Its offical now

[dubljay]

I was just cruising the headlines on Google and this came up.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/08/31/bush_gives_new_reason_for_iraq_war/

We are there to protect the oil... any thoughts?




-Josh

 

[michaeledward]

Imagine that!

%think%

Yawn!

 

[Andrew Green]

We are there to protect the oil... any thoughts?

Oil? I'm suprised, never would've guessed that oil was an issue...

 

[dubljay]

What surprises me the most is that he even admited it. I know it's not the same as saying we started the war simply for the oil... but he's admiting thats why we are staying. And if I were in the millitary I think it might bother me just a little bit to know that my job is no longer securing a country from a malovent dictatorship but securing oil reserves. Perhaps I am reading too much into this, but wouldn't this kind of statment have a demoralizing effect on the troops?

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Wait. There's Oil in Iraq? When did that happen?

 

[Phoenix44]

Well, I'm shocked.

 

[OUMoose]

I was just cruising the headlines on Google and this came up.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/08/31/bush_gives_new_reason_for_iraq_war/

We are there to protect the oil... any thoughts?

Will this be a police action again, then? Maybe if it is considered that, we can get some of our men and women home, and start talking to the U.N. again...

but who am I kidding...

 

[Makalakumu]

President Bush slipped his handlers' leash and blurted the truth. I can't wait to see how Rove spins this!

"You idiot!"
"Sorry, Boss..."

 

[shesulsa]

Here it comes - *arms over head*

 

[arnisador]

Wait. There's Oil in Iraq? When did that happen?

Well, first came the dinosaurs...

 

[Feisty Mouse]

WOW. Some handler screwed up somewhere. I can imagine a bunch of sackings after this!

Good thing Halliburton's there to remove...I mean, protect...all that oil...for the Iraqi people, of course!

 

[ginshun]

Everybody has always known that we have been there to protect the oil.

*looks at gas prices*

Fat bunch of good it is doing us.

And if I were in the millitary I think it might bother me just a little bit to know that my job is no longer securing a country from a malovent dictatorship but securing oil reserves. Perhaps I am reading too much into this, but wouldn't this kind of statment have a demoralizing effect on the troops?

As I am not in the military I don't want to make it sound like I am speaking for them, but I have several friends who have gone to and came back from Iraq, and few that are still there.

They know that part of the reason they are there is because of the oil.

I doubt that this statement comes as much of a surprise to them.

But I could be wrong.

 

[Feisty Mouse]

Everybody has always known that we have been there to protect the oil.

*looks at gas prices*

Fat bunch of good it is doing us.

(minor thread gank - gas prices shot up by $0.50/gallon all over town yesterday. I actually gasped while in my car and said, "no!" )

 

[rutherford]

It's not exactly the admission I was hoping for. Here's the quote from the article:

''If Zarqawi and [Osama] bin Laden gain control of Iraq, they would create a new training ground for future terrorist attacks," Bush said. ''They'd seize oil fields to fund their ambitions. They could recruit more terrorists by claiming a historic victory over the United States and our coalition."

This is some interesting reading: http://www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/iraq.html

 

[Xequat]

''If Zarqawi and [Osama] bin Laden gain control of Iraq, they would create a new training ground for future terrorist attacks," Bush said. ''They'd seize oil fields to fund their ambitions. They could recruit more terrorists by claiming a historic victory over the United States and our coalition."

Pretty good argument.

No, it wasn't much of an admission at all, the way I read it. It looks like he was just adding yet another reason to stay, not justifying going in there in the first place, although that would be an OK, but not great reason to go in anyway; plus, he didn't appear to revoke the reasons he had before. I think it's a good idea to try to make sure that terrorists have no fuel or control over fuel in order to take the money from oil and spend it on destruction. Bush is saying that in addition to the many other reasons to be in Iraq, here's another.

Besides, if we were there strictly for the oil, wouldn't we have already taken it by now? Seriously, we aren't going to take over a country full of oil just so we can tap our own national reserves and raise our own prices.

 

[Makalakumu]

Besides, if we were there strictly for the oil, wouldn't we have already taken it by now? Seriously, we aren't going to take over a country full of oil just so we can tap our own national reserves and raise our own prices.

Paul Wolfowitz claimed that we could pay for the entire Iraq war with their oil. Halliburton gets a big contract to rebuild the infrastructure. Production of oil passed the peak production in the Saddam era months ago. Where do you think all of that oil is going?

Even this glut of oil is not enough to satisfy the American consumer...

 

[ginshun]

I think that the real immediate problem is not being able to make the oil into gas and fuel oil.

Rather than not having enough crude.

 

[Xequat]

Where do you think all of that oil is going?

I don't know; where is it going?

You are right, though, about Wolfowitz. I kind of forgot about that remark, so maybe you're right and we should take enough oil to pay for the war, but I thought the objective was for Iraq to keep the money and pay for rebuilding themselves or some such cause.

I'm not sure what you mean about Halliburton. They are a company who is paid to rebuild and they are good at it. Clinton used them too. They or someone else qualified to do the job probably should get a big contract to rebuild, since that's their specialty and that's part of why we're there.

 

[Loki]

Aircraft carriers have been compared with WWI batteships in the respect that both are powerful and expensive and thus make it difficult to find a target making them worthy of their use, effectively making them straw giants.

Bush gives this information standing before America's newest aircraft carrier. Symbolic?