Was the iraq war actually about oil?

Was the iraq war actually about oil?
if so, to what degree?

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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_for_the_Liberation_of_Iraq
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vulcans
youtube.com/watch?v=tVbkHBpT2Qg
twitter.com/SFWRedditImages

"Of course it’s about oil, we can’t really deny that"

~General John Abizaid, former CENTCOM Commander

Iraq before war was pumping about 900k barrels a day
After mounths of occupation it started pumping 2 billion gallons a day.
now its around 5 or more.
It was for oil, and iraq has the biggest oil reserves in the old world.

Partially, honestly I feel the more significant factor were Neocons wanting to play civilization builder in the middle east in order to spread "Freedom & Democracy" to counter Iran.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_for_the_Liberation_of_Iraq

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vulcans

I miss iraq.

isn't almost all of that oil being pumped by powers other than the US though?
I know Exxon has some presence, but I read somewhere that China and Russia were the most heavily invested in postwar iraqi oil

usa saved her dollar.

pls explain I am economic retard

It was not to get Iraq's oil. Iraq was seen as a belligerent destabilizing presence in a region that is important for its oil.

Countries use the dollar to buy oil because that's what's dictated by the main oil cartels at the behest of the US.

When everyone uses your currency to buy modern civilization (essentially), you can maintain ridiculous levels of debt and control. It's why the debt counter is fucking retarded.

We also act, via our navy, as the world's hyper-maintainer of trade routes for resources.

oil is bought and sold in dollars, the meme goes that the American economy will collapse without it so they flip out whenever someone wants to trade oil in another currency, it is not true though, people can trade oil using any currency, they choose dollars because the US has a large economy and existing institutions streamline the process

saged and reported

I don't think it was particularly about oil at all, the whole thing was fairly irrational.

The general population in the USA wanted to smash up some Arabs in a war following 9/11 so the government gave them what they wanted. That's about it really, nothing more complicated than that.

It wasn't about the oil it was about the petrodollar.

>That's about it really, nothing more complicated than that.

Surely that's why they ran a smearing campaign the moment the allies in NATO told them they would have none of it, right?

i actually love this picture, i hear a score in my head and want to make it a film

It's too widespread of a meme to be true. I feel neo-cons are just dipshits that think they are saving the world by spreading democracy and capitalism

This guy gets it.

It was about protecting Saudi and other Gulf Arabs.

I do too man. Every day.

>the budding camaraderie between the american soldier and the Iraqi citizen
>the soldier on the right smirking in solitude with shaded eyes
youtube.com/watch?v=tVbkHBpT2Qg

the heart of man is one

Some background from personal knowledge about the Iraqi.
The PT, or reflective, belt marks him as a member of a local militia. Near Tikrit these guys went by Sons of Iraq, or SoI for short. They manned checkpoints, patrolled local neighborhoods, and helped out the Iraqi Army with operations when extra bodies were needed. Now these guys varied heavily in their operation, some were literally