The President’s Lecture Series presents “Iraq and the Politics of Oil: An Insider’s Perspective”

Gary Vogler, a 1973 graduate of West Point Military Academy, joined Mobil Oil Corporation and later ExxonMobil after serving in the army. He left ExxonMobil in early 2002 and worked at the Pentagon seven months later. Vogler went into Iraq with the initial U.S. military elements as a civilian oil advisor and helped lead the efforts to restore the Iraq’s oil industry after the second Gulf War. Vogler will discuss the restoration activities over the many years of his involvement on the ground in Iraq. He will lay out numerous facts that over time led him to a conclusion about the real agenda which has never been voiced by our government leaders and had nothing to do with a threat posed by Saddam or the interests of the United States. Why did we go to war ? It’s been obvious for a long time that there were no weapons of mass destruction. That was all a smokescreen. It wasn’t to enrich major oil companies; fortunately, Vogler and others in key roles on the ground would have walked away if they sensed anything along those lines.

Free to public. Reception to follow, sponsored by the Shepherd University Foundation.