The overthrow of Saddam was the longstanding pet idea of the neoconservative Project for a New American Century, which was already arguing in the 1990’s that Saddam was likely to achieve a stranglehold over “a significant proportion of the world’s oil supplies.” Vice President Dick Cheney reiterated these fears in the run-up to the Iraq War, claiming that Saddam Hussein was building a massive arsenal of weapons of mass destruction to “take control of a great portion of the world’s energy supplies.”
推翻萨达姆是新保守主义的新美国世纪计划长久以来的执念，早在上世纪90年代他们就坚持认为萨达姆很可能会压制“全球很大一部分石油供应”。副总统迪克·切尼在酝酿伊拉克战争时多次表示这样的担心，宣称萨达姆·侯赛因为了“控制全球很大一部分能源供应”，在制造大量大规模杀伤性武器。