Snow on why US can't leave Iraq:"second largest oil reserves in the world"

[sabra]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/08/20060809-1.html

<snip>

The second consequence would be, it would create a failed state in the heart of the Middle East with the second largest oil reserves in the world. Now if you think about what happened in Afghanistan, Afghanistan, a nation with far fewer resources, when it was able to serve as a terrorist training and staging ground, was able to do considerable violence to the United States and pose a threat to the rest of the world.

[robinlynne]

1. k&r.

[louis-t]

2. There's the excuse to stay there forever.

But it's not about the oil. Remember that. :sarcasm:

[Tin Man]

16. Yep. Now I understand why W is reading-up on Lincoln

Yep, despite the unpopularity of the War in Iraq, it's a cinch we're gonna be there for some time to come. And here's one little insight into why I'm sure we're not leaving Iraq until Bush is out of office...

During his August vacation, Bush plans to read a couple of tomes about the Lincoln presidency. Heh heh, Bush reading a book - that ought to be news simply based upon the radical departure it represents. But more importantly, it appears to me that Bush's choice of reading material is especially telling. Could it be that Bush is searching for ways accomodate, in his own mind, his plumetting approval ratings with the "necessity" of taking resolute actions during a time of war, i.e. "staying the course" in the face of adversity, just like Lincoln did? And likewise, in his era, Abraham Lincoln was the most unpopular sitting president ever - mostly the result of his single-minded determination to prosecute a bloody and widely unpopular war, while relying on his status as Commander in Chief to justify the extra-constitutional measures he felt necessary to win the war. See the parallels, people?

Yet those parallels are illusory, as the circumstances and the context of the conflicts are entirely different, not to mention the character of two men in question. Of course, we're all familiar with the story of Abraham Lincoln, the barefoot boy from the frontier, who read law books by candlelight, the brilliant mind that rose from the depths of poverty to become president of the United States. And what of George Bush? Well, let's just say his story, the formative events of his youth and subsequent journey to the Oval Office, is hardly Lincolnesque...

So here we have the dumbest president in our history, attempting to rationalize his jaw-dropping unpopularity through superficial parallels to one of our most brilliant presidents. If we could read Bush's mind, he would undoubtedly be thinking "See? Lincoln was unpopular too! I must be right! Time will vindicate my actions in the War on Terror".

God help us all.

[OregonBlue]

19. My very first thought on hearing * was reading up on Lincoln was that

he wanted to review the arguments Lincoln used for suspending "habeas corpus" etc., during time of war. Only problem is, this is NOT a declared war and he is NOT Lincoln!!

[Yupster]

21. The Civil War wasn't a declared war either

just for clarification's sake.

[OregonBlue]

32. Right, but he's still no Lincoln!

[screembloodymurder]

30. He thinks he's doing the right thing.

There's a reason he was selected to be President - he's committed to an ideology and he's stubborn enough to stay the course no matter what the consequences. God help us all. The madmen are in charge and they have no intention of letting the democratic process get in their way. They will instill as much fear as is needed to silence their critics. There is only one way to take back our Democracy.

[OregonBlue]

33. Gee, think maybe the new plot to blow up the planes from London

to U.S. might be a distraction? They'll do whatever it takes!!

[depakid]

17. That was the plan all along

and I'll bet that's one reason why Cheney fought so hard to keep everything about those energy meetings secret.

[indepat]

34. Presactly

[Old and In the Way]

3. Precisely why Hussein lasted as long as he did. He kept a lid on the

ethnic violence. Of course, he thought he owned those oil reserves....

[Rex]

4. At least Racist Snow admitted to why we invaded in the first place.

How bout those Weapons of Mass Destruction? :eyes:

Bush = a joke.
Cheney = cruel joke.
Snow = clueless jerk.

[sabra]

5. weird thing is, this doesn't appear to have been a slip

this was part of his prepared statment...

[Rex]

10. Maybe They just said 'screw it' and are throwing away the pretense

of being moderate and sane. I was wondering when we would see the radical side emerge publicly. Not that it hasn't in the past, but the pretense was alway that it was for 'the greater good'.

Now maybe they are being true corporate pirates and flaunting it in front of our noses. Like Henry Morgan, they openly defy the 'laws of the land' because they run the show with support for their actions from industry leaders.

[krkaufman]

24. All their other excuses have worn thin ...

.... and they're hoping that gas prices are high enough, now, that the public will be grateful that the government is fighting hard -- it's hard work -- to get dibs on the black gold.

[Tin Man]

18. They're preparing us. We're not leaving Iraq as long as Bush remains

...in office.

