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Oil is the trouble of course; detestable stuff. Gertrude Bell, cited Letters from Baghdad, BBC 2017
The war economy of the Third Reich: if Hitler’s oil reserves could be destroyed, the War could be shortened by many months. American bomber chiefs had fixed on oil as a vital strategic target. They believed oil was the key to victory over Adolf Hitler and his allies. Secrets of World War II e24: Destroying Hitler’s Oil, National Geographic 1998
In June 1941 Hitler turned east against the Soviet Union. At a stroke Germany’s oil tap was turned off. ibid.
German aircraft were also deployed in Romania ... For Hitler Romania’s most important asset was its oil. ibid.
By December 1944 there was just enough oil for Hitler to launch an offensive in the Arden. ibid.
The progressive destruction of Germany’s oil resources had definitely under-ridden the Allied victory. ibid.
By the late 1860s Cornelius Vanderbilt was the richest and most powerful man in the United States. The Men Who Built America II: Oil Strike, History 2012
John D Rockefeller would turn American business upside down. Rockefeller had got the rate he was looking for. But in return he’d agreed to provide Vanderbilt with over sixty train wagons full of oil every day. ibid.
Rockefeller realised that oil had the potential to change the world, and make him rich in the process. ibid.
With the railroads in his pocket, Rockefeller could supply every home in America with Standard Oil Kerosene. ibid.
He [Rockefeller] wanted to own every refinery in the country. ibid.
If Rockefeller could build a pipeline long enough he’d be able to cut the railroads out of the oil business for good. ibid.
Rockefeller had created the largest corporate empire in America. ibid.
The age of oil was dawning. The Men Who Built America III: A Rivalry is Born
Oil will power the twentieth century and build a modern world. Some call it Black Gold. America: The Story of the US: Boom, History 2010
Another important element that contributes to the recurring need for America to extend its reach beyond the national borders is definitely oil. PSTV.tv – The New American Century
The need for foreign oil has been rising dramatically for the United States over the past thirty years. ibid.
Strategic Assessment 1999: Priorities for a Turbulent World: US policy document reveals willingness of US military to wage international war for oil. Empire of Oil: The Hidden History of 9/11
The oil crisis was the single decisive moment of the 1970s. It was the tipping point, the catalyst that changed everything. Dominic Sandbrook, The 70s: Doomwatch 73-74, BBC 2012
The Middle East had erupted as Israel’s Arab neighbours launched a stunning surprise attack ... The Arab oil nations announced an eye-watering price rise of 70%. ibid.
George W had a string of oil companies which failed to find much oil but somehow managed to make him a millionaire. Greg Palast, Bush Family Fortunes, 2004
Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, George Bush senior were all in business together. We’re talking about business partners in oil companies. You know what we’re talking about here? We’re talking about big money. We’re talking about high treason. Crimes against the state. High treason against America. High treason. Jordan Maxwell
Bush’s company Zapata Petroleum hit it big in 1954. George H W Bush I, PBS 2018
The scramble to carve up Iraqi’s oil reserves lies behind US diplomacy ... The Bush administration, intimately entwined with the global oil industry, is keen to pounce on Iraq’s massive oil reserves, the second biggest in the world after Saudi Arabia. The Observer
(a) to ensure free access for Britain and other Western countries to oil produced in States bordering the Gulf; (b) to ensure the continued availability of that oil on favourable terms and for sterling; and to maintain suitable arrangements for the investment of the surplus revenues of Kuwait; (c) to bar the spread of Communism and pseudo-Communism in the area and subsequently beyond; and, as a pre-condition of this, to defend the area against the brand of Arab nationalism under cover of which the Soviet Government at present prefers to advance. Selwyn Lloyd, foreign secretary, telegram to prime minister
Western oil companies moved in [East Timor Gulf] to start exploring and lifting oil … About fifteen of them who were stealing Timorese oil while the atrocities continue and the terror continues and the torture continues and the silence continues. Noam Chomsky, lecture BMFA 18th February 1993
Iraq was selected; it met the required conditions. The first condition is it was understood that is was completely defenceless. You don’t attack a country if it can defend itself. Secondly, it was important because it has the second largest oil reserves in the world. And it’s right at the heart of the main oil producing region of the world. Noam Chomsky, interview The Oil Factor: Behind the War on Terror
More generally, the September 11 terrorist atrocities provided an opportunity and pretext to implement longstanding plans to take control of Iraq’s immense oil wealth, a central component of the Persian Gulf resources that the State Department, in 1945, described as ‘a stupendous source of strategic power, and one of the greatest material prizes in world history’ (referring specifically to Saudi Arabia, but the intent is more general). US intelligence predicts that these will be of even greater significance in the years ahead. Noam Chomsky, A Modest Proposal 3rd December 2002
By curious accident of history and geography, the world’s major energy resources are located pretty much in Shiite regions. They’re a minority in the Middle East, but they happen to be where the oil is, right around the northern part of the Gulf. Noam Chomsky
In the Middle East the major concern was (and remains) the incomparable energy reserves of the region, primarily in the Arabian peninsula. These were to be incorporated within the US-dominated system. Noam Chomsky, Deterring Democracy p53
The United States did not then need Middle East oil for itself. Rather, the goal was to dominate the world system, ensuring that others would not strike an independent course. ibid.
The Nixon Doctrine had established Iran under the Shah and Israel as the ‘cops on the beat’ in the region. ibid.
Few issues in world affairs are so important as control of the world’s energy system – or so threatening to world peace. As long as it was possible, the ‘Soviet threat’ was brandished to justify US actions to ensure its dominance over Middle East oil. ibid.