If the middle east had no oil, would we be driving 70 ton tanks up and down the roads of Iraq?

Question

Not knocking the Oil Mafia, everyone has to make a living, but since we actually do have the technology to get along without middle east oil why are we there? If we had gotten out of there twenty years ago does anyone really believe that these middle east lunatics would ever have gotten a following?

Answer 1

Actually the United States receives very little oil from the Middle East.

That oil goes primarily to countries such as France, Germany and China.

If we had not been attacked by Muslim extremists on September 11, 2001 we probably would not be driving tanks in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Also, even if that area had no oil, after an attack like the one on September 11, 2001 we would be in that country with tanks and a substantial amount of other military hardware.

Yes, I do know the objection is that Iraq did not attack us. However the information that we had is that Saddam Hussein was providing a training ground for terrorists, including the terrorists who hijacked those airliners.

Remember, Saddam had an airliner parked in the desert that was used to train terrorists to hijack airliners.

I know that even my most knowledgable friends in the Democratic Party seem to have have forgotten that when I discuss this issue with them.

I know that often tends to be forgotten in the hysteria to get the Bush administration.

I understand. I am a lifelong Democrat. I have been active in Democratic politics for over 40 years.

As much as we detest George Bush and Dick Cheney, we should not lose sight of the fact that Muslim extremists have declared war on us, and that countries such as Iraq are nothing more than boundaries that were drawn by the Europen colonial powers.

The Muslim extremists only recognize those borders when it suits their purposes. For example when they complain that we have no right to cross one of those borders to go after the Muslim extremists. Otherwise they ignore those borders.

You cannot fight effectively if you permit the enemy safe haven just because they cross a border.

We certainly did not do that in World War II, the last war that we actually won.

A good example of that is Afghanistan and Pakistan. The enemy in Afghanistan crosses the border from Pakistan. Pakistan is where the enemy bases its operations because the enemy is free to operate in Pakistan with little interference. Our soldiers are not permitted to cross the border of Pakistan to go after the enemy.

It was thought that Saddam Hussein would permit Iraq to become a safe haven for terrorists the way that Pakistan has become.

The next objection, I know, is that why do we not invade Pakistan. The answer is that is what was on the table with Benazir Bhutto. Benazir Bhutto had agreed that if she were elected Prime Minister, she would give the United States permission to attack the Terrorists in Pakistan in the tribal region on the border with Afghanistan.

That is one of the primary reasomns why the Muslim extremists had Benazir Bhutto assassinated.


The issue of safe haven for terrorists is the primary reason that we invaded Iraq, not because we thought that Saddam Hussein had weapons of Mass Destruction.

Answer 2

Thirty years ago would have made more sense. The first OPEC oil embargo was in 1973. By 1974 we should have had a comprehensive energy policy that would have disconnected us from the Middle East Oil pipeline. Had we not been sending US dollars for 33 years to fund both sides of this "war" with terrorists, the whole mess might have been a non-issue.

Regarding the Oil Mafia making a living - I'd have been content to see them turn themselves into the solar mafia or wind generator mafia or wave power mafia instead. I absolutely do not see how conservation and alternative energy sources hurt the US at all. The more we stand on our own feet, the better off we are.

As a side note, during this holiday I drove about 3000 miles across Colorado, a bit of New Mexico and Oklahoma, and the Texas Panhandle. I was pleased to see the number of wind farms going up, and hope they continue to multiply. I'd like to see the same vigor in stream powered "watermills" and solar arrays. Let us disconnect from the middle-east pipeline, and see how quickly we lose interest in putting tanks any where else to protect the oil fields.

Unfortunately, we HAVE sent a ton of money to those areas, and they DO have real destructive capability now, so the process of finding peace and stability there has world-wide import. I'd love to go with your scenario, but I don't think we really can at this point.

Answer 3

Oh, absolutely not. There wouldn't be any troops there either. It's all about oil, despite the claims of "regime change", weapons of mass destruction", and all the other bogus claims used to invade a sovereign country that had absolutely nothing to do with a major terrorist attack more than six years ago. Americans should have looked more seriously at alternative fuels decades ago instead of becoming so dependent on foreign oil that the economy will now literally come to a halt without it. This is what is breeding terrorism. The way to fight it is not to invade other nations and then try to tell the people there what's best for them. No, the way to fight it is to get out of their countries and stop meddling in their affairs. Iraq is a mess and there's no end in sight.

P.S. Since the people who started this war think this was such a great idea, then why aren't they sending their own family members over there? Why are they telling the rest of us about the sacrifices we should be making but are unwilling to make them themselves? I know several people who have said that the only way they will join the military is when Bush's twin daughters join. So far, they haven't shown any sign of doing it.

Answer 4

If the middle east had no oil we would not be there, but on the flip side our economy is driven by oil and oil byproducts.

We are not in a position to be without oil, just as all nations like Japan, China and the EU.

What would the country do without the tax revenue from gas sales?

I think about this in my daily commute to and from the job sites.
I spend about 30 dollars a day on fuel and multiply thatimes the millions upon million of drivers and you begin to see how much we are dependent on foreign oil.

We are in the middle east to protect our interests plain and simple, but we need to be there just in case Iran would have taken over Iraq's oil we would be in very grave danger.

Answer 5

Not unless tanks could be powered by Solar Power from areas with desert. Maybe electrical powered tanks with electric plants to run them. Likely trains would have made use of to move soldiers to take whatever else valuable in Middle East. If Belief In Human Supremacy were illegal listed as a racist belief accepted so by all Humanity maybe not. Belief defined as superiority of Humans Humans as a Master Race destined to be in charge of everyone and everything for monetary gain. Not saying entirely wrong just that Human Supremacy is wrong.

Answer 6

needless to say, there are various advantages to a reliable Iraq, and quite some negatives to leaving Iraq a multitude. If this weren't authentic, we does no longer nevertheless be there. Take some drugs and circulate to mattress now.

Answer 7

Today, the world is linked and no nation can survive in isolation and we all need all of us to be here and to live hand and hand!

And it is absolutely meaningless to talk of keeping us separated to live away from each and to get afraid of those negative forces which are threatening us to blow up by nukes and to reverse the history by a thousand years!

It's not the oil in the Gulf nations that blown the Twin Towers in New York to kill 4000 innocent Americans and the people of 48 other nationalities who worked there, but for the plan and execution of 'Jihad' by the self styled international bandit, the most inhuman and barbaric beast Osama Bin Laden and his pack of wolves termed as Al-Quida!

They came and killed the Americans, right in American soil itself, the land which did not suspect while giving them freedom to stay and live! In good old days the world known to people was small and the dangers for living was confined to the territories of a nation only and as today, everything is transnational and worldwide and we can't live peacefully alone and can't close our eyes for the terror network to span everywhere!

What Mr. G W Bush said once that' "we fight them in their country to avoid fighting them in our country", is really true! But the only thing that went wrong in his war in Iraq is that, he has unduly prolonged the war and didn't eliminate the insurgents in one go!

So, it is not the oil in the Middle East that has decided the American forces to roll the 70 ton tanks but for the powerful international terror network who plans to take control of oil and its sale coupled with the wealth to get some nukes to target the America and demand its submission!

Answer 8

That is a fresh idea; the libs are making a contention that the war is about oil

Answer 9

A 70 ton tank doesn't need roads.

Answer 10

Yes, Americans need oil.