And it just so happens that current events in Iraq have "pulled-back the curtain" and revealed the falacy of the "democracy argument" for our continued presence in Iraq, necessitating the launch of a new excuse, namely, we can't let the terrorists control the oil reserves!

It's pretty clear to me: we're not leaving Iraq until Bush leaves office. And they've found the perfect excuse to justify an open-ended commitment to remaining there.

[screembloodymurder]

29. September 11, 1990 G.H.W. Bush's speech to Congress

"Vital issues of principle are at stake. Saddam Hussein is literally trying to wipe a country off the face of the Earth. We do not exaggerate. Nor do we exaggerate when we say Saddam Hussein will fail. Vital economic interests are at risk as well. Iraq itself controls some 10 percent of the world's proven oil reserves. Iraq plus Kuwait controls twice that. An Iraq permitted to swallow Kuwait would have the economic and military power, as well as the arrogance, to intimidate and coerce its neighbors -- neighbors who control the lion's share of the world's remaining oil reserves. We cannot permit a resource so vital to be dominated by one so ruthless. And we won't.”

Nothing has changed, but it took awhile for the truth to resurface.

[ClintonTyree]

6. If Republicans said what they REALLY think.................

"Let's just kill them all and TAKE their oil". That's precisely what's in their minds but they wouldn't come across as "compassionate" enough for their good christian base if they said it out loud. :puke:

[endarkenment]

7. See we fucked it all up see so we can't leave see.

Fucking Texas Oil Mafia, and I do mean Mafia. At least Phony Snow is admitting that we are looters.

[MissWaverly]

8. Hey, I like being dictated to, don't you

what happened to the President says this, or that, he comes up makes this long statement
dictating how we should "do" Iraq and then says the President has no opinion on the Lamont
win so who was talking during this long tirade? This is like the boy the writes the dirty
joke with no name and passes it around in the back of the class.

[Jacobin]

9. Which is why we were fucking nuts to get rid of Saddam

Saddam kept the Shiites under control, using methods no less medieval than the U.S. but far more effective and without the use of the massive use of aerial bombardment.

We have uncorked the evil genie and now Bush is whining that no one will help him put it back in the bottle.

Guess what? This cluster fuck is over. He has unleashed the 8 headed hydra on the western world and I for one, don't want to hear him whining about it.

[Miss Chybil]

11. Yes, if somebody got their hands on that oil they might put it on the

market and drive the prices down. We can't have that, with oil companies posting record profits and all. Plus, it would make the shutdown of BP in Alaska irrelevant after they've worked so hard to restrict the supply. Of course, they still have Iran...

[Jade Fox]

20. A friend told me....

that was the real reason we invaded Iraq--Saddam was going dump Iraq's oil on the market with the results you describe.

[gully]

12. And, we're saving so much at the pumps!

Oh wait.

[Critters2]

13. How'd our oil get under their sand? nt

[bananarepublican]

26. Saddam perfected Kuwait's slant drilling technology! n/t

[The Backlash Cometh]

14. NOW their true agenda comes out. The problem is, that Halliburton

already war profiteered. Now it's going to really cost blood to stay, and I hope Americans won't even consider a plan, unless we nationalize oil first.

[opihimoimoi]

15. Spoiled on cheap oil, we just don't want to give it up

We are constantly finding new and better ways to waste this precious resource...

Our Beautiful Earth,.....Its gone INSANE..errr, the Human Species did....

[Blackhatjack]

22. I thought this was NOT about the Oil. right????

It was about WMDs, right?? Noooooo .....
Well it was about spreading freedom and democracy, right??? .....Noooooo
So why are we there and staying??? Snow admits, it is because of the Oil.

Boy, is Snow in for it when Karl and Uncle Dick find out he spilled the beans.

[butterfly77]

23. Their stupid neocons have started to wake up because of..

high gas prices so, they thought that they would start giving them the real deal after they have stolen everything and fucked things up.

[countryjake]

25. Kick & recommend

[mmonk]

27. Yeah, I've heard that reasoning more than once.

People then ought to extrapolate out of that the real reason we are in there in the first place.

[malaise]

28. That's why they invaded Iraq

to get that oil.

[TheFarseer]

31. Well, that's the truth

If we left, oil would be $200 a barrel and our economy would be finished. Would it have been better to just get along with Saddam and not lose any of our boys - yes. Would it be OK to leave now and let our economy be destroyed and leave Iraq to it's fate - I think we can do better than that, but I don't think "stay the course" is doing anything more than putting off the inevitable. I'd like to explore John Murtha's 'redeployment' idea. This is the point: George Bush and his failed foreign policy has left us with no good options. It has also proven we cannot trust him or republicans with these decisions. It makes you wonder what stupid thing he will do with Iran and on down the list.