT that they might get a nuclear weapon, but that they might be able to dominate that oil-rich region in the near future.


  19. impeachcheneythenbush says:

    Badmoodman Says:

    “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…”

    - – Sounds like Josh Lyman’s assertion that President Jed Bartlet had a secret plan to fight inflation.
    May 2nd, 2008 at 7:12 pm

    Or Nixon’s “secret plan” to end the Vietnam war.


  20. MCMetal says:

    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.

    Who is this “we” that will be talking about your ‘energy policy’ , McPorkBarrelSpending ?

    Jon Stewart , Stephen Colbert , Jay Leno , Dave Letterman , Conan O’Brien and Bill Maher ?


  21. Shayne says:

    that will prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East.

    McCrazy then pointed out that by “again” he meant after this 100 year occupation of Iraq.


  22. ralph the wonder llama says:

    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.

    But what if another rogue dictator possesses weapons of mass destruction and poses a grave and gathering threat to us? How would an energy policy prevent us from invading that Middle East country?

    Wasn’t that supposed to be why we went into Iraq? WMD?

    Am i missing something?


  23. rastaman says:

    I GUESS WE CAN TELL WHAT CHAPTER GRANDPA IS UP TO IN GREENSPAN’S BOOK

    KEEP READIN’ JOHNNY


  24. Tired Of Fighting says:

    Whats sad is that noone in the so-called media will question him on exactly what he means by that.

    RIP
    SGT Stephen R. Sherman
    C CO 1-5 IN (STRYKER)
    KIA 3 Feb 2005
    Mosul, Iraq


  25. tarazan says:

    The biggest lie that has been sold to the public is that American imported oil comes from Arab countries.
    America only import between 15%-20% of all its imported oil from Arab countries.
    There are other non Arab countries who provides US with the rest of imported oil like Venezuela,Nigeria,Norway and mnay others.Yet the media and politicians never explained that to the Americans. Saudi Arbaia only exports around 17% of US imported oil.
    OPEC organization has many member states that are not Arabic states.
    The media never mentioned other countries…giving the impression that only Arab countries export oil to America…which is not true.


  26. Brain From Planet Arous says:

    cavjam Says:I don’t if many here remember Firesign Theater, but McSenile’s too trite opening reminds much of FT’s “Dear friends,….”

    We’re bringing the war back home
    Where it ought to have been before!
    We’ll kill all the bees
    And spiders and flies
    And we wont play in iceboxes lying on their sides
    We’ll wash our hands after wee-wee.
    And if we’re a girl, before!
    And we’ll march,march,march, et cetera!
    ‘Til we never do march no more!
    (All together, now, boys!)
    We’re bringing the war back home
    Where it ought to have been before!
    The pretty donut girl on the corner
    Will be smilin’ with a wringer in her hair!
    We’ll wash our hands after wee-wee,
    And if we’re a girl before!
    And we’ll march, march, march, et cetera!
    ‘Till we don’t have to march no more
    (Hum along now…)
    We won’t have to March!
    We won’t have to March!
    We won’t have to March no more!


  27. Oval12345678 aka James K. Sayre says:

    Wars for oil. Oil for wars. Kind of an endless death-spiral, huh?


  28. Bad Eye says:

    ralph the wonder llama Says:

    Am i missing something?

    May 2nd, 2008 at 7:41 pm

    No you aren’t, my friend.


  29. DieNowForPeace says:

    McMidol, in a moment of clarity, admits the dirty secret.


  30. KayInMaine says:

    And to think McCrazy has known this all along but tells us anyways he’s okay with our soldiers dying today as long as 100 years from today they’re not.

    He’s an insane, verbally abusive, asshat.


  31. shoeless says:

    impeachcheneythenbush Says:

    …he was referring to the FIRST Gulf War.

    Oh, I thought he was talking about WWII, since that happened before he was senile.


  32. questioneverything says:

    What he should have said is we invaded Iraq to drive up oil prices and hand EXXON et. al the biggest PROFITS in human history. Profits–not income. Would he maybe have a lot of shares of EXXON in his portfolio? In wifie’s? It’s all about the money.


  33. abarts says:

    I find it hard to believe that any American doesn’t know this buy now.


