Besides the oil issues, why does Bush attack on Iraq? Why not any other oil-rich countries?

Answer 1

simple...this war is not about oil, thats why.

Answer 2

All these ignorant answers here. Saddam was contained after Iraq 1 and it was US policy to force regime change although not with war. Bush senior, Rice, Albright, Rumsfeld etc all said pre 2000 that iraq was contained and no threat.

In 2000 something changed. Saddam began trading his oil in Euros. The US laughed at first because Saddam was losing money but soon the Euro got stronger and stronger and is now worth $1.3 dollars. Saddam also converted his reserve currency to Euros - $10 billion worth.

I can see you wondering what this has to do with anything. All oil is traded in Dollars and because of this the US struck a deal with OPEC in the 70's to ensure this and effectively link the dollar to oil. When all oil is sold in Euros it means the dollar acts as a reserve currency for every country in the world because they need dollars to buy oil. This also ensures that the other countries sell goods to the US at cheap prices.

When oil is traded in Euros, then the need for dollar declines and so too does the value of the dollar and this would if left unchecked lead to a huge recession. Bush had to do something about the example Saddam had set by trading in Euros. So he invaded and immediately the oil trade in Iraq was reverted to the dollar and the US installed a puppet government with a seat at the OPEC table. This was important because OPEC are currently considering whether they should switch to a petro-euro. If this happens it spells meltdown for the dollar and US economy. The idea is that Iraqs voice at the OPEC table will help prevent this switch.

Then in 2006 another spanner was thrown into the works. Iran cut dollar transactions to a minimum and began trading their oil in Euros. Venezuela want to follow suit. Look how high Iran is on the US hitlist and how fast Chavez is climbing the hitlist.

Basically there are more dollars outside the US than within it and if a significant amount of countries began trading their oil in Euros then all those US dollars would be cashed in which is like calling in a huge bankloan and the dollar would become worthless. US imports would be hit and the economic collapse would be huge.

You can now see why Britain was the only European country to side with the US in the invasion. Oil trading in Euros is good for Europe.

So Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 or terrorists. Iraq had no links to either. That was Afgahnastan. It had nothing to do with WMDs. The US said they knew exactly where they were - they showed us nice little satelitte photos to prove it. Yet mysteriously they disappeared. The Euro is the answer you are looking for. It is not the oil itself that matters. The US imports relatively little oil from the Middle East so the oil itself is not the main thing. That is only the bonus ball.

Answer 3

Perhaps he honestly believed they represented a threat. I don't deny that we would not be in Iraq if they did not have oil, but oil is a symptom, not the cause. Too many people are trying to spoon feed us the idea that because we did not find mass amounts of WMDs that this means they never existed. The problem is that we do know they existed, Hussein used them on different occasions. Whether Iraq was actually disarming or not will never be known, but it cannot be denied that Hussein was continuing to posture as though he had these weapons. It was a widely held belief by many that he did possess them before Mr. Bush took office, the statements by too many political figures bear this thinking out and cannot be erased. Only George Bush knows what his true motivations were and no matter how many different ways this is analyzed all we will ever really know is what he chooses to tell us.

Answer 4

The idea was that Iraq was one of the wildcard nations out there that are most dangerous to the U.S. It was led by a megalomaniacal and violent dictator who hated the U.S. and was a state sponsor of terrorist activities with aspirations to possess catastrophic weapons and participate in a global trade of said weapons which would cause proliferation and ultimately use of them by some covert non-governmental group or organization such as Al Qaeta (but not necessarily Al Qaeta).

So, based on that, the U.S. singled out after 9/11 the 4 places that it ranked on the top of the list. Afghanistan came first because Al Qaeta was there and would not be given up. Then Iraq, Iran and N.Korea were named because they all fit the bill set forth above. Iraq was attacked first because it was the one that most of the world would line up against for military action because of the 12 previous years and Hussein's past bad acts. It also happened that they were the softest target.

It really has nothing to do with oil directly. If ALL we wanted was the oil, then we could have cut such a sweet deal with Hussein in order to have sanctions lifted that our oil companies would have been swamped in cheap oil for 10 or 20 years, and there would not have been the inevitable political fallout from Americans dying in overseas.

Answer 5

Why not other oil rich countries ?

Because Margaret Thatcher stated terrorism was the issue before Bush ever took office. Of this era funding increased for this purpose when Margaret Thatcher began to incorporate government responsibilities.

Isabelle Morgan
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Answer 6

Because it wasn't for oil. Saddam attacked Kuwait because Iraq saw that they were getting depleted in their oil fields. We removed the Iraqi dictator because he refused to abide by the treaty that he signed with us after we beat back his army in 1991-92. Simple as that.

Answer 7

Because his Dad had devastated the Iraqi army in Gulf War 1 and then ten years of sanctions left Saddams' regime/country bereft of the Ability to properly protect itself.

They had been targeting that region for some time, and aside from that Mr. Bush is now "making noises" as to try to (Motivate Americans) go after Iran which is one of the Richest in oil countries around.

P.S. Saddams Nuclear abilities were completely destroyed in the very beginning of Gulf war 1 and Never re-built. That too was known

Answer 8

Well truth be told; we have attacked other oil rich countries; just we aren't told about it. We attack Iraq because 1) oil, 2) opium, which is most abundant there, and 3) because it is where we have been told the "terrorists" are.

Answer 9

Iraq has Made deal after deal with the U.N. to allow inspection's...They received aid from the UN but never went through with their promises. after MANY year's it became clear that they had no intention of allowing these inspection's...it was no secret there were shady going's on in Iraq so many many warning's were given to cooperate....after 9/11 Iraq was open about their support of Bin Laden and offered him refuge...(it is still unclear if he took them up on the offer but it was there) they also voiced their support of Bin Laden's action's of terrorism.....AGAIN we gave warning because the threat was very real that there could be more attacks against other countries....After again being refused access (for more than a decade) The U.N. VOTED to declare war....the rest is history... Iraq was a member of the U.N....they are not just being picked on.

When I say "they or them" I am referring to the Iraqi government not the citizens.

as for WMD...it was never a matter of them not having them Saddam used them on his own people...it's just a matter of finding where he hid them.....the proof of their existence is irrefutable

Answer 10

Soften up the region for his invasion of Iran; poke the bustling hornet's nest of radical Islamism; lord knows what's going through that crazy man's head..

http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m31166&hd=&size=1&l=e
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,2020560,00.html

Iraq is being forced to hand over control of oil reserves to multinationals(exxonmobil, bp, etc.). That's all that needs to be said in regards to whether or not this was a venture for oil profit.

Answer 11

Who is keeping the profits from Iraq's oil? When you know the answer to this, you'll know why this wasn't about oil.

The US attacked the Iraqi regime for harboring terrorists and pursuing weapons of mass destruction and using them on their own people, against dozens of UN resolutions.