I am confused about why war started in the first place

[Sukie1941]

“What in the world are we doing here?” asked Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio.). “This is the central front in the war with al Qaeda. This is the battleground with Iran.”

I thought Bush attacked Iraq to get rid of Saddam Hussein......that is old news, of course.

Now here are yet two more reasons we apparently attacked Iraq, according to John Boehner (R-Ohio): To fight al Qaeda and Iran.

What will be the next reasons?????

[Missy M]

1. Let's see......

take your pick. WMD's, get rid of Saddam and bring democracy to Iraq, Iraq was involved with 9/11, fight them over there so we don't have to fight them here and so on.

[emilyg]

4. Cheney

needed more $$$$$

[Arkansas Granny]

8. Yep. They just kept trotting out reasons until they found the one

that seemed to resonate well with the public.

[LSK]

2. fight Iran??? did he say IRAN?????????????????

[BadAssTeddyBear]

3. Please tell me he didn't say Iran

[ljm2002]

5. That's because it was never a "war" that "started"...

...rather, it was an invasion of choice by the US against Iraq. It was marketed to the US people as a war to rid Iraq of WMDs because that is what the sellers of said invasion determined the public would go for.

Truth never entered into it.

[jody]

6. The reason is very simple, god put our oil underneath their land. n/t

[spanone]

7. Reason #23

[no_hypocrisy]

9. Easy. * has a Freudian/Greek Tragedy classic case of having to "one best" his father.

George H. W. Bush didn't finish the job in 1991 of the "first" Iraq War by marching into Bagdad, arresting, trying, and executing Saddam Hussein, and liberating the Iraqi people when he had the opportunity. So in 2003 his son, *, had to save his old man's honor in a condescending manner by invading the same country for no legitimate reason save for his ego. And to steal a natural resource that did not belong to him so he could give it away to his financial sponsors.

[Sukie1941]

13. EXACTLY!

Yes! I have been saying what you are saying all along! Everyone just looks at me with a ? face.

Remember Saddam had George, Sr.'s image imbedded in the entry ways of buildings so the Iraqi people would have to walk over Bush Srs. face. That pissed Shrub off, too.

[Cameron27]

10. Because a neocon had a dream

$$$$$$

[baldguy]

11. Oceania is at war with Eurasia. Oceania has ALWAYS been at war with Eurasia.

Anyone who says otherwise will be put in the care of MiniTrue for re-education.

[Blue_In_AK]

12. If the media really wanted to redeem themselves

following Bill Moyers' excellent indictment of them last night, they would get to the WHY of why we're in Iraq. Since everything the administration told us (and is still telling us) was lies, just exactly what is the true reason we're there. I can make good guesses, but I'd like to see it all laid out in black and white for everyone to see in clear terms.

[skypilot]

14. The invasion of Iraq is about many things but...

...I think it was a PR move gone bad on the part of the Bush administration. I think they did it to boost Bush's abysmal poll numbers (presidents' approval ratings always seem to get a boost when they bomb someone) and to give the appearance of punishing someone for 9/11. Just pick some swarthy people from "over there" and some people will think that we got the 9/11 culprits. It's the worst PR move they've made so far--probably the worst PR move EVER.

[jebediah]

15. Sounds like he dropped his guard

as if he were in the smoking lounge with his buddies talking about the multifaceted strategic value that Iraq may have for them-- as a staging point for conflict with Iran as the next step (yet not really disclosed in all it's bloody glory) in the Long War.

[OneBlueSky]

16. oil + $$$ + hubris = WAR! . . . n/t

.

[stillcool]

17. Since you asked....

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/oil/irqindx.htm
Oil in Iraq
refinerybasra.gif - 40271 Bytes
Oil gurgles from the ground at a refinery in Basra in October 2002. Photo Credit: Laura Boushnak, Agence France Presse
Iraq has the world’s second largest proven oil reserves. According to oil industry experts, new exploration will probably raise Iraq’s reserves to 200+ billion barrels of high-grade crude, extraordinarily cheap to produce. The four giant firms located in the US and the UK have been keen to get back into Iraq, from which they were excluded with the nationalization of 1972. During the final years of the Saddam era, they envied companies from France, Russia, China, and elsewhere, who had obtained major contracts. But UN sanctions (kept in place by the US and the UK) kept those contracts inoperable. Since the invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003, everything has changed. In the new setting, with Washington running the show, "friendly" companies expect to gain most of the lucrative oil deals that will be worth hundreds of billions of dollars in profits in the coming decades. The new Iraqi constitution of 2005, greatly influenced by US advisors, contains language that guarantees a major role for foreign companies. Negotiators hope soon to complete deals on Production Sharing
Agreements that will give the companies control over dozens of fields, including the fabled super-giant Majnoon. However, despite pressure from the US government and foreign oil companies, the current Iraqi government has not passed a national oil law. While regional governments angle for influence over the foreign oil contracts, most Iraqis favor continued control by a national company and the powerful oil workers union opposes de-nationalization. Iraq's political future is very much in flux, but oil remains the central feature of the political landscape.

According to current estimates, more than three-quarters of the world’s oil reserves are located in OPEC countries. The bulk of OPEC oil reserves is located in the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq contributing 56% to the OPEC total. OPEC countries have made significant contributions to their reserves in recent years by adopting best practices in the industry. As a result, OPEC proven reserves currently stand well above 900 billion barrels.
http://www.opec.org/home/PowerPoint/Reserves/OPEC%20share.htm

Shi’ite vs. Sunni?
Conn Hallinan | April 19, 2007
Editor: John Feffer, IRC
Foreign Policy In Focus
www.fpif.org
.......................................................................
If the Bush administration is successful in its current efforts to divide Islam by pitting Shi’ites against Sunnis it will revitalize the old colonial tactic of divide and conquer, and maintain the domination of the Middle East by authoritarian elites allied with the U.S. and the international energy industry.

