"If they turn on the radars we're going to blow up their goddamn SAMs (surface-to-air missiles). They know we own their country. We own their airspace. We dictate the way they live and talk. And that's what's great about America right now. It's a good thing, especially when there's a lot of oil out there we need."
[Interview Washington Post, 30 Aug 1999, quoting U.S. Brig. General William Looney re: 10,000 sorties by American/British war planes in Iraq in first eight months of 1999]
A lot of oil
- Details
India, Pakistan - we made some quite serious mistakes...We were complacent with what happened in Kashmir, the boundaries weren't published until two days after independence. Bad story for us, the consequences are still there... [In Afghanistan] we played less than a glorious role over a century and a half... The odd lines for Iraq's borders were drawn by Brits... The Balfour declaration and the contradictory assurances which were being given to Palestinians in private at the same time as they were being given to the Israelis - again an interesting story for us but not an entirely honourable one.
