U.S. Mulled Seizing Gulf Oil Fields in '73

(Washington Post) The U.S. gave serious consideration to sending airborne troops to seize oil fields in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Abu Dhabi during the 1973 Arab oil embargo, according to a top-secret British intelligence memorandum released Wednesday. The British document - one of hundreds released by Britain's National Archives in an annual disclosure of government papers that are 30 years old - assesses as unworkable such options as replacement of Arab rulers with "more amenable" leaders or assembling a show of force. Instead, it describes an airborne military operation as the most feasible alternative, although "a move of last resort."


2004-06-01 00:00:00

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