How strong is the case the war was chiefly about oil?

[JackNewtown]

Is it strong enough to convince the average American who is loath to believe the state is anything but angelic in foreign affairs? I personally believe oil was the chief motivate for war but we need a "smoking gun" to convince Joe Sixpack of this. If we can do that, the Republicans would be discredited for a generation.

[whistle]

1. You mean the Iraq war, it was ALL about oil and strategic positioning to

...dominate oil in the middle east and south middle Asia

[Arkansas Granny]

2. Absolutely. It had nothing to do with WMD's. They were just the

excuse they used to justify their actions. If they had truly been concerned about WMD's, they would have allowed the UN weapons inspectors to complete their mission.

[Warpy]

3. Well, yes and no

Mostly it was about establishing permanent, large bases in the area to control the tap in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Bahrain, and all the smaller principalities. It was about being able to shut the tap off to the far east should the need arise, as well as to much of Europe. It was about controlling the shipping of one essential commodity to control world trade.

[TrogL]

4. It's been about war since Afghanistan and before

Click the Oil wars link

[maxsolomon]

5. the case is thunderingly obvious

but hard to make. the word was assiduously avoided by the war cabal, and the mouth breather wing of the murkin public won't hear it, because it implicates them in the death of thousands merely to keep their jet skis, leaf blowers, and sub urbans going.

there is no other reason for our involvement in that part of the world. the length & intransigence of the israeli/arab conflict would never have been tolerated otherwise.

[JackNewtown]

8. I agree nt

[MadHound]

6. It is strong enough that it is convincing many of my neighbors

Once staunch Bush supporters, once strong supporters of the war, as more and more information becomes available, and as the war has dragged on and on, with more and more lies exposed everyday, it has become painfully obvious to my quite conservative neighbors that this war is about nothing else except oil.

[azurnoir]

7. I don't think

the average Anmerican believes the state is angelic any longer, that the war was for oil is being proven to them every time they fill-up their gas tanks and then wonder how to buy groceries.

[azurnoir]

9. Couple of things

I believed in 1999 when W announced his candidacy that if he became prez a war with Iraq would be the result, that was why he was running.
I have read about W losing alot of other peoples money on oil deals prior to being pResident, does anyone know who's money and are these same people now Halliburton board members?

[JackNewtown]

10. On the contrary IMO

The right-wing has effectively used the skyrocketing price of gas to "discredit" claims the war was about oil. They say, "If the war was about oil why is gas at $3.00 a gallon?" What the Ministry of Truth fails to mention is that state policy is never about the common man but about the wealthy and corporations. The oil companies are enjoying record oil profits...

[gatorboy]

11. Seriously, why else would there be so much interest in the Middle East?

It's not because of the date market....

[insane_cratic_gal]

12. Darfur is being ruled by Tyranny, if anyone needed saving

its them

Are we there? Are we protecting their freedoms? Are we bringing democracy to Africa? What about Freeing Tibet?



Do they have oil? No.

But if they did? You'd better your gas guzzling engine we'd be right smack in the middle of it.

When ever there is a corporate vested interest money is being tossed around.. being made and produced (like India and Pakistan) they find ways to make the peace.



If the blood of the earth (oil) wasn't in the middle east, you bet we'd barley have any ideas about Arabs, Muslims ..they would all be knights of Arabia to us still.

[iamahaingttta]

13. 9/11, Terrorism, Jesus vs. Mohammad, Evildoers, W, Saddam and the rest...

...are all just the smokescreen to keep the disinterested distracted. It's about the oil.

[CAG]

14. Unfortunately, I think there is a decent segment of americans, not just

hannity-limbaugh-savage chickenhawks, that if you put truth serum into them, they wouldn't mind a little war here and there to keep their gas prices down (BTW, hows that strategy goin' for ya, SUVer's??)

[JackNewtown]

15. Sadly you are right nt

[pscot]

16. I think the oil was an ancillary benefit

Israeli security was the primary reason. Iraq was to become an American client state to serve as a buffer between Syria and Iran. Iraqis are (were) non-sectarian by middle eastern standards. They would be grateful to have Saadams foot off their necks and would embrace free markets and a sort of democracy. We would get shiny new military bases in the heart of a contentious region, and of course, all that oil would fall into our laps.

[Odin2005]

17. I think it is more about bypassing russian oil pipelines.

The Neo-Cons want a corridor of puppet states running from Afganistan to Syria. This not only gives Big Oil access to the oil fields of Iraq and Iran, but also it gives the US the abillity to get oil from countries of the Caucusus and Central Asia without the oil having to go through Russia.

[B Calm]

18. The war was to stop the flow of oil and drive the price up!

[Fleshdancer]

19. I think it was more about testing the PNAC theory

I'm not sure why they feel the need to "Americanize" the Middle East, but that seems to be the ultimate goal.

[savemefromdumbya]

20. EUROS for oil not dollars Saddam was getting naughty

[Poiuyt]

21. Bush talked about how much he wanted to invade Iraq for political power

Exclusive: Bush Wanted To Invade Iraq If Elected in 2000
Wed, 27 Oct 2004 15:59:47 -0700

War on my mind

By Russ Baker
Two years before 9/11, candidate Bush was already talking privately about attacking Iraq, according to his former ghost writer

Houston: Two years before the September 11 attacks, presidential candidate George W. Bush was already talking privately about the political benefits of attacking Iraq, according to his former ghost writer, who held many conversations with then-Texas Governor Bush in preparation for a planned autobiography.

“He was thinking about invading Iraq in 1999,” said author and journalist Mickey Herskowitz. “It was on his mind. He said to me: ‘One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief.’ And he said, ‘My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it.’ He said, ‘If I have a chance to invade….if I had that much capital, I’m not going to waste it. I’m going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I’m going to have a successful presidency.”

Herskowitz said that Bush expressed frustration at a lifetime as an underachiever in the shadow of an accomplished father. In aggressive military action, he saw the opportunity to emerge from his father’s shadow. The moment, Herskowitz said, came in the wake of the September 11 attacks. “Suddenly, he’s at 91 percent in the polls, and he’d barely crawled out of the bunker.”

more -

http://www.gnn.tv/articles/article.php?id=761