  34. BlackbirdHighway says:

    I think we should have the troops wear the logo of Exxon and Chevron-Texaco while they are on duty in Iraq.


  35. americangoy says:

    Yeah, tell me another one.

    I guess we will bomb Iran for oil also, right?

    Right?

    Right?

    Suckers.


  36. jb says:

    When McCain speaks his words have semi-meaning…..There never seems to be a precise thought he is trying to convey, rather he utters a string of vague words that kind of, sort of, if you aren’t listening, mean something you might already be thinking. We don’t need another STUPID President.


  37. jb says:

    I doubt McCain even knows what it was he was trying to say….he just rattles on acting juvenile and senile at the same time.


  38. sectionop92 says:

    Hitler needed oil for his war machine and knifed Stalin in the back. Then he learned the cruel lesson that foiled Napolean…never try to cross Russia in winter. Then there was that little tiff in North Africa with tanks and all. We got M&M’s out of that. Oh, the Japanese needed oil too and Nimitz and McArthur systematically took that away from them. That was when China was our friend.

    Oil has a rich tradition that goes back to World War I. It is the key cog of military supremacy and victory.


  39. RUCerious says:

    Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
    McIIIrd strikes again.


  40. Marie says:

    Every time McCain speaks these days, he needs a clean up crew afterward.
    He accidentally spoke the truth and he has been backtracking it ever since.


  41. frantaylor says:

    “America only import between 15%-20% of all its imported oil from Arab countries.”

    It doesn’t matter where the oil comes from. It’s a global market. Think of a big tank, OPEC pours oil in the top, consuming countries pipe it out the bottom. The reason you can do this is that all the OPEC countries charge the same thing.

    Here’s yet another way to think about it: If we were to stop buying all our oil from the Arabs, we would have to buy it from someone else, and we would displace their existing customers, who would then in turn start buying from the Arabs.

    The upshot is that it really doesn’t matter who we buy it from. If the Arabs want to raise prices, our prices will rise even if we are not buying any oil from them.

    The best thing for the US is to get out of the business of buying oil from foreign countries. The fact is that we are destabilizing the world, no matter who we buy it from.


  42. sacopenapa says:

    The entire Bush Adiministration should be line up in front of a death squad! Executes for WAR CRIMES AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY!


  43. VA Voter says:

    OK, lets drill for our own oil.


  44. jay_severin_has_a_small_pen1s says:

    McCain:

    “I will have an energy policy that we will be talking about, which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East”

    Cars that run on Budweiser?


  45. barfly says:

    Kilo Says:

    I bet you tried to write something relevant here and, as always, this was all that came out.

    Relevant? Like:
    PS. I can’t imagine seeing only 38 “no” votes against a bill outlawing setting fire to the US flag using a puppy.
    Them’s some bipartisan numbers with no Bush administration in sight.

    Yup, relevant as hell.


  46. barfly says:

    VA Voter Says:

    OK, lets drill for our own oil.

    In Virginia


  47. clarkorwell says:

    Let’s get past oil so we don’t have a catastrophe like the Iraq War again.



  48. DallasNE says:

    Would it be good news or bad news to learn that McCain is reading Greenspan’s book? It sounds more like the blind leading the blind to me. What kind of bubble are they cooking up this time?


  49. TFamily says:

    This guy they brought in to defend McCain is clearly a liar. Pay attention to his behavior, his eyes, what he’s saying, and how he reacts to questions. He’s constantly trying to turn the tide of the atmosphere with a laugh, trying to press it down like its no big deal. Avoiding questions. The poker-faced smirks he accidentally lets out. It all adds up, everything adds up, everything is all connected in the larger scope of time. ‘Wake Up And Do Something America/This Is Still A Country of the People and For the People’ bid in 2008


  50. TFamily says:

    Oh, I’m referring to a different Hardball interview with Todd Howard.


  51. 241k says:

    I am just puzzled by Mccain’s statement while he was speaking in Denver. If he is devising a plan to lower our dependency on foreign oil, then why is he so concerned with the United States conserving the oil in Iraq. He states that his mission is to lessen our dependency on this oil in the Middle East, but the Golf War does not seem to be an issue these days, does it? Seemingly, there is something being hid from America, by America. So what exactly is your plan Mccain? To use foreign oil or not?



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