“No blood for oil”

“No blood for oil” was popularized as a protest chant during the Persian Gulf War/Operation Desert Storm (August 2, 1990-February 28, 1991). The anti-war slogan was also used in the Iraq War/Operation Iraqi Freedom (begun on March 20, 2003).
 
“No blood for oil” pre-dates the two conflicts in Iraq. When France sold Mirage jets to Libya in 1970, French President Georges Pompidou was protested in the United States with the sign “Don’t Trade Jewish Blood For Oil.” When U.S. President Jimmy Carter sold jets to Saudi Arabia and to Egypt in 1977, this was protested with “Don’t sell blood for oil” signs.
 
In 1980, the United States required young men to register with the Selective Service System. “No blood for oil” was used in July 1980 to protest this draft registration.
     
 
Wikipedia: Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War (August 2, 1990 – February 28, 1991), commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from thirty-four nations led by the United States, against Iraq.
 
This war has also been referred to (by the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein) as the Mother of All Battles, and is commonly, though mistakenly, known as Operation Desert Storm for the operational name of the military response, the First Gulf War, Gulf War I, or the Iraq War, before the term became identified with the 2003-2010 Iraq War.

The invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi troops that began 2 August 1990 was met with international condemnation, and brought immediate economic sanctions against Iraq by members of the UN Security Council. U.S. President George H. W. Bush deployed American forces to Saudi Arabia, and urged other countries to send their own forces to the scene. An array of nations joined the Coalition. The great majority of the military forces in the coalition were from the United States, with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and Egypt as leading contributors, in that order. Around US$36 billion of the US$60 billion cost was paid by Saudi Arabia.
 
The initial conflict to expel Iraqi troops from Kuwait began with an aerial bombardment on 17 January 1991. This was followed by a ground assault on 23 February. This was a decisive victory for the coalition forces, who liberated Kuwait and advanced into Iraqi territory. The coalition ceased their advance, and declared a cease-fire 100 hours after the ground campaign started. Aerial and ground combat was confined to Iraq, Kuwait, and areas on the border of Saudi Arabia. However, Iraq launched Scud missiles against coalition military targets in Saudi Arabia and against Israel.
 
Wikipedia: Iraq War
The Iraq War or War in Iraq, also referred to as the Second Gulf War or Operation Iraqi Freedom,  was a military campaign that began on March 20, 2003, with the invasion of Iraq by a multinational force led by troops from the United States under the administration of President George W. Bush and the United Kingdom under Prime Minister Tony Blair.
   
27 February 1970, Trenton (NJ) Evening Times, “SF Jeers, Cheers For Pompidou,” pg. 5:
SAN FRANCISCO (UPI)—French President Georges Pompidou arrived in the “Paris of the West” last night amid a mixture of jeers and cheers from about 600 demonstrators parading outside his hotel.
(...)
The pickets marched in an orderly fashion behind a roped-off area across the street from Pompidou’s hotel. They carried signs reading: “Is France’s Honor A Mirage?”, “What Would Emile Zola Say?”, and “Don’t Trade Jewish Blood For Oil.”
(...)
Earlier in the day, a crowd of about 500 persons gathered outside Pompidou’s hotel to protest the sale of French Mirage jet fighters to the Arab nation of Libya.
   
13 January 1977, Middletown (NY) Times Herald Record, “Israelis try to storm embassy in protest of Arab’s release,” pg. 16, cols. 1-3:
TEL AVIV, Israel (UPI)—Hundreds of fist-shaking Israelis chanting “Giscard assassin” hurled rotten tomatoes and eggs at the French Embassy Wednesday to protest France’s release of the suspected mastermind of the Munich Olympics massacre.
(...)
Hana Romano, widow of a weightlifter slain in the attack against Munich’s Olympic Village in 1972, said the French government “sold blood for oil.”
 
12 June 1977, Seattle (WA) Daily Times, “‘Don’t trade my blood for oil,’ says Iranian” by Mike Wyne, pg. A17, col. 1:
Ali Shokri, 24, former Iranian air-force sergeant facing deportation from the United States, told a human-rights meeting here last week he faces torture and death if he returns to Iran.
 
“Don’t…trade my blood for Iranian oil and (good international) relations,” Shokri said. “I am a human being.”
 
Google News Archive
18 May 1978, Meriden (CT) Morning Record and Journal, “Jewish Americans stage White House jet protest,” pg. 25, cols. 1-2:
WASHINGTON (UPI)—Several hundred Jewish Americans, including seven who chained themselves briefly to the fence, demonstrated in front of the White House Wednesday to protest President Carter’s decision to sell jets to Saudi Arabia and Egypt as well as to Israel.
(...)
At the Capitol earlier, the demonstrators cheered and waved signs saying “don’t sell blood for oil,” as Moynihan, Sen. Lowell Weicker, R-Conn., and Reps. Bill Green, R-N.Y., and Robert Drinan, D-Mass., criticized the warplane sales approved by the Senate Monday.
 
20 July 1980, Oregonian (Portland, OR), “Marchers rap draft sign-up” by Steve Jenning, pg. C7, cols. 1-2:
Speakers said registration was the first step in the calculated fomenting of “war hysteria,” culminating in sending U.S. troops abroad to ensure U.S. petroleum interests in the Middle East. “No blood for oil,” the crowd chanted.
 
Google News Archive
6 January 1981, Anchorage (AK) Daily News, “Peaceful protest marks draft registration” by Robert Andrews (The Associated Press), pg. A4, cols. 2-3:
A half-doen pickets carried signs reading “No Blood For Oil” and “Don’t Sign Your Life Away” outside the main post office in San Francisco.
   
Google News Archive
21 January 1990, Ocala (FL) Star-Banner, “Environmental concerns take back burner to war” by Lucy Beebe, pg. 1A, col. 4:
Ramsdell said the need for a national emergency policy is the meaning behind signs carried in recent days saying, “No blood for oil.”
 
22 August 1990, Los Angeles (CA) Times, “Activists Find Peace a Hard Sell Protest: The ambiguities of the U.S.-Iraq crisis have left anti-war protesters confused” by Garry Abrams, pg. E1:
The theme of the demonstration was “No Blood for Oil,” she said.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
No blood for oil : the case against the war : answers to workers’ questions
Author: Rob Sewell
Publisher: [London] : Produced by Militant Publications, [1991]
Edition/Format:  Book : English : 1st ed