Thursday, May 08, 2003

Is United States foreign policy being run by followers of an obscure German Jewish political philosopher whose views were elitist, amoral and hostile to democratic government? Suddenly, political Washington is abuzz about Leo Strauss, who arrived in the US in 1938 and taught at several major universities before his death in 1973. Click here for the rest of the article.

On the second day of the invasion of Iraq, US commandos seized two Iraqi offshore oil terminals in the Persian Gulf, capturing their defenders without a fight. "Swooping silently out of the Persian Gulf night," exulted James Dao of the New York Times, Navy SEALs (sea-air-land specialists) claimed "a bloodless victory in the battle for Iraq's vast oil empire".
Dao's dramatic turn of phrase revealed more about the George W Bush administration's plans for Iraq than almost every other report from the battlefield. While US forces turned a blind eye to the looting of Iraq's archeological treasures, they moved quickly to gain control over oilfields, refineries, and pipelines. Even before Iraqi resistance had been squelched, top US officials were boasting that Iraq's oil infrastructure was safely in US hands.
Click here for the rest of the article.

Food for thought courtesy of the Political Correspondent.

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