Some Republicans Admit War is for OIL

On the House floor Tuesday while debating the president's energy bill, senior Republicans openly admitted that the war in Iraq is about oil. Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the nation needed to pass massive tax cuts for oil companies "instead of constantly fighting over battlefields to defend other people's energy supplies that we depend upon." Similarly, Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX) said, "When we look at this [energy] bill, we need to call upon ourselves and ask ourselves what probably is the major duty of a Member of Congress. It is probably to prevent a war. And how do you prevent wars? You prevent wars by removing the cause of wars... Lack of energy causes wars ." He said, "George Bush's father sent 450,000 kids to a desert; that was a battle for energy [to] keep them from getting a bad man's, Saddam Hussein, foot, on half the known energy resources in the world." [more]