Why Did We Invade Iraq in the First Place?
Remember OPEC and the oil embargo in the 70’s? Know who really broke it? Saddam Hussein did. He undersold them all. Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAE, Kuwait, they have all hated him ever since. Saddam was always our partner. By “our” I mean America’s, not the oil company’s.
Bill Maher, at the beginning of our invasion of Iraq, asked the question: Out of all the miserable sons of bitches that are dictators in this world, why Hussein? Why our ally, Saddam Hussein? A man we supported throughout his vicious war with Iran (in which he poisoned thousands with his chemical warfare). A regime we supported so strongly, that even while we were at war with him over Kuwait, we called our troops back from a vital campaign, in order to allow Hussein’s troops to go into Baghdad and quell a rebellion that had begun.
It could be that his regime was in imminent danger - it was about to topple – and we had no control over the regime that was likely to take its place – that’s all - as simple as that.
I do have a more sinister theory, but it requires a little more paranoia. The second theory is that Bush and his oil cronies wanted control over Iraqi oil in order to have similar price controls as OPEC did in the 70’s. But the only real logic to this theory is the fact that even before Katrina, ever since we went into Iraq, gas prices have gone up. At first, they blamed it on the chaos in Iraq, then they blamed Katrina. Now it seems they don’t need an excuse; everyone’s comfortable paying these prices, and nobody yells too loudly when reports of outrageous profits by oil companies seep into the news media. Of course, summer traveling isn’t over yet – and no American’s going to give up their summertime cross-country drive – so perhaps I have only to wait for September before the grease hits the fans.
Bill Maher, at the beginning of our invasion of Iraq, asked the question: Out of all the miserable sons of bitches that are dictators in this world, why Hussein? Why our ally, Saddam Hussein? A man we supported throughout his vicious war with Iran (in which he poisoned thousands with his chemical warfare). A regime we supported so strongly, that even while we were at war with him over Kuwait, we called our troops back from a vital campaign, in order to allow Hussein’s troops to go into Baghdad and quell a rebellion that had begun.
It could be that his regime was in imminent danger - it was about to topple – and we had no control over the regime that was likely to take its place – that’s all - as simple as that.
I do have a more sinister theory, but it requires a little more paranoia. The second theory is that Bush and his oil cronies wanted control over Iraqi oil in order to have similar price controls as OPEC did in the 70’s. But the only real logic to this theory is the fact that even before Katrina, ever since we went into Iraq, gas prices have gone up. At first, they blamed it on the chaos in Iraq, then they blamed Katrina. Now it seems they don’t need an excuse; everyone’s comfortable paying these prices, and nobody yells too loudly when reports of outrageous profits by oil companies seep into the news media. Of course, summer traveling isn’t over yet – and no American’s going to give up their summertime cross-country drive – so perhaps I have only to wait for September before the grease hits the fans.
posted by francesca at 11:31 AM
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