"Why We Did It" by Rachel Maddow

[Happy Boy]

Did anyone watch this?

[YT]w0uHumA2Lkc[/YT]

I usually don't care for her as she is snarky and patronising, but I thought this was well done and made a good case to confirm what most people thought of the whole Iraq fiasco.

Is there still a dissenting argument to this? With the amount of evidence coming out from declassified document, its become hard to argue that this was for anything but securing access to Iraq's oil supply for control.

 

[Gervinho]

I think almost everyone outside the US knew the war was about oil and the US couldnt give fuck about democracy or other moral arguments their politicians love to use. But the US media together with American patriotisms makes alot of Americans easy to manipulate as long as you create us vs them mentality. It sure sounds better for military families to say our kid died for protecting his country and fighting tyrant rather than our kid died for oil filling the pockets of corporation

 

[Happy Boy]

I think almost everyone outside the US knew the war was about oil and the US couldnt give fuck about democracy or other moral arguments their politicians love to use. But the US media together with American patriotisms makes alot of Americans easy to manipulate as long as you create us vs them mentality. It sure sounds better for military families to say our kid died for protecting his country and fighting tyrant rather than our kid died for oil filling the pockets of corporation

I agree with all of this.

I live in the US, however, and rarely if ever articulate this. Even among my inlaws there were losses during this thing, so I keep quiet when they say the people died defending freedom.

 

[Gervinho]

I agree with all of this.

I live in the US, however, and rarely if ever articulate this. Even among my inlaws there were losses during this thing, so I keep quiet when they say the people died defending freedom.

I live in the UK and every trend that starts in the US eventually comes over here. Like unhealthy patriotism. There were people who were saying this war had nothing to do with stopping a tyrant and providing freedom for the Iraqi people. But those people were smeared and was made to look like some sort of monsters who had no morals. Saddam is gassing his own people and you are OK with that? We have to provide freedom to the poor Iraqis people and you are against that? For people to go along with these kind of war you need to paint a good vs evil picture of the world. Simplify everything and just feed people they are the bad guys and we are the good guys.

 

[Lovestorm]

I've yet to hear(in person) anyone show support for US/UK attacks on oil rich countries.

 

[Happy Boy]

I live in the UK and every trend that starts in the US eventually comes over here. Like unhealthy patriotism. There were people who were saying this war had nothing to do with stopping a tyrant and providing freedom for the Iraqi people. But those people were smeared and was made to look like some sort of monsters who had no morals. Saddam is gassing his own people and you are OK with that? We have to provide freedom to the poor Iraqis people and you are against that? For people to go along with these kind of war you need to paint a good vs evil picture of the world. Simplify everything and just feed people they are the bad guys and we are the good guys.

I'm Irish living in the US, my opinion on this war is mostly not welcome.

There are a lot of people here who say out loud "thanks for you services and defending our freedom", but honestly I sense a growing undertone of cynicism about the whole thing and that people say it just because they are expected to. Nothing other than the highest praise will do when it comes to the troops in this country.

 

[Strychnine]

If you're going to direct rage at anyone, direct it at the people in power who went for blatant money-grab. The military members were serving their country and we didn't get the luxury of debate beforehand.

Would I do it again? Absolutely. I served my brothers and sisters-in-arms. It's a tough row to hoe, but I wouldn't have left the job to anyone else other than the very best.

And that was me.

 

[Happy Boy]

If you're going to direct rage at anyone, direct it at the people in power who went for blatant money-grab. The military members were serving their country and we didn't get the luxury of debate beforehand.

Would I do it again? Absolutely. I served my brothers and sisters-in-arms. It's a tough row to hoe, but I wouldn't have left the job to anyone else other than the very best.

And that was me.

What do you think of the motivations? Do you think it was to secure control over Iraq's oil, or do you buy the story the Bush administration was selling?

 

[Strychnine]

What do you think of the motivations? Do you think it was to secure control over Iraq's oil, or do you buy the story the Bush administration was selling?

When I was active and I heard about us going into Iraq, I actually said to my co-workers (who were the same rank as I) "What in the blue He//?!?!" Right then I knew it was a money-grab. I saw the whole WMD parade and I thought it was shenanigans.

