TOM MURPHY: I agree with you that - or is this what you're saying that, is it economic reasons ...
NOAM CHOMSKY: Strategic reasons. I mean, economic and strategic, which are impossible to distinguish. But since the
Second World War, I'll quote the State Department, the Middle East oil producing regions have been regarded, I'll quote the
words, "a stupendous source of strategic power." George Kennan, State Department, head of the planning section said control,
not access, control over the Middle East oil gives us "veto power" over what our rivals might do, other industrial powers.
You control the spigot, have your hand on the spigot, you have a lot of world control. It's not even access to oil. The first,
roughly, 30 years after the Second World War, the U.S. was - North America was the major oil producer. It wasn't using Middle
East oil, never the less we had to keep an iron hand of control on Middle East oil and if the U.S. were to go to solar energy,
they'd still want to control Middle East oil because that's a lever of world control. Everyone understands it but we're not
allowed to think about it.
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