A statement issued by the US National Security Council in 1999 states that the USA will continue to have a vital interest in ensuring access to foreign oil supplies. We must continue to be mindful of the need for regional stability and security in key producing areas to ensure access to and free flow of resources such as oil and gas. One does not have to be a rocket scientist to deduce that this is not just about oil or about Saddam Hussein but about a geopolitical necessity in the Middle East. It is a multi-faceted agenda on the part of the USA and western Europe, and the western world in general, in which we are all involved. Eighty per cent of known petroleum reserves are contained between the Persian Gulf, the Caspian Sea and the South China Sea. Everybody from the monkeys in the South China Sea to the dogs in Baghdad knows that this war is about ensuring the free flow of resources from this region. Afghanistan is now part of this US security policy, as is Iraq. Leverage will also be allowed towards Iran in the near future, allowing access to the Caspian Sea.