Yet you had people sending Sean Penn death threats because he met with Saddam Hussein. It was total a BS job on the administrations' part.

 

[Its Me Austin]

If you're going to direct rage at anyone, direct it at the people in power who went for blatant money-grab. The military members were serving their country and we didn't get the luxury of debate beforehand.

Would I do it again? Absolutely. I served my brothers and sisters-in-arms. It's a tough row to hoe, but I wouldn't have left the job to anyone else other than the very best.

And that was me.

The (ch)Air Force doesn't count. :icon_chee

 

[DanOfEarth]

As a former troop of this country, I can say wholeheartedly that people who willingly sign up for the war machine knowing they can be used for inhumane and shady policies are culpable.

 

[Denter]

Weird how we supposedly invaded a country to enrich French and Russian oil companies. :/

 

[Happy Boy]

Weird how we supposedly invaded a country to enrich French and Russian oil companies. :/

Elaborate? Not following.

 

[BKMMAFAN]

Weird how we supposedly invaded a country to enrich French and Russian oil companies. :/

The Chinese. We did it for the Chinese.

 

[aus101]

War is never fought for such moralistic reasons, although is often painted as such (the crusades for example). It's about acquisition of resources, or why take out one despot and not another? Even now the Australian "peacekeepers" stationed in East Timor are really just securing the oil and natural gas lines. I would never hold it against a member of the armed forces though, those men and woman would fight and die to protect us if attacked, their involvement in the military is a noble one in my view.

 

[evansusmc2]

Someone please educate me on how this war was about oil. Because last time I checked... we DIDN'T get any.

Its not like we brought over a bunch of empty containers with us to fill them up with oil and transport them back to the US.

Although a pair of boots I had worn in Iraq had some dried oil and dirt on the bottom of them when I brought them back. So therefore I deeply apologize to the American community for the 1/4 ounce of oil I smuggled from Iraq.

 

[Gervinho]

Someone please educate me on how this war was about oil. Because last time I checked... we DIDN'T get any.

Its not like we brought over a bunch of empty containers with us to fill them up with oil and transport them back to the US.

Although a pair of boots I had worn in Iraq had some dried oil and dirt on the bottom of them when I brought them back. So therefore I deeply apologize to the American community for the 1/4 ounce of oil I smuggled from Iraq.

Who is we?

 

[OldGoat]

Someone please educate me on how this war was about oil. Because last time I checked... we DIDN'T get any.

Its not like we brought over a bunch of empty containers with us to fill them up with oil and transport them back to the US.

Although a pair of boots I had worn in Iraq had some dried oil and dirt on the bottom of them when I brought them back. So therefore I deeply apologize to the American community for the 1/4 ounce of oil I smuggled from Iraq.

Exactly. For a war "fought over oil" not bringing over tons of tankers and taking the oil was a strategic error.

 

[Happy Boy]

Someone please educate me on how this war was about oil. Because last time I checked... we DIDN'T get any.

Its not like we brought over a bunch of empty containers with us to fill them up with oil and transport them back to the US.

Although a pair of boots I had worn in Iraq had some dried oil and dirt on the bottom of them when I brought them back. So therefore I deeply apologize to the American community for the 1/4 ounce of oil I smuggled from Iraq.

Watch the first 15 mins of the video I posted. It will give you exactly what you asked for in good detail with very strong evidence.

Its not as simple as exporting it back.

 

[Gregster]

I don't suppose the simple fact that not one US oil company has drilling rights to one drop of Iraqi oil in any way hamstrings the "It-was-all-about-oil" argument.

In 2009, when the Iraqi government opened up bidding and negotiatons for exploration and drilling, the Chinese, Russians, and French (whose highly-principled opposition in the UN to invading Iraq was muted when they were assured their oil deals with Saddam, pending the end of UN sanctions, wouldn't be voided) made out. US oil companies couldn't get a date to the prom.

So...the US invaded Iraq, devoted massive military assets, and spent trillions of dollars to steal Iraqs' oil...then stood by and allowed itself to get royally sandbagged on oil deals.

How clever.