<P> One report by BBC journalist Gregory Palast citing unnamed "insiders" alleged that the U.S. "called for the sell - off of all of Iraq's oil fields" and planned for a coup d'état in Iraq long before September 11 . It was also alleged by the BBC's Greg Palast that the "new plan was crafted by neo-conservatives intent on using Iraq's oil to destroy the OPEC cartel through massive increases in production above OPEC quotas", but in reality Iraq oil production decreased following the Iraq War . </P> <P> Speaking at the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law in 2008, Chuck Hagel, the former United States Secretary of Defense, defended Greenspan's comments: "People say we're not fighting for oil . Of course we are ." General John Abizaid, CENTCOM commander from 2003 until 2007, said of the Iraq war during a round table discussion at Stanford University in 2008, "Of course it's about oil, it's very much about oil and we can't really deny that ." </P> <P> Many critics have focused upon administration officials' past relationship with energy sector corporations . Both the President and Vice President were formerly CEOs of oil and oil - related companies such as Arbusto, Harken Energy, Spectrum 7, and Halliburton . Before the 2003 invasion of Iraq and even before the War on Terror, the administration had prompted anxiety over whether the private sector ties of cabinet members (including National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, former director of Chevron, and Commerce Secretary Donald Evans, former head of Tom Brown Inc .) would affect their judgment on energy policy . </P> <P> News outlets in mid-2000 - 2002 carried articles about Saddam's efforts to sell oil on markets exclusively in Euros . This may have been viewed as a push to influence other OPEC states to challenge the reserve currency status in oil trading of the USD . This may have been an unacceptable outcome in the global economy with respect to the flow of petrodollars throughout the region . </P>

What was the reason for the iraq war 2003