War protesters...
Moderator: TheMachine
He posed a very good question that is relevant to the protesters on this board that say it is all about oil.
Why didn't the USA take control of the oil at the end of the Gulf War?
Why didn't the USA take control of the oil at the end of the Gulf War?
Atokal
If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.
Niccolo Machiavelli
If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.
Niccolo Machiavelli
actually it is a stupid question.Atokal wrote:He posed a very good question that is relevant to the protesters on this board that say it is all about oil.
Why didn't the USA take control of the oil at the end of the Gulf War?
the mission of the first gulf war was to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi invasion.
that was done. the mandate was not to invade Iraq, topple the government, and install a US miltary leader as the provisional governor of Iraq...things that will happen this calender year.
Oil is only part of the equation. There are people in the Bush white house who feel like this war will start a tide that will change the political climate of that region. That is why they are pushing it the way that they are. They feel like if they can install a representative government that it will kind of signal a paradigm shift in the way that governments in the region operate.
all of that is important in part because of the oil. for instance we dont give a fuck about the ruthless dictators and genocidal campaigns in central Africa. that shit will continue for the next century if not longer probably, and we won't worry about it at all.
the second part of the equation beyond oil is terrorism. NOt so much that Iraq is a legitimate terror threat to the US. That case has yet to be proven in anything beyond circumstantial speculation. but the region at large certainly fosters a lot of Anti-US sentiment, and really breeds it. so stabilizing the region in a manner that will work to end this sort of anti-Western sentiment is certainly in the long term strategic interest of the US.
The caveat is that this military operation may in fact not only fail in doing any of the above, it may polarize the opposition even further (if that is possible).
hard to know.
but yeah, after the war is over, you will see some American companies with some fat distributor rights working with Iraqi oil producers. We won't get the spoils of war so to speak, but we will get preferential negotiating rights with the new government, and that will in the end translate to some money for American petrochemical corporations perhaps.
Editted after reading Voro's editted version.Voronwë wrote:actually it is a stupid question.Atokal wrote:He posed a very good question that is relevant to the protesters on this board that say it is all about oil.
Why didn't the USA take control of the oil at the end of the Gulf War?
the mission of the first gulf war was to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi invasion.
that was done. the mandate was not to invade Iraq, topple the government, and install a US miltary leader as the provisional governor of Iraq...things that will happen this calender year.
After reading your post Voro I see your point very interesting and definately worth watching for.
Last edited by Atokal on February 27, 2003, 6:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Atokal
If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.
Niccolo Machiavelli
If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.
Niccolo Machiavelli
hehe.
well maybe i'm just cynical, but i just don't feel like the White House is really being even 20% honest about the real motivation for war.
The war is going to happen, and it was always going to be that way, going back to sometime last summer, if not earlier. And i don't know why.
i dont buy any of the blanket consipiracy theories that of course are shot down by the video, because yeah they are simplistic. like just about oil, etc.
i also dont buy the white house explanations =).
so basically, i dont know why we are so dead set on this war, but i do know we are dead set on this war.
well maybe i'm just cynical, but i just don't feel like the White House is really being even 20% honest about the real motivation for war.
The war is going to happen, and it was always going to be that way, going back to sometime last summer, if not earlier. And i don't know why.
i dont buy any of the blanket consipiracy theories that of course are shot down by the video, because yeah they are simplistic. like just about oil, etc.
i also dont buy the white house explanations =).
so basically, i dont know why we are so dead set on this war, but i do know we are dead set on this war.
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You know, more and more you anti-war types are sounding like my wife when we try to decide on a restaurant.
"Well, where shall we go tonight?"
"I dunno."
"How about Italian?"
"No, I don't really want Italian."
"Ok, so where do you want to go?"
"I dunno."
"How about a steak?"
"No, I don't want a steak."
"Ok, you pick a spot then."
"I don't know."
Ad infinitum
"Well, where shall we go tonight?"
"I dunno."
"How about Italian?"
"No, I don't really want Italian."
"Ok, so where do you want to go?"
"I dunno."
"How about a steak?"
"No, I don't want a steak."
"Ok, you pick a spot then."
"I don't know."
Ad infinitum
hey i think that there is some legitimacy to the fact that some consequence needs to be enacted due to lack of compliance with 1441.
i am not foolish enough to believe however that this non-compliance with 1441 (drafted at the end of 2002) is the genesis for this war (which started had its political genesis in mid 2002, including some troop movement in advance of 1441).
do i think that regime change is a proper consequence for this violation, not sure. we are all working with limited sets of information. If the US government has any real dirt, they are keeping it a secret, and i have to believe that they know something that they dont want other people to know.
either that, or this war is simply an attempt to re-engineer the entire political playing field in that part of the world, and is truly an unprovoked offensive action.
that may even be a smart choice, but it certainly isnt the sales pitch.
i am not foolish enough to believe however that this non-compliance with 1441 (drafted at the end of 2002) is the genesis for this war (which started had its political genesis in mid 2002, including some troop movement in advance of 1441).
do i think that regime change is a proper consequence for this violation, not sure. we are all working with limited sets of information. If the US government has any real dirt, they are keeping it a secret, and i have to believe that they know something that they dont want other people to know.
either that, or this war is simply an attempt to re-engineer the entire political playing field in that part of the world, and is truly an unprovoked offensive action.
that may even be a smart choice, but it certainly isnt the sales pitch.
