Is there any evidence for the Iraq War being about oil?

[bazmeistergen]

mrstickball said:

Rath said:

I can't possibly reply to this entire thread, and so far I have to admit I have seen little evidence that the USA invaded for oil, otherwise the amount of oil imported by the USA from Iraq should have increased. Though the Halliburton thing seems like a bit of a conflict of interest it seems, that doesn't seem the reason the USA invaded in the first place.

 

I must say I'm more than slightly drunk while posting this, but it seems to me that Bush needed to be seen to be doing something after a direct attack on American soil (9/11) and the Iraq war was a part of that. The war on terror was something that was demanded by the American people who needed to see a response to the attack. The fact that it was misguided seems to me to be at least partly down to the fact that it was hurried by the anger of the American people.

Just to add to this:

I will never, EVER forget what I saw and heard when they announced that we invaded Afghanistan. It was back in 2002, and I was listening to a NASCAR race on the radio (why I was, I have no friggin' clue). They announced that war had commensed, and we had troops on the ground.

The entire 200,000 stadium absolutely erupted with cheering. For minutes on end. Crazy stuff. I do agree that had Bush done 'nothing', people's anger may have kicked him out of office, as he was viewed as a cowboy no-holds-barred president, which in late 2001-2002 was viewed as a very good thing to average people (who supported the war like 70-90% initially).

Public opinion acts as a constraint to foreign policy, but it tends to be 'managed' by government officials. There is no way in hell the public had any influence whatsoever on the Iraq War other than supporting the decision based on manipulation and double talk. Those guys wanted that war, that much is clear... whether they had convinced themselves about the 'evidence' is another matter, but it is easy to find what you want to find.

I understand what you are saying regarding Afghanistan, but don't believe that Bush had to rush to appease the public, much like McKinley didn't need to rush after the Maine and Wilson didn't rush after the Lusitania. Roosevelt had gradually been dragging the US public into World War Two, so Pearl Harbor just finished it off. This is much the same, especially towards Iraq.