US ready to seize Gulf oil in 1973

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Thu, 01 Jan 2004 12:42:28 +0000
From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell () newcastle ac uk>
Subject: US ready to seize Gulf oil in 1973
X-Sender: nbr () popin newcastle ac uk
To: dave () farber net

From the BBC today (following release of thirty-year old files to the (UK) 
National Archives:

US ready to seize Gulf oil in 1973
by Paul Reynolds
BBC News Online world affairs correspondent

Oilfields: Essential to world economy

The United States considered using force to seize oilfields in the Middle 
East during an oil embargo by Arab states in 1973, according to British 
government documents just made public.

The papers, released under the 30-year-rule, show that the British 
government took the threat so seriously that it drew up a detailed 
assessment of what the Americans might do.

It was thought that US airborne troops would seize the oil installations in 
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and might even ask the British to do the same in 
Abu Dhabi.

The episode shows how the security of oil supplies is always at the 
forefront of governments' planning

Full story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3333995.stm

Happy New Year

Brian

--
School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell () ncl ac uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232  URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/

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