Greenspan's Claim Breaks Down 30 Seconds After You Look At A Map (TPM)

Greenspan Embarrassment Tour
09.17.07 -- 9:51PMBy Josh Marshall

Yep, I was wondering the same thing. Alan Greenspan's claim that Saddam was going to gain control of the Strait of Hormuz breaks down about 30 seconds after you look at a map. Why is no one else pointing this out?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/053397.php


Iraq was going to take over the straghts of Hormuz!?

....................

So Iraq has no port or border on the Strait. Saddam had no naval capability of consequence after the first Gulf War. He had no air force. On the ground, he would have had to fight his way through a legion of enemies to approach the Strait from either side, and plainly would have been crushed. The U.S. Navy is invincible in those waters.

At least one can see why the Fed has no statutorily delegated role in military matters.

Dr. Greenspan's book-promoting trip through the mainstream media is turning him into the Britney Spears of economists cum regulators: do he or she have any idea how they are perceived by others?

Yet, between these strange lines, Dr. Greenspan may be admitting that he assured the White House that the Fed would bolster the economy and the markets in the event that an invasion of Iraq led to another oil shock. If so, he would have contributed quite a great deal to the Administratin's comfort level in deciding to invade. Indeed, it may be that he extended the duration of his preternaturally low interest rate policy precisely to fulfill such a promise to the Administration. I merely speculate. But under this interpretation, his claim to having worried about the Strait of Hormuz would be, then, either a smokescreen or a particularly spurious recollection.

http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/coffeehouse/2007/sep/17/dr_greenspans_mysterious_media_tour

Seemed pretty clear he was speaking of "personal belief". But I too did wonder how such an educated man could make such a mistake :shrug:

MZr7

on edit: He also said because of this belief, that was why he said in the book the war was about Oil.

I wonder what Ayn Rand would think of such a craven display of ass-covering by the Maestro?

Ravi Batra's book Greenspan's Fraud

http://www.buzzflash.com/hartmann/05/07/har05007.html

shows us all what Greedspan's legacy will be: the destruction of the US democratic system in order to fawn to an elite few,

You can have great wealth or a democracy, but you cannot have both--Louis Brandeis

:evilgrin:

Thanks old rat jumping from sinking ship. Shut up an go away now.

We know, we know, You were SO against the Bush tax cuts. Oh look, shiny keys!