Oil behind annihilation plan, warns ex-UN official Halliday; Perle frustrated by France
"Former UN official Denis Halliday warned in Baghdad today that the United States and Britain were ready to "annihilate" Iraqi society in order to control the country's oil wealth."

"Meanwhile US Pentagon adviser Richard Perle said today that France was seeking to undermine US leadership in the showdown with Iraq to protect its commercial interest in Iraqi oil. "The French have an attitude toward the United States, toward their role in Europe, toward the role of the United States in Europe in which they clearly want to diminish the significance, the importance, the leadership of the United States," Perle said."

There is undoubtedly a lot of truth in what Perle says, and the current Iraq crisis could be a watershed in transatlantic relations, an open breach marking the beginning of a long term and long-expected rivalry between the United States and United Europe. Perle also says, "the Germans have essentially put themselves out of this game by arguing, as the German chancellor did, that, even if the United Nations were to sanction a military action, Germany will have nothing to do with it. So the German chancellor should do us all a favour and stop talking about an issue that he has taken himself out of completely." However, here I think Perle misjudges. Schroeder through his consistent stand against war has instead put Germany into the debate in a significant way. Acting in conjunction with France and perhaps also Russia and China, Germany may be able to block UN support for the American war on Iraq; and succeed in placing the Bush Administration in an uncomfortable and possibly unsustainable position of contrareity with the UN Security Council, their own domestic population, and virtually the entire world.

Oil behind annihilation plan, warns ex-UN official Halliday; Perle frustrated by France
"Former UN official Denis Halliday warned in Baghdad today that the United States and Britain were ready to "annihilate" Iraqi society in order to control the country's oil wealth."

"Meanwhile US Pentagon adviser Richard Perle said today that France was seeking to undermine US leadership in the showdown with Iraq to protect its commercial interest in Iraqi oil. "The French have an attitude toward the United States, toward their role in Europe, toward the role of the United States in Europe in which they clearly want to diminish the significance, the importance, the leadership of the United States," Perle said."

There is undoubtedly a lot of truth in what Perle says, and the current Iraq crisis could be a watershed in transatlantic relations, an open breach marking the beginning of a long term and long-expected rivalry between the United States and United Europe. Perle also says, "the Germans have essentially put themselves out of this game by arguing, as the German chancellor did, that, even if the United Nations were to sanction a military action, Germany will have nothing to do with it. So the German chancellor should do us all a favour and stop talking about an issue that he has taken himself out of completely." However, here I think Perle misjudges. Schroeder through his consistent stand against war has instead put Germany into the debate in a significant way. Acting in conjunction with France and perhaps also Russia and China, Germany may be able to block UN support for the American war on Iraq; and succeed in placing the Bush Administration in an uncomfortable and possibly unsustainable position of contrareity with the UN Security Council, their own domestic population, and virtually the entire world.