Iraq > Iran

[mongers]

Okay, what was it?

Nobody tries to whack Poppy Bush and get away with it.  Don't mess with Texas.  Giggity.

It would be pretty sad if this really was the 'reason'.

I'd almost prefer to here it was actually some operation lift from the far out conspiracy theory playbook, rather than something that dumb and 'non-national interest', if you see what I mean.

[Neil]

I wouldn't put too much stock in what CdM says regarding the reasoning for the Iraq war.

[CountDeMoney]

I'd almost prefer to here it was actually some operation lift from the far out conspiracy theory playbook, rather than something that dumb and 'non-national interest', if you see what I mean.

Then ask yourself this:  Would a President Al Gore and a Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke have invaded Iraq?

But no...stack your administration with a bunch of neocon we-didn't-finish-the-job leftovers from Desert Storm itching over Iraq the moment they assumed the White House, toss in a President that despised Saddam Hussein before he even took office over trying to whack his Daddy, add an orchestrated lie campaign to connect a Baathist dictator to a Wahhabist 9/11 because Americans can't tell the difference between their dune coons, and you have the war you want.

[sbr]

CdM is right.  As soon as w bush was elected I told friend we would be at war with Iraq during his first term, because saddam tried to kill daddy.

Less than a year later we get 9/11 (not implying it was an inside job), then lies about wmds and Iraqi connections to the attack and voila, son is finishing daddy's work.

I was not surprised.

[Ideologue]

I wouldn't put too much stock in what CdM says regarding the reasoning for the Iraq war.

To greatly understate the matter.

[The Minsky Moment]

I wouldn't put too much stock in what CdM says regarding the reasoning for the Iraq war.

No matter, reasoning didn't have much to do with it.

[Siege]

Oh, don't get me wrong, the oportunity to tke out Saddam in itself made the war worth it.
It was a good cause.
However, I would have strongly preferred if we had got the oil as well.
There is nothing wrong in making a profit for national interest sake while fighting an evil dictator.

Looking back on it, if we had got the oil, it would have made everything more worthwhile.
Instead the enemies of the US have got the oil.
Very fustrating, to put it mildly.

[The Minsky Moment]

Instead the enemies of the US have got the oil.
Very fustrating, to put it mildly.

Oil is fungible.
It is movable and traded internationally and priced on international markets.
So no one has "got it" and yet everyone has it.
The Chiense buy a lot of ME oil because it is more convenient to ship from the Gulf to China than to ship from the North Sea or the western hemisphere.  If they didn't buy that oil they would buy oil somewhere else, and the effect on supply and pricing would be exactly the same.

The US war could have been (and was by some) justified as a war to secure access to oil as a "public good" for international markets, but even seen that way, it didn't work out so well . . .

[dps]

The fact that nobody can agree on what the war was even about almost a decade later tells us why the public has so turned against it.

Heck, people still argue over what the ACW was about after 150 years. 

[sbr]

Only racists.

[Razgovory]

The fact that nobody can agree on what the war was even about almost a decade later tells us why the public has so turned against it.

Heck, people still argue over what the ACW was about after 150 years.

Yes, there is a clear right and wrong answer on that one.

[Ed Anger]

squee

[Berkut]

The strawman that nobody knows what the Iraq war was about shall live a long and fruitful life, I am sure.

Crap like "Why didn't we get our oil!" and "We went to war because they tried to kill Dubya!" is just too infantile and tasty to let go.

[CountDeMoney]

Crap like "Why didn't we get our oil!" and "We went to war because they tried to kill Dubya!" is just too infantile and tasty to let go.

Nah...sacrificing all that blood and treasure just to hand it over to the Iranian sphere of influence as it develops over the next several years is simple comfort enough.  No reasons or accountability necessary.

[Razgovory]

Berkut has an opinion, and of course since it's Berkut's opinion it's also the objective truth.