Elements of Truth in 'Syriana'

Friday, December 23, 2005

In lamenting the "cynicism of 'Syriana,' " Richard Cohen said that President Bush and the neoconservatives who decided to invade Iraq "did not give a damn for oil or empire" ["Hollywood's Crude Cliches," Dec. 13].

But in their Jan. 26, 1998, letter to President Clinton urging military action in Iraq, the neoconservatives, including Paul D. Wolfowitz and Donald H. Rumsfeld, wrote: "It hardly needs to be added that if Saddam [Hussein] does acquire the capability to deliver weapons of mass destruction, as he is almost certain to do if we continue along the present course, the safety of American troops in the region, of our friends and allies like Israel and the moderate Arab states, and a significant portion of the world's supply of oil will all be put at hazard."

It is ridiculous to suggest that any major Middle East policy decision of the past 90 years hasn't been driven at least partly by concern over access to that region's vital oil supplies.

STEVE SHEPHERD

Millersville

Richard Cohen considered the plot of "Syriana" -- a CIA assassination and the overthrow of a Middle Eastern ruler to ensure access to oil -- laughable because such actions would be unlawful. He said the CIA would never engage in such actions.

However, the CIA has either overthrown or helped to overthrow (with tacit presidential approval) at least six legitimate governments since World War II, including those in Guatemala, Iran and Chile. This was documented by the Senate's 1975 investigation of the CIA.

Although the CIA, understandably, does not publicize the reasons for its actions, U.S. business interests, including the oil industry, have frequently benefited. The CIA's overthrow of the Iranian government in the 1950s, in which the shah was reinstalled as ruler, is considered by historians to have been at least partly based on the desire to retain access to Middle Eastern oil -- the plot line of "Syriana," that Mr. Cohen criticized as cartoonish.

PHILLIP BOYER

Takoma Park

"Syriana" does point out some potential truths: how it is possible for people in power, no matter what their motives, to ignore or suppress information collected by agents in the field when it does not conform to their agenda. How young men separated from family, with no job and no hope for the future, can be lured by the religious schools or radical Islam to turn to terrorism. How family and other rivalries of Middle Easterners can be exploited by unscrupulous people and governments to attain their own ends. And how difficult and improbable it is for us to change the Middle East to conform to our preferred image of democracy.

SHIRLEY J. LYTLE

Falls Church