What’s more important to Saddam Hussein? Getting the sanctions lifted so he can start making billions of dollars from his undeveloped oil reserves, or pissing around with some half-assed WMD program that gets him an Israeli nuke in his morning corn flakes? I think we know the answer. Saddam has been desperate to get the sanctions lifted so he can start making money. -- from Peter Lee on his Halcyon Days blog. Lee explains that Saddam was close to getting the sanctions lifted a year or two ago, which would have freed Iraq to do a lot of lucrative business with Russia, France, and others. The Bush war plan has largely scuttled that hope, and if it goes through will give ultimate control over Iraq's resources to Bush and Blair, not Saddam, Putin and Chirac. The stated reasons for war change daily; the real reason remains the same. Black gold, Texas tea--oil.