Admiral Dennis Blair: "We Sent Troops to Middle East…Because of Oil-Based Importance of Region"

onMar 26, 2014 @ 11:54 PDT

At the just-completed U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing titled, “The Geopolitical Potential of the U.S. Energy Boom,” Admiral Dennis Blair — former Director of National Intelligence, President and CEO of Institute for Defense Analyses and Commander in Chief of U.S. Pacific Command — admitted what’s still considered conspiratorial to some.

Put tersely: the U.S. and allied forces launched the ongoing occupation in Iraq and occupy large swaths of the Middle East to secure the flow of oil to the U.S. and its global allies, explained Blair.

Blair began his analysis lasting just over a minute after a line of questioning (beginning at 1:02:56 in the video below) coming from U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) about TransCanada’s Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, “energy as an instrument of geopolitical power” and geopolitical tensions in Venezuela.

By Steve Horn

Steve Horn is the owner of the consultancy Horn Communications & Research Services, which provides public relations, content writing, and investigative research work products to a wide range of nonprofit and for-profit clients across the world. He is an investigative reporter on the climate beat for over a decade and former Research Fellow for DeSmog.

‘Get Rid of MAHA’: Trump Alliance Cracks as Climate Denialists Turn on RFK Jr.’s Movement

ByRachel Santarsiero

onApr 17, 2026 @ 06:54 PDT

At the Heartland Institute’s annual climate conference, fossil fuel allies warn MAHA’s push on regulating chemicals and plastics could threaten the oil industry — exposing a growing rift inside Trump’s base.

uk/Sri Lankan ‘Grifters’ Pumping Out AI ‘Energy Policy Rage Bait’ on UK Facebook Feeds

ByJoey Grostern

onApr 17, 2026 @ 03:49 PDT

Experts say mass-produced AI misinformation is the “new Cambridge Analytica scandal”.

Series: Tech vs. Climate

Series: Tech vs Climate

Canadian Media Platforms Atlas Network Groups Pushing Fossil Fuels in Response to Iran War

ByTaylor Noakes

onApr 15, 2026 @ 12:06 PDT

The think tank representatives are making variations of a similar argument: Trump’s illegal military incursions serve as an opportunity for Canada to expand oil and gas infrastructure.