Its vehicle, according to The New York Times, is an “American backed alliance” of several Sunni-dominated regimes, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt, “along with a Fatah-led Palestine and Israel.” The anti-Shiite front will also likely include Turkey and Pakistan.
.................................................
The real U.S. target may be a good deal bigger than simply the Shi’a Crescent. “Could it be that the U.S. endgame is to weaken Islam from within,” asks Lebanese writer Jihad Azine in An-Nahar, “and divert attention from targeting U.S. interests to targeting the Shiia?”

One major concern for the United States is oil. While oil production in the United States, Mexico, and the North Sea is declining, U.S. consumption is predicted to increase by one-third over the next 20 years. By 2020, two-thirds of all U.S. oil will be imported, and since 65% of the world’s remaining oil reserves are in the Middle East, one doesn’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to conclude a strategy of divide and conquer is aimed at keeping strategic control of those resources.

Keeping up tensions in the Middle East is also enormously lucrative for U.S. arms companies. Since 2006, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman have spent—or will spend over the next year— more than $60 billion on arms purchases.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Blowback” has already happened. As Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations wrote in The New York Times, “Who cannot remember that to contain the so-called ‘Shiite Crescent’ after the 1979 revolution, the extremism of the fundamentalist Salafi movement was nourished by the West—only to transform into Al-Qaeda and the Taliban? Why should the same policy in the same region procure any different results now?”
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/4160
Conn Hallinan is a Foreign Policy In Focus (www.fpif.org) columnist.

Why the US Is Not Leaving Iraq: The Booming Business of War Profiteers
By Prof. Ismael Hossein-zadeh *
Global Research
January 12, 2007
...................Last summer, in the lull of the August media doze, the Bush Administration's doctrine of preventive war took a major leap forward. On August 5, 2004, the White House created the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization, headed by former US Ambassador to Ukraine Carlos Pascual. Its mandate is to draw up elaborate ‘post-conflict’ plans for up to twenty-five countries that are not, as of yet, in conflict. According to Pascual, it will also be able to coordinate three full-scale reconstruction operations in different countries ‘at the same time,’ each lasting ‘five to seven years.’" 11

Here we get a glimpse of the real reasons or forces behind the Bush administration’s preemptive wars. As Klein puts it, "a government devoted to perpetual pre-emptive deconstruction now has a standing office of perpetual pre-emptive reconstruction." Klein also documents how (through Pascual’s office) contractors drew "reconstruction" plans in close collaboration with various government agencies and how, at times, contracts were actually pre-approved and paper work completed long before an actual military strike:

"In close cooperation with the National Intelligence Council, Pascual's office keeps ‘high risk’ countries on a ‘watch list’ and assembles rapid-response teams ready to engage in prewar planning and to ‘mobilize and deploy quickly’ after a conflict has gone down. The teams are made up of private companies, nongovernmental organizations and members of think-tanks Pascual told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in October, some will have ‘pre-completed’ contracts to rebuild countries that are not yet broken. Doing this paperwork in advance could ‘cut off three to six months in your response time.’"
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/contract/2007/0112warprofiteers.htm

Iraqi oil law nears final stage
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writer Wed Apr 18, 6:24 AM ET

Iraq's hotly debated draft oil law is to be sent to parliament "within the coming few days if everything goes well," the Oil Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.

"The draft is with the State Shura Council now to be put in a legal form after being written in technical language," Assem Jihad told The Associated Press in a phone interview. He gave no date for the bill's introduction.

"We are expecting to take no more than two months to discuss it inside the parliament ... between one and two months it depends on the parliament," Jihad added.

The Iraqi oil legislation, which was endorsed by the cabinet last February, will open the door for the government to sign contracts for exploration and production of the country's vast untapped reserves.

It was designed to create a fair distribution of oil profits to all Iraqis and it is perhaps the most important piece of legislation for Iraq's American patrons.

Passage of the law, thought to have been written with heavy U.S. involvement, is one of four benchmarks the Bush administration has set for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's struggling government.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070418/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq ... ;_ylt=AlDi2cCjcxHInfWMEK5kB.oUewgF

Top Iraqi Officials Arrive in Dubai to Discuss Draft Oil Law
by Oliver Klaus Dow Jones Newswires Tuesday, April 17, 2007
DUBAI, Apr 17, 2007 (Dow Jones News)

Iraqi officials and businessmen arrived in the United Arab Emirates Tuesday ahead of a meeting in Dubai on April 18 to discuss their country's controversial but crucial draft hydrocarbon law, intended to attract investments into the country's ailing energy sector.

The 85-strong Iraqi delegation is led by Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih and also comprises Planning Minister Ali Baban, Oil Minister Hussein Al Sharistani, former oil minister Thamir Ghadban and several other parliamentarians as well as Iraqi oil specialists and businessmen.
...........................................................................................
Several former Iraqi oil ministers and officials and veteran Iraqi oil experts, who have already fled the country's chaos but continue to hold some influence in Baghdad's politics and industry, urged the parliament to reject the draft law during a seminar they held in Amman last month. They feared that the new legislation would further divide the country already witnessing civil strife.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The legislation in its current form fails to clarify issues critical for investment in the country, namely the terms for foreign oil companies' participation, and whether they would be allowed to take majority stakes in some Iraqi oil fields.
Copyright (c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=43956

[bdamomma]

18. why doesn't he (Boehner) watch Moyers show from last nite?