IT’S ALL ABOUT OIL, PART 2….A couple of posts down I talked about John Herrington’s LA Times op-ed in which he suggests, essentially, that we should take control of Iraqi oil for the next century and sell it back to ourselves at reasonable prices. I asked, hoping I was wrong, “Did someone in the Bush administration get him to send this idea up the flagpole to see what kind of reaction it gets?”
I was hoping Herrington’s view was just an isolated instance of overactive conservative looniness, but apparently not. A few minutes ago I got an email from a correspondent I trust who said that he recently had dinner with a relative who’s an energy economist and does some government consulting:
He gave me the impression that something along these lines is under serious consideration in some quarters in the government. He was all for it, but doesn’t think it’s going to happen because, according to him, American oil producers like OPEC which restrains Gulf producers from engaging in vigorous price competition with domestic suppliers.
At any rate, I don’t think your fears are misplaced.
So the main thing keeping the Cheney crowd from following Herrington’s prescription is that the domestic oil guys don’t want competition from cheap Iraqi oil? That makes me feel better….
