From the Wall St Journal today:

"He [Greenspan] says he felt 'getting Saddam out of there was very important,'...because he was convinced the Iraq dictator wanted to control the Strait of Hormuz, through which a sizable portion of the world's oil passes...He conveyed that view to [Cheney and Rumsfeld]."

But see (from my atlas, which just made me shrug):

Strait of Hormuz

Through its waters, in giant ocean-going tankers, pass much of the oil from Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Bordered by Iran, Oman's Musandam Peninsula and the United Arab Emirates, this stretch of water is of obvious military significance, and subsequently, the U.S. Navy and others parole its waters.

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Greenspan says Iraq is "largely" about oil. The White House attacks him. But the President in "Dead Certain" identifies "energy... blackmail" as the key strategic concern in the region, and in addition to "a nuclear weapon" is the focus of "strategic thought." So, at least until the "nuclear weapon" is created, oil is "largely" the reason we are there.

Access to oil was also the reason for the first Iraq War. That was translated by James Baker into "jobs" but no one missed the point.

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