Thread: The "real" motivation for the invasion of Iraq

I believe the basic reason is pretty simple. Money.

Since 1971 OPEC has traded oil in U.S. dollars. So any nation that buys oil has to have large reserves of our currency. As a side effect, since all developed nations have these reserves already, it is simpler to use the dollar as basis for other trade as well. Which requires them all to have even larger reserves. That is why the dollar is the dominant world currency. It is also one of the primary reasons other countries are willing to buy our "we need some cash, hey, let's print more" debt.

Iraq, which has the 2nd or 3rd largest oil reserves in the world, began trading in Euros in 1999. Iran and someone else, I think Venezuela, started talking about switching also.

I'm no financial expert, but can you imagine what would happen to the dollar and the US economy if the dollar were no longer the dominant currency? The currency market would be flooded with nations getting rid of their massive dollar reserves. It would be much harder to sell our debt. The dollar would tank. It would not be pretty.

The answer? Go to war with Iraq and make them trade oil in dollars again. Nip that Euro idea right in the bud. Problem solved ... for now at least.

Saddam may have been repressive, but to the best of my knowledge, he was one of the more liberal Middle Eastern leaders. I have heard people try to connect Islamic terrorism with Saddam, but this is just nonsense, he had no links with them. In many ways he was the glue that held that country together, for better or worse. His removal allowed for extremists to pour in. So I feel the claim that it was to stop terrorism has a weak justification.

I think Gwahir, despite what little I know, makes a very valid point regarding the welfare of the Iraqi people - this was at very best, a verbal afterthought to try and give the war some credence.

You really cannot avoid the oil question - just how much did this motivate the decision? We do know that much, if not all of Iraq's oil supplies have been bought up by foreign business. However I am sadly lacking in any facts regarding the oil situation prior to the war, so really do not know how much thought and attention should be given to this.

I know that the UK is to hold a semi public inquiry into the war and the reasons for going, which may or may not shed some light on the situation. I doubt many of the big questions will be given a satisfactory answer, at least not for a long time.