McCain in 1992: Christianity and Oil Drive US Wars in Middle East

Posted on 10/07/2008 by Juan

From “Larry King Live,” August 3, 1992: McCain gave two reasons for US military involvement in the Middle East. We are a “Judeo-Christian nation” [so it really is a Crusade?] and “as long as the world’s energy resources come from that part of the world . . .”

‘ [Larry] KING: Quickly – El Paso. We’re running out of time. Go ahead.

10th CALLER: [El Paso, Texas] Yes, Jim Hagan [?], and my question is, why should we start with the assumption that the United States should send any force into Iraq or Yugoslavia, when the Western European nations, the Arabs, have more wealth, more manpower, the Russians-

KING: All right, John, quickly, tell us why we do help them?

Sen. [John] McCAIN: Very quickly, Jim, that’s one of the reasons why we have not gone into Bosnia-Hercegovina, because of that very reason. And the Europeans should lead; although, over time, we may be forced, as a Judeo-Christian nation, to intervene. But in the Middle East, my friend, as long as the world’s oil resources come from that area of the world, we have to be vitally involved.”

0 Retweet 0 Share 1 StumbleUpon 0 Printer Friendly Send via email

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off | Print

Comments are closed.

  • Juan Cole

    Juan Cole

    Welcome to Informed Comment, where I do my best to provide an independent and informed perspective on Middle Eastern and American politics.

    Informed Comment is made possible by your support. If you value the information and essays, I make available and write here, please take a moment to contribute what you can.

  • IC Destinations



  • Keep up with Informed Comment at:

  • Donate to Global Americana Institute

    Donate to the Global Americana Institute to support the translation into Arabic of books about America.
  • Friends and Interlocutors:

  • Recent Posts

  • Recent Comments

  • Archives

  • Categories