This war was fought to open up Iraqi petroleum to development and export to the world market

[kpete]

The Speech President Obama Should Give about the Iraq War (But Won’t)
Posted on August 31, 2010 by Juan Cole

..............

This war was fought to open up Iraqi petroleum to development and export to the world market. No one would have needed to fight a war for oil if the United States government had put sufficient resources into developing and implementing green energy. Portugal is now generating 45 percent of its electricity from wind, solar and hydro-electric sources. A new generation of electric vehicles can be powered without petroleum. A green America, and a green world, is likely to be a much more peaceful world, in which resource wars will be less likely. Solar and wind power are everywhere and need no soldiers to guard them or to take them from others.

We cannot undo what has been done. We cannot pretend that the United States did not violate the United Nations charter and the Geneva Conventions. But we can make amends. We can seek redemption as a nation. And our salvation lies in forswearing permanent war, aggressive war, undeclared war, and police actions as a way of life. A new century beckons. Some sought to make it a new American century. It will inevitably, however, be an Asian century, a century marking the emergence on the world stage of China and India. The United States will be among the smaller of the powers in this new geopolitical framework and it may not have the biggest or the most dynamic economy. The best guarantee of the peace and security of Americans is not international anarchy and aggressive warfare, but world order and the international rule of law. We shall seek our redemption by redoubling our support of the United Nations and our commitment to collective security and human rights. We shall return to the ideals enunciated by Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1957, to the ideals of the man who actually led the defeat of fascism and who knew right from wrong, unlike our latter-day politicians.

We shall inscribe in our hearts and exemplify in our lives these words of his:

“If the United Nations once admits that international dispute can be settled by using force, then we will have destroyed the very foundation of the organization, and our best hope of establishing a real world order. That would be a disaster for us all . . .

more:
http://www.juancole.com/2010/08/the-speech-a-president-should-give-about-the-iraq-war.html

[grantcart]

1. Right the US went to war to open up oil contracts for

Russian French Chinese and Norwegian oil companies and to ensure that US companies didn't get any contracts lol.

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/12dec09-iraq-oil-79122227.html

Russia's Lukoil and Norway's Statoil won a joint contract to develop a major untapped oil field in southern Iraq, Saturday, on the second and final day of a two-day auction aimed at boosting Iraq's oil output. Representatives from dozens of foreign oil companies attended the auction, despite security risks.

The Iraqi government expressed satisfaction with the outcome of major two-day oil auction, Saturday after awarding the prized West Qurna Phase Two oil field to both Russia's Lukoil and Norway's Statoil.




Last year's oil contracts went to France and Russia firms, all countries that opposed the intervention. If the US wanted to gain oil advantage by invading Iraq I can't see why they would implement a public televised bid opening system that virtally ensures that the Iraqi people, and not insider agreements will benefit from new oil contracts but again that completely undermines these superficial conspiracy theories that are so fun to cut and paste.

[Turbineguy]

2. I don't think so.

The petroleum situation could have been worked out differently. It was fought to please George W. Bush. It was a purely personal thing.

[Ernesto]

3. Read PNAC................. nt

[dkf]

4. Agree.

If we want to cut our defense (or offense) budget we need to stop our dependence on oil. Renewable technology is the key. It should be our Apollo mission.

[Winterblues]

5. Iraq was already selling more oil on the world market than OPEC allowed

They were not the only OPEC nation to ignore the limits but they were the most blatant..Iraq did not need the USA to show it how to develop and sell it's oil