US plan to invade for oil: secret memo : "The United States seriously considered sending airborne troops to seize oilfields in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi during the 1973 Arab oil embargo, according to a top-secret British intelligence memorandum released yesterday."

"The document, titled Middle East - Possible Use of Force by the United States, said that, if faced with deteriorating conditions such as a breakdown of the ceasefire between Arab and Israeli forces following the October 1973 Yom Kippur War or an intensification of the embargo, "we believe the American preference would be for a rapid operation conducted by themselves" to seize the oilfields... Seizure of the oilfields, the memo said, was "the possibility uppermost in American thinking . . . reflected, we believe, in their contingency planning"... it suggested two brigades would be needed for the initial force, one for the Saudi operation, one for Kuwait and possibly a third for Abu Dhabi."

No doubt the 'humanitarian motives', ie the desire to liberate people and establish democracy, were uppermost in the minds of the planners.

US plan to invade for oil: secret memo : "The United States seriously considered sending airborne troops to seize oilfields in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi during the 1973 Arab oil embargo, according to a top-secret British intelligence memorandum released yesterday."

"The document, titled Middle East - Possible Use of Force by the United States, said that, if faced with deteriorating conditions such as a breakdown of the ceasefire between Arab and Israeli forces following the October 1973 Yom Kippur War or an intensification of the embargo, "we believe the American preference would be for a rapid operation conducted by themselves" to seize the oilfields... Seizure of the oilfields, the memo said, was "the possibility uppermost in American thinking . . . reflected, we believe, in their contingency planning"... it suggested two brigades would be needed for the initial force, one for the Saudi operation, one for Kuwait and possibly a third for Abu Dhabi."

No doubt the 'humanitarian motives', ie the desire to liberate people and establish democracy, were uppermost in the minds of the planners.