From the Dept. of "all you people who said it was about oil are moonbat conspiracy theorists" comes this from that other ultra-secretive administration of the last 30 years.

Petrochemical Crisis from Another Time

Documents Show U.S. Considered Using Force During Oil Embargo

By LIZETTE ALVAREZ

LONDON, Jan. 1 — The United States government seriously contemplated using military force to seize oil fields in the Middle East during the Arab oil embargo of 30 years ago, according to a declassified British government document made public today.

The top-secret document reveals that the United States government, under President Richard M. Nixon, was prepared to act more aggressively than previously thought to secure America's oil supply, if tensions between Israel and its Arab neighbors continued to escalate after the October 1973 Mideast war or the oil embargo did not abate. In fact, the embargo did peter out, by March 1974.

If this "dark scenario" played out, the British memorandum continued, the United States would consider launching airborne troops to seize oil fields in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi. The use of military force would be a measure of "last resort," the document said.

Defense Secretary James R. Schlesinger delivered the warning to the British Ambassador in Washington, Lord Cromer, the documents show. Lord Cromer quoted Mr. Schlesinger as saying "it was no longer obvious to him that the United States could not use force."

The seizure of the oil fields was "the possibility uppermost in American thinking when they refer to the use of force," said the intelligence memorandum. This "has been reflected, we believe, in their contingency planning."

The potential for conflict was taken so seriously by British intelligence that it wrote a report assessing the situation and listing the likeliest scenarios for the use of force and their consequences. The report, dated Dec. 12, 1973, was titled "U.K. Eyes Alpha" and was sent to Prime Minister Edward Heath, a Conservative, by Percy Cradock, head of Britain's Joint Intelligence Committee. But a few months later, in March 1974, the embargo petered out.

The memorandum was one of hundreds of documents released by Britain's National Archives under a law that makes government papers public after 30 years. Details of the declassified document were reported in today's issue of The Washington Post.

The exchange between Mr. Schlesinger and Lord Cromer came on the heels of the three-week war between Israel and Egypt and Syria in October 1973. Arab members of OPEC imposed the oil embargo to try to pressure the United States and other Western nations to force Israel to withdraw from Arab land.

The oil embargo lasted almost half a year. It led to sharp increases in the price of fuel and long lines at gasoline stations, and prompted Washington to question its reliance on Arab oil in a region long known for its instability and insularity.

As recounted by Lord Cromer, Mr. Schlesinger said the United States was unwilling to abide threats by "under-developed, under-populated" countries.

The documents did not rule out the possibility that Washington would consider pre-emptive strikes if Arab governments, "elated by the success of the oil weapon," began issuing greater demands. "The U.S. government might consider that it could not tolerate a situation in which the U.S. and its allies were in effect at the mercy of a small group of unreasonable countries."

As outlined, military action would be relatively straightforward; two brigades were seen as needed to seize the Saudi oil fields and one each for Kuwait and Abu Dhabi. In the case of Abu Dhabi, the Americans would perhaps ask for British military cooperation.

The greatest threat would arise in Kuwait, "where the Iraqis, with Soviet backing, might be tempted to intervene," the document stated.

The British warned in their assessment that any occupation of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi might have to last as long as 10 years. The use of force would also anger and alienate Arab countries and irritate the Soviet Union, although a military confrontation with the country would be unlikely, the document stipulated.

Discontent among Western allies was also cited as a possible consequence of military intervention. "Since the United States would probably claim to be acting for the benefit of the West as a whole and would expect the full support of allies, deep U.S.-European rifts could ensue," it said.

The oil embargo fizzled in March 1974 and Israel and Egypt later went on to sign a peace agreement.

A separate document, also just released, illustrated Mr. Heath's profound anger toward President Nixon, when Mr. Nixon failed to inform him he was putting United States forces on a global nuclear alert during the war in the Middle East.

Mr. Heath went so far as to suggest that Mr. Nixon was attempting to deflect attention away from Watergate. "An American president in the Watergate position apparently prepared to go to such lengths at a moment's notice without consultation with his allies," Mr. Heath wrote in the document, adding that there was no "military justification" for it at the time.

The alert was ordered after Soviet leader Leonid I. Brezhnev warned that he might send Soviet forces into the Middle East after Israeli forces crossed the Suez Canal. The Israelis eventually pulled out. NYT Link

I wonder what sort of actual dialogue took place outside of earshot during this affair. Oh, to be a fly on a wall.

Nah, the U.S. would never consider using military force if 'our' strategic interests were at stake. Never.