Iraq has become an 'al-Qa'eda battleground'

[nichomach]

Hmmmm..."convicted in absentia" always has an unhappy ring to it, though; fair enough, he was convicted in 1977 - although absent an effective defence and given the somewhat...abrupt...nature of Jordanian legal processes I wouldn't necessarily place overly much reliance upon the correctness of the verdict.

edit: That said, it looks rather like a Barings situation gone very badly wrong; massive bad loans to other members of the Chalabi family network and overstatement of the bank's assets by $200m - ouch! From what I can gather, it came to light when Jordan required all banks there to deposit 30% of their assets with the Central Bank to prop up the currency and Petra were unable to comply.

Fair enough.

[DaBeeeenster]

Hmmmm..."convicted in absentia" always has an unhappy ring to it, though; fair enough, he was convicted in 1977 - although absent an effective defence and given the somewhat...abrupt...nature of Jordanian legal processes I wouldn't necessarily place overly much reliance upon the correctness of the verdict.

Agreed. Having said that, based on his actions leading up to and consequently after the invasion of Iraq, I'd probably trust him as far as I could throw John Prescott.

[nichomach]

That far?

[Blub2k]

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...101290781/pg_5

"A further, remarkable development was Kuwait's theft of oil from Rumaila field by slant-drilling (drilling at an angle, instead of straight down) near the border. (The Rumaila field lies almost entirely inside Iraq.) Given that Kuwait is itself oil-rich, the theft of Iraq's oil appears a deliberate provocation. It is worth keeping in mind that not only did Iraq have specific border disputes with Kuwait but had also, from time to time, advanced a claim to the whole of Kuwait. In this light it is difficult to imagine that small, lightly armed Kuwait would have carried out such provocative acts as slant-drilling the territory of well-armed Iraq without a go-ahead from the United States."

http://www.suu.edu/faculty/laundra/c.../washnbagd.doc

"A Desperate Saddam Falls for a Trick: The actual events leading up to the Gulf War have been carefully kept from the American public; even today they will shock some readers. In 1990, desperate to pay off big debts from his colossally stupid war with Iraq, Saddam was angered to find that Kuwait had increased its oil production 40%, in part by angle-drilling into oil fields situated beneath Iraq. Soon enough, this additional production drove down prices, significantly decreasing Iraq's oil revenues. Since debts were owed to Kuwait, Saddwn's simplistic solution to this problem was to invade. (A "unilateral, preemptive regime change," in today's lingo.)"

There are two sources on the angle-drilling story

http://www.google.ie/search?q=angle+...e+Search&meta=
here ist the google search I used.

Not a lot of people know that.
Draw your own conclusions.

[DaBeeeenster]

That far?

Hehe. No, maybe not. Maybe as far as I could throw Nigel Lawson.

[nichomach]

Fair do's, Blub - hadn't actually run across the story before, looks like there's something to it. Calling the invasion of Kuwait "simplistic" is a little mild though...

[Blub2k]

Just shows how well the real reason for the Iraq war in the first instance was brushed under the carpet, reason for the second invasion was Saddams attempt to get OPEC to drop dollars as their trading currency for oil in favour of euros( pre-edit was dollars ..ooops ) , hmm strange how Germany and France were against the invasion.

[nichomach]

TBH, I think there's rarely a single reason for the actions of a state - as I noted above, I think that there can be a confluence of circumstances, as in receiving intelligence upon which you choose to place greater weight because it would require action which conforms to what your pre-existing inclination is.

[Blub2k]

Ok not the reason specifically but it was definitely a major motivator as you say there is a confluence of circumstances, but it was defending the security of the US, that is the financial security as if OPEC had switched to Euro the dollar was sunk completely.

[Clingy]

....Weak argument Clingy....horrible oversimplification ...not to thinking people.

You have a persuasive style .