Why do people say that we are in Iraq because of Oil??

Question

We USED oil assets to help fund the war, but that is not the primary reason we are there:

-Bush stated Iraq, Iran, North Korea as "Axis of Evil"

- US must strike first against another state to prevent POTENTIAL threats from growing into an ACTUAL one.

-Challenges UN to ENFORCE its own Resolutions (1441, look it up)

- 11 undeclared empty chemical warhead found in Iraq proving it NEVER disarmed weapons

-Iraq ordered to destroy its Al Samound 2 missliels by deadline

-Bush warns Hussein to leave country or face an attack (and you know the rest)

Can, someone PLEASE explain to me why people think that we are in Iraq soley for oil? Iraq is in the middle east, a region known for its civil unrest and endless violence. With the Iraq takeover, this ensures that there would be some sort of stability in that area.

please note, I do not agree with the war but we ALL need to understand the reasons.

simple @ss- what a detailed answer! put your money where your mouth is and explain!

Jack D- take off the tinfoil hat and breathe

Gabe R- precisely, and that is the reason why I don't like this war.

dollyemu- You are confused by what I said, that is not what I meant.

Furthermore: I am not talking about 9/11 but if you wish to mention it, be my guest.

Answer 1

First of all, the war had nothing to do with Al-qaeda. They were NOT in Iraq and the whole world knows it, along with the fact we knew there were no weapons of mass destruction. Its a known fact that Bush had plans to go into Iraq from the first days of his presidency. Oil may not be the very primary reason but his personal grudge on Saddam Hussein is. Along with wanting a strong hold in the Middle East. And 911 was his excuse to go in.

Everyone around the world was very happy initially with the decision on war hoping he meant to really start a war on terror. But, we realised it was all a gimmick to get public suport for his own reasons. How many lives does Bush have to be caught telling about the real reason of going in Iraq? Everone who supported war wait until your son comes back in a box and then realise is it worth it? so many lives taken and it has nothing to do with freedom or war on terror.
Why is it that their own sons are sitting at home enjoying the lives sacrificed of others?
We all know, that by keeping our troops still in Iraq, it is not benefitting them. We should have pulled out after Saddam was caught. what is the reason we are still there when we are not able to stop one single bomer from bombing.? why?
Am I wrong?

Answer 2

Although all of what you're stating is true, simply because President Bush states that those countries are an axis of evil hardly has any bearing on our reasoning. He has lied to us before, about the weapons of mass destruction (by which he meant nuclear weapons), none of which were ever found, with evidence coming forward that he knew none would likely ever be found.
Many of the reasons that you list for us going in don't explain why America should have gotten involved. Sure, Hussein wasn't obeying the UN. What has that got to do with us? However, in addition to the reasons that the President has been feeding the media, the economic reasons for invading the Middle East are clear, and the main one is oil.
The Iraq take-over hasn't provided any stability for the Iraqis, has caused considerable unrest in the area. The United States' involvement has encouraged terrorist cells from all over the Middle East to relocated to Iraq and start blowing people up. That's not to mention the American soldiers there who rape 14-year-olds to death and shoot up villages when one of thier own is killed. In fact, the only sort of stability in the area is stability in the United States' oil importation.
Although this was not the only reason we went to war in Iraq, the reasoning behind in certainly rings true in a political climate where lying to the populous seems to be the norm.

Answer 3

Lies.

The invasion of Iraq was already being planned on September 12, 2001 at a special meeting of Cabinet. Everything was done to ride 9/11 into war with Iraq. Later on, Bush had no choice but to admit there was no connexion between 9/11 and Iraq. Lies.

-Empty chemical warheads were found? That's it? So what? Wouldn't surprise me if they planted them there in desperation.

-If you'll remember, Hans Blix was charged by the U.N. to verify that Iraq was satisfying the conditions of its disarmement. Bush and friends said the issue was way too urgent and that we had to go to war now. Can you explain how 12 empty chemical warheads (that's all they found) represented such a threat they couldn't possibly wait two weeks? Answer: More lies. They wanted to make sure that inspection was never completely done because it would have uncovered their lies. So they lied in order to cover up the fact that they lied.

-A preemptive strike, if you take 3 seconds to think about it, is an attack. And anything can be construed into a potential threat. Canada has F-18 fighters. What if they decide to bomb New York City? They're obviously a potential threat. An Orwellian lie.

-So he warned Saddam to get out? Then what? Saddam is out today. See how everything is fine now? And of course that's a bunch of B.S. Where would he have gone? More lies and distortions of reality.

What baffles me is that some people still believe words coming out of these people's mouths. They have been lying routinely and shamelessly from day one.

Answer 4

A lot of people use that argument because it is the easiest way to show what " a waste" the war is. Like if we left we wouldn't get the oil. We got the oil, even when we had sanctions on Iraq. Saddam, just pumped it into Syria, and Germany, France, and Russia all bought it illegally through the food for oil program, by paying hard currency instead of providing food. Then they turned around and sold it, for a profit to American companies. The real reason we are in Iraq is obvious, it all happened after 911. When the towers fell, over 80% of Americans wanted to get even with "Arabs" and the President, and Congress was quick to answer. Now that we are there, they no longer have the stomach for the job we have to do, in order to reduce terrorist acts. We will never be able to completely prevent them, but we sure have made a dent in their ability to carry them out. By the way, where is Osama Bin Laden? You just don't see him walking about these days, and all his known terrorist cronies. Seems being a terrorist is a bad form of business to get into these days, a short life span you might say.

Answer 5

For the simple reason:
Bush comes from Texas.
Texas has oil companies.
Iraq has oil.
The left thinks Bush has oil tankers and CEO privilege to import this for profit.
The left hates Bush because he's a Republican, period.
Cheney has interest in Haliburton.
Haliburton is the best at what they do....the left came up with no other options for a company to do the job, not that I've heard anyone else could do what Haliburton does.
Did I mention that the left hates Bush?

Answer 6

Do you live in America. Compare your prices of food, clothes, household products etc to the rest of the world. You will find things in the US are really really cheap. I've been there several times and was amazed at the cheap prices, especially for gasoline. Well, to maintain those cheap prices you have to have cheap oil, because industry needs oil and if oil is cheap, products are cheap. You have a cheap lifestyle and everyone is happy, Right. Try putting the price of gasoline up 3 dollars - Bush would be out of a job in 3 seconds flat.

Answer 7

Well the main argument is that probably because President Bush and VP Chenney have connections to oil companies and oil interests and by invading Iraq we would have more control over the oil interests, because Iraq is rich in oil and if we invaded even when/if the country was liberated American companies would inevitably have more interests there and would be able to make more money off MidEast Oil. At least thats what I got out of it.

Answer 8

Oh but you are wrong. We cannot have access to the oil rights if the Muslim extremists are killing the English, Australians, and Americans, and people from other countries who send people there to work. The only way to do this is to occupy Iran to prevent the take over of Muslim extremists who do not want us there. I am a Texas republican, and I know the reason behind it. Bush and Cheney have personal interests in oil. Why do you think Bush was wanting to kiss up to Mexico and give the illegals amnesty? Mexico has oil, and he wants a piece of it.

Answer 9

We 'say' that because oil is the be-all, end-all. People are getting steadily more worried about our increasing dependence on 'IT'.,
This worry is driven and heightened by the swift emergence of formerly 'backward' countries into competition with the rest of the oil-dependent world.
Willie Sutton robbed banks because ... 'That's where the money is'. Sir Edmond Hillary (or some other notable) said the reason to climb Mt. Everest was 'because it is there'. Same with oil.

Answer 10

Well -- look at it this way... Osama Bin Laden was responsible for 9-11 (maybe with Bush / Cheney help - we will never know). Osama is from Afghanistan. The Al Quaeda terrorists were from Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. Iraq had NOTHING to do with 9-11 and had no Al Quaeda in their country back then.

We have always been close to the Saudi's, so we couldn't invade them. Afghanistan (the real terrorist threat) has nothing but rocks, and no oil, so we only sent a few soldiers there to "hunt" for Bin Laden (again -- the Bin Ladens have been friends of the Bush family for many years). So, since neither of those countries received a show of force, we had to go somewhere...

Meanwhile, there is Iraq -- the country that was led by Saddam. He was a bad guy, and of course he supposedly tried to kill Bush's daddy, and his daddy never completed the war there before, so "W" decides to invade them, and his administration links them to terrorism in the media. All of that talk of WMD's (never found -- other than decades old stuff left from when they were all destroyed the last time), and terrorist cells was all smoke and mirrors.

Now, because we invaded and are there, it created full chaos in Iraq. that is the scenario that Al Quaeda loves, so they moved in. It was the perfect place to create their stronghold, plus they could recruit many people to kill American Soldiers easily. It was perfect for them.

And then there is the oil..... Iraq was the best opportunity for Cheney and Bush to get their own wallets stuffed by awarding huge no-bid contracts to companies like Haliburton (which Cheney ran and still gets huge hidden stock receipts from) and others, where the money and control of the oil would fall into Bush/Cheney family hands -- all well hidden through dummy companies.

So, fast forward to some more current situations -- the "nuclear threats" (or NewKuLar - as W would say) supposedly from North Korea and Iran. North Korea is run by a madman, who actually has nukes he is testing. Yet we pretty much just try to talk him down. (by the way -- North Korea has no oil...) Iran tries to plan for their future by starting a program to build Nuclear Power facilities -- just like the US has many of. There is no evidence of any attempts at the type of nuclear materials that are needed for weapons -- only the kind for power. Yet, Bush and Cheney seize this opportunity and say it is a nuclear threat and that they are making weapons (hmmmm... sort of like what they lied about with Iraq...). No other country (except maybe England, who does whatever the US says) believes there are any weapons possibilities. In fact, these other countries have actually gone in to inspect the operations and have said it can only be used for power -- not weapons. Yet, Bush and Cheney -- who have not sent in inspectors -- say that the rest of the world is lying, and it is all for weapons. So, they keep the threat of invasion going, rather than talking and inspecting to learn the truth! Why???? Oh, yes -- IRAN IS FULL OF OIL -- just like Iraq!