An anti-
war slogan used before and during the
Gulf War in the early
1990s. It was widely believed by
peace protestors that
America's
campaign against
Iraq had less to do with the latter nation's
invasion of
Kuwait and more to do with a
desire to keep oil flowing freely to the
United States (and to American oil companies). Hence, "No
blood for
oil": "Do not wage war on the behalf of
wealthy oil companies."
The slogan saw some increased use in 2002 and 2003 as President
George W. Bush (the son of the
George Bush who was
president during the first Gulf War) tried to build support for an invasion of Iraq. Though Bush claimed that Iraq supports
terrorism, many in the
peace movement continued to believe that Bush was actually hoping to give America complete
control of the Iraqi
oil fields.
Okay, that was the (mostly)
objective part of the writeup; now for the totally
subjective opinion. I really, really don't like hearing protestors chant the "No blood for oil" thing in 2003, because I think it's a completely
ineffective and
factually
incorrect slogan. See, if America wanted tons of Iraqi oil, they could
bribe Saddam Hussein a certain amount of
money and promise to leave him alone, and he'd be more than happy to let some American oil companies take over most of the oil fields. Hey, what's the guy want? Money and the right to
torture his people as much as he wants. You think he gives a flying fuck about who's running the
oil derricks? And you think the Bush administration cares beans about what happens to the
Iraqi people? Dude, it's not like they're
white, is it? So, no, as long as it would be
cheaper to pay off Saddam than wage a
Middle Eastern war, oil is not the
motive. Not that I'm expecting the peace protestors to catch on; as far as I'm concerned, the only thing
dumber than a peace protestor is a
sports reporter.
Personally, I'd prefer that the protestors chanted "
No blood for politics," because I think the drumbeating for war is more a
political strategy than anything else --
popular wars (and be assured that militarily-
strong USA vs. militarily-
puny Iraq would be plenty
popular) are always good for the party in power. And if the protestors wanted to get really
insulting, they could go with "
No blood for Daddy" to imply that the war was about avenging George Sr.'s honor.
Personal
anecdote: I was in
college during the first Gulf War. I didn't like the idea of the war, but I didn't go to any of the
protests -- too many
Baby Boomers reliving their
glory days. But the kid who lived next door to me in the
dorm was a big
hawk and even worse, reminded me too much of myself in
high school. So I made a point of
muttering "No blood for oil" every time I passed him in the hallway. He didn't seem to
care -- wrong slogan, I guess. They say it's important to "
know your enemy," so after noting a few of his more
prudish tendencies, I switched to a new slogan: "
Make love, not war."
Never had anyone glare at me with such a perfect combination of
fury and
offended horror in all my life.