Reply #55: The war was indeed for oil, among other things. [View All]

[RichM]

It was also to obtain a huge military base in the Middle East, and to secure the geostrategic dominance that comes from controlling a major oil & natural gas source. It was also for water, and for Israel. It was for a lot of things - but to deny that it had anything to do with oil is ridiculous. (Which, of course, is exactly the position of Bush, Kerry, and Edwards -- ALL of whom are pretending that it had only to do with WMD in the beginning, and now has only to do with "building democracy.")

We could not really have taken it in 1991. Militarily, we could have done so, but it would have been politically unacceptable, and might have risked a confrontation with the USSR, which still existed.