8.5.3        British Economic Interests

(This is an archived extract from the book Patterns of Power: Edition 2)

The economic costs and benefits for Britain were similar in nature to those for America (8.4.3), but on a smaller scale.  The British government had had discussions with the oil companies prior to the invasion.[1] 

© PatternsofPower.org, 2014



[1] The Independent published an article entitled Secret memos expose link between oil firms and invasion of Iraq, in which it quoted the minutes of meetings between the British Foreign Office and the oil companies five months before the invasion.  These minutes have been made available under the Freedom of Information Act.  The article was published on 19 April 2011 and was available in April 2014 at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/secret-memos-expose-link-between-oil-firms-and-invasion-of-iraq-2269610.html.