Invading Iraq was all about the oil. That's what everyone was saying. But recently I began to think that this wasn't the case, that there was actually a far simpler reason for the invasion. I didn't have any evidence, but now I do.
Just imagine you're running the World's foremost superpower. To maintain your prominence you use just about every trick in the book. You've been in this position for such a long time, that many believe you are untouchable. Suddenly in a seemingly absurd move, major locations of said nation are under attack.
I can tell you I was surprised at the news. Someone told me "The US is under attack". I was like "yeah yeah whatever". But when I switched on my TV it was shocking to see it actually happening.
So naturally those running the US couldn't possibly let this pass. Doing so would be a great sign of weaknesses and unacceptable to the local populace. So they went after the culprits and headed to Afghanistan. But they failed to capture Bin Laden who escaped. This seemingly appears as a failure.
To prove their dominance they go in to Iraq. I mean it's a bit strange that after all this time suddenly Iraq is developing weapons of mass destruction and now it's time to invade? But if it was about the oil... well it had been there for ages. So suddenly they go in and take over. The message is clear, we can and will invade if we have to.
Both invasions were the result of defensive (in the sense of maintaining prominence) measures designed to show a sign of strength. If it hadn't been for the 9/11 attacks, I doubt any military action would have taken place. Not to mention both invasions have been costly in terms of manpower and expenses. However it seems like the damage to the invincible image has been done considering the number of nations actively defying US influence.
So what's the evidence for dispelling the oil motive? Well it turns out that since 2003 the only oil extraction in Iraq has been undertaken by China, a strong economic rival to the US. Unless major players in the US government have stakes in the Chinese firms, they would not benefit.
True...well we have to say that everything did not go as planned for US after the invasion...Oil to presumably in the books, but we all know what happened after Bush declared victory over the invasion...
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say it was not because of the oil, obviously it was a show of strength, but they wanted to maintain a certain stability over middle east...
You see this trend again with the west becoming more friendly with Libia a former outcast nation of the west.. I suppose the main reason would be its rich Oil reserves...
yep, and consider this: the reason Bin Laden gives for attacking the US is the presence of US troops in Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf. Now, backing out of the Mid East would just suggest to the terrorists that the US was giving in to their demands, and would also put the US's main ally Israel in a dangerous position to meet any Arab or Iranian aggression. So instead, the US goes and begins an ill advised war on Iran's south western border (this in addition to US troops in the Eastern Iranian border in Afghanistan and US bases in Turkey which is on the western border of Iran)... so it might be that the US considered Iraq as a central base to continue their presence in the economically important Middle East and also having the added benefit of lessening the Iranian threat to the Gulf and Israel...
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