Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Mandela accuses the United States of using the Iraq war as a cover to seize oil, suggesting the real motive is resource extraction rather than disarming weapons.
In plain terms
He claims the US war in Iraq was driven by oil interests.
What can you take from it?
Question official narratives about war motives.

Where it applies

  • media analysis
  • policy debate
  • academic research

Putting it to work

  • cross‑check sources
  • examine economic incentives

Questions to consider

  • What evidence supports or refutes this claim?
  • How do resource interests shape foreign interventions?

Another view

The statement mixes factual criticism with unverified conspiracy elements.

More from Nelson Mandela

  1. I really wanted to retire and rest and spend more time with my children, my grandchildren and of course with my wife. But the problems are such that for anybod…

    Permalink to quote #86
  2. Bush is now undermining the United Nations. He is acting outside it, not withstanding the fact that the United Nations was the idea of President Roosevelt and …

    Permalink to quote #88
  3. There is one compromise and one only, and that is the United Nations. If the United States and Britain go to the United Nations and the United Nations says we …

    Permalink to quote #85

Related quotes

  1. Now let me be clear: I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power.…

    Barack ObamaBarack Obama quote #2
  2. There are those who propose that both sides remove all their forces from Germany. That's a silly idea. The Germans hate us; we couldn't think of removing our f…

    Vasily ChuikovVasily Chuikov quote #2
  3. The reality is that we are hated not because of our democracy, freedoms, and generous social security system; rather, we are hated because of our involvement i…

    Amir ButlerAmir Butler quote #2