Not really. There was no major shortage of oil, gas costs more NOW than it did THEN, and as I said, if we really wanted Iraq's oil, we could have bought it for less than the war cost.
There were shortages and rising demand in oil from a long while now, when was the last time gasoline was at 60 cents ? And the price is even higher now yes, that's to be expected is it not ?
Iraq has 112 Billion barrels in reserve, it'll pay off in the long run.
Raesvelg said:
This is an exercise in region-building, not a grab for oil.
The Bush family has always been into the oil business
Iraq's oil is being sold now, and the Bush adminastration handles the money. The Russians and the french at one point were the only ones that were able to refine Iraq oil. It wouldn't be like that in Saddam wasn't dethroned, which makes for a more efficient oil industry.
Raesvelg said:
Tiger Woods vs All Comers in a battle to the death!
lol Yes Tiger's career was hitting the news stands everywhere during that period.
Raesvelg said:
I can deny it, because you're an idiot. That was KUWAIT that got set on fire the first time. We never attacked Iraqi soil in the first Gulf War.
Yes you're right about that, it was Kuwait that got set a blaze.
Raesvelg said:
I'm aware that Iraq has enormous oil reserves. I'm also aware that a great deal of their production capacity got taken out in the latest war, that they were not allowed to sell their oil for the preceding decade, and that the French and Russians were perfectly happy to keep it that way, seeing as they had their own investments in the "Oil for Food" program.
Very efficent consumption.
Raesvelg said:
I love how you decided that a German company is somehow relevant to a discussion of the US invading Iraq to steal their oil.
US have been taking part in Iraq's oil sales since 2003
Again, over 200 companies world wide in 2005. I could have mentioned any company that makes large purchases, including American companies. The Bush adminastration is handeling the cash flow from it all.
Raesvelg said:
Um... It works in nobody's favor. Hence why I question the relevance.
He was silenced, and that is all there is to it.
Raesvelg said:
A.) Lend-Lease.
B.) The "Each dollar creates more debt" isn't the way it actually works. It's a simplistic understanding of the system that fails on multiple levels, and no, I don't have to explain it to you.
There is no explination in this response to begin with.
Raesvelg said:
Hence the hubris of Bush & Co. thinking that their plan would work. If it had worked, then yes, it would be a more stable middle east, with a powerful oil-rich country situated in the middle and a stable democracy with a vested interest in peace. It's blindingly obvious what they wanted to do, they fudged the information to get the war, and then dropped the ball in executing their plan.
However.
We don't know what would have happened had they not gone in. Assume we decide to lift the sanctions. Prior history shows that Saddam would immediately try to get WMDs, since he thought they were neat as tits. Saddam did fund terrorism, just not Al Qaeda. It certainly wouldn't have aided in regional stability in the long run to leave his family in power.
For the record I don't support Saddam in any way, he did use Chemical weapons on a small scale, about a decade ago.
2 decades ago, the US supplied Iraq with hundreads of millions of dollars worth of weapons, as Iraq raged war aginst Iran. Iraq considered the US to be one of their Allies, and it wasn't until Iraq started beef with Saudi Arabia, the tables turned.
What's happened since the dethroning of Saddam, is Iraq and Iran have made peace with one another, neither of them wish for the US to remain in Iraq. the US does not speak to Iran up to this day.
The bigger question is, what would happen if the US left Iraq ? Would the Al qaeda continue to kill the people of Iraq, even though they are funded by
10 billion dollars that was suposidly extracted from the food for oil program by Saddam ? Or would things simmer down ?
Raesvelg said:
Backpedal faster, maybe you can escape with a little of your dignity.
Bring it.