Blood-for-Oil Allegation Leads a News Story from Iraq

The lead sentence of Timothy Williams' report from Baghdad: "More than six and a half years after the United States-led invasion here that many believed was about oil..."

On Tuesday, reporter Timothy Williams led his story from Baghdad, "Now With Foothold in Iraq, Oil Companies Look to the Future" with a "blood for oil" accusation the hard left has been making for years, couched as something that supposedly "many believed."

More than six and a half years after the United States-led invasion here that many believed was about oil, the major oil companies are finally gaining access to Iraq's petroleum reserves. But they are doing so at far less advantageous terms than they once envisioned.


One could also accurately say that "many believe" President Obama is not a U.S. citizen, but that doesn't make it true, and the Times has roundly condemned both the people who make the claim and Republicans who have failed to join in the condemnation. Yet left-wing conspiracies are casually portrayed as something that "many believe."