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Talk about a stupid move on the Bush administration. They could have at least used it to pay for the war.

mmasters wrote:Talk about a stupid move on the Bush administration. They could have at least used it to pay for the war.

In spite of what Donald Trump says, its a dumb idea to invade other countries and steal their oil.


Stalin, Hitler and apparently Donald Trump think its OK to invade countries and steal their oil, but its not the way the USA operates.

mmasters wrote:Talk about a stupid move on the Bush administration. They could have at least used it to pay for the war.

You mean OCCUPY the country? It was difficult enough blowing it up. Our idea must have been that the proxy government would be subservient to us. Why would that be? Only the gulf states are subservient, because they couldn't last without us.

I think they tried, but maintaining operations meant societal stability, and most Iraqis did not support them.

Also, the mistake took place much earlier, when they planned to attack Iraq.

We are familiar with the adage "Divide and conquer". Are we not? The Western powers especially the US want chaos in the ME, they do not want any group to attain too much power. They want to play a game of musical chairs and shifting alliances. They know full well that ultimately that oil can be more easily attained via trade than war. They also know all the groups involved want the power and money that come with the oil. The carrot and stick approach is always a viable option. Reward/Punishment.

You all act like the US had a choice. The Bush Administration naively believed that the people would welcome us as liberators once we toppled the Bathist government.

Didn't happen. Wasn't going to happen. The Iraqis immediately saw us as invaders after their oil and began blowing up pipelines. And we learned just how impossible it is to protect oil pipelines if someone aims to target them.

Mexico learned the same thing when the US assisted Calderon in stealing the election in exchange for Mexico moving towards privatization of Pemex.

Interestingly enough, Bush argued that the war was going to be long and difficult.

Need I say it? The US government isn't in the oil business, it is in the corporate colonialism business.

Inasmuch as the US liberated Iraq (oil) and freed it (oil) from national control then handed it (oil) over to supranational oil corps, it did exactly what it set out to do.

It ensured Iraqi oil was sold in $US

Related:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Is_a_Racket

Shaved Monkey wrote:It ensured Iraqi oil was sold in $US

True, Iraq was supposed to be an example to others that may want to leave the petrodollar. That didn't quite work out the way it was supposed to either.

Cid_Yama wrote:The Iraqis immediately saw us as invaders after their oil

I don't think it had anything to do with that. It had to do with Baathist fighters being pissed off that they were out of power and reverting to insurgent tactics. This also had to do with the shiites taking over and them feeling like they were shutout from the political process. The chaos in Iraq by that point was destined to happen regardless of how much the US remained involved.

The fact of the matter is that oil is worthless unless you pump it out of the ground and sell it. So there is no reason not to sell the oil to whomever wants to pay for it, including the US. Blowing up your own oil infrastructure is self-defeating. It's just destroying your own economy.

The US is taking Iraqi oil - on the open market, and with dollars not bullets. He who has money gets oil, always.

I think we spent too many lives and too much money in that hellhole as it was.

Plantagenet wrote:

mmasters wrote:Talk about a stupid move on the Bush administration. They could have at least used it to pay for the war.

In spite of what Donald Trump says, its a dumb idea to invade other countries and steal their oil.


Stalin, Hitler and apparently Donald Trump think its OK to invade countries and steal their oil, but its not the way the USA operates.

Hitler, Stalin, Trump....and Jimmy Carter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_Doctrine

Yes, it most certainly is the way the USA operates.

....and Jimmy Carter.

Sorry, that is NOT what the Carter Doctrine states. The Carter Doctrine recognizes our national interest in the petroleum reserves of the Persian Gulf, and states we will REPEL any attacks on them and DEFEND them.

Nothing about seizing them and making them our own.

It was a statement that we will act militarily if our vital supply of petroleum in the Persian Gulf were threatened.

This was during the Cold War and was a recognition of the vulnerability of our oil supply in the case of war.

Even today, the ME claims (not sure how reliable the figures are) half the world's oil reserves. I think that is KSA policy speaking, but they do still have significant quantities of oil, and are now drilling offshore and using US tech to squeeze the depleted existing wells.

I was never in favor of trading lives and treasure for oil - I'd rather have a stronger energy policy that mandated and rewarded renewables development. But (go ahead and call me a warmonger) I don't want to trade my American lifestyle for life in the Caliphate either - my arthritis hurts too much for a prayer rug.

No need to worry Kaiser, US will stay focused laser-like on the Middle East for as long as anyone on this site is alive.

KaiserJeep wrote:The US is taking Iraqi oil - on the open market, and with dollars not bullets. He who has money gets oil, always.

I think we spent too many lives and too much money in that hellhole as it was.

And the money goes to stooges who depend on the US to keep them in power and who can be counted on to stash the loot in US investments.