America doesn’t get, and never did get, oil from Iraq.

Which turned out to be factually incorrect on examination – and the main reason I jumped in, but let us continue.

Getting back on off-topic…Yes, if Saudi oil suddenly vanished, the price of oil everywhere would go up. The same would happen if Canadian oil vanished. Or Mexican oil vanished. Or Venezuelan oil vanished. So what?

Proportionately far less, factoring local consumption about 1.5% of world oil is produced in Canada, the Saudi’s produce around 10% of the exportable oil in the world. As a major oil importing nation, the US is keen to stabilise – as far as possible – oil prices. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they want oil prices at rock bottom levels either – some of those Canadian fields only become profitable around the 30-40 dollars zone.

I don’t think the answers to loony left wing arguments are irrational arguments of a different stripe. I think the US has a self evident interest in stabilising those parts of the world which produce the majority of the oil. The answer to the ‘everything is about oil’ brigade is not to insist that oil was never a factor.

The Zeitgeist

aka ‘Maniacs running round with razors’

Yes, it would indeed be the same President Carter, plus ca change, etc.

Anyway, if you are going to be completely satirical,

Yeah, in a perfect world, it would have perhaps been the Nelson Mandela International Peace Brigades that would have gotten rid of Saddam, but it isn’t, and we had the US Marine Corps instead, who if there had been any justice in the world, should have been awared the Nobel Peace Prize instead of that blustering fool Al Gore.

it helps if the Nobel Peace Prize Committee had not already made complete idiots of themselves back in 1973:

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1973/index.html

I’d hope even you’d agree that oor Al is a little more worthy than the Cambodian bomber?

You do know it was official US Policy to introduce a democratic regime in Iraq? (the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, signed by Clinton)

The US has had a policy of intervention in the Persian Gulf region since way back. And it does seem to be, at least in part, oil related. It was known as the Carter Doctrine:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_Doctrine

It is also interesting, to say the least, that the Coalition Provisional Authority under Paul Bremner almost immediately recinded the previous administrations decision to trade oil in Euros rather than dollars.

No, its not. And its in the same category as Rumbold’s point on arming Iraq. In the actualite, the US and the UK supplied something like ONE PERCENT of Iraq’s weaponry (one percent too much, I’m sure you agree). Yet we witness ranting STWC fools on Question Time and in the Independent and Guardian still insisting that the West exclusively or wholly armed Saddam. Same with the Oil Supply – the US only imports a minority of oil from the Middle East – yet again, the same suspects would have us believe that the US is heavily dependent on Middle-Eastern oil. And when you confront them with the facts, they just ignore them and continue on pumping out the same falsehoods. Facts don’t just disappear because they prove the US/UK are right in a particular matter, y’know. Yes, there were lies told during the build up to the Iraq war. They were told by the red-brown alliance who were claiming that Saddam wasn’t a threat, or who suddenly conjured up a convenient Westphalian fetish, or who were claiming that because the West made the mistake of supporting Saddam to a small degree in the past, that somehow barred us from making up for our mistakes now by getting rid of him and his terrible regime. Yeah, in a perfect world, it would have perhaps been the Nelson Mandela International Peace Brigades that would have gotten rid of Saddam, but it isn’t, and we had the US Marine Corps instead, who if there had been any justice in the world, should have been awared the Nobel Peace Prize instead of that blustering fool Al Gore.

Getting back on off-topic…Yes, if Saudi oil suddenly vanished, the price of oil everywhere would go up. The same would happen if Canadian oil vanished. Or Mexican oil vanished. Or Venezuelan oil vanished. So what?

Seriously I am having an emaciated brain night tonight. For most Muslims Jihad doesnt equal terrorism.

What you were describing isnt revenge. Taking someones life is the ultimate punishment. After that, their debt is more or less paid until the hereafter. To subject a corpse to what you consider religious fears is both stupid, and vengeful. Unreasonably so.

My bad. I meant to say for most Muslims jihad doesnt = Jihad. Unfortunately there arent enough keys on my computer to represent all of my ideas.

we don’t get our hands dirty because we just wear gloves.

Or rather, some were temporarily diverted. And yes, Saudi Oil only accounts for a minority of US imports, as I said.

and if Saudi Oil suddenly vanished, the price of oil everywhere would go up. This is a specious argument.

and our apparent incompetence…i wonder whether this still carries on..doh??

we still export to other dictatorships

“What however, is disgusting, about the whole oil-politics thing is the way France and Russia (who don’t forget, supplied most of Saddam’s weaponry – the Osirak reactor was jokingly known as the “O-Chirac” in diplomatic circles) were content to allow Saddam to stay in charge to maintain their own oil security.”

Exactly- people will say that most of Saddam’s weaponary came from the UK and US. If you produce statistics showing this to be false, they either ignore you or mutter something else.

What however, is disgusting, about the whole oil-politics thing is the way France and Russia (who don’t forget, supplied most of Saddam’s weaponry – the Osirak reactor was jokingly known as the “O-Chirac” in diplomatic circles) were content to allow Saddam to stay in charge to maintain their own oil security.

How come we don’t hear about that from the usual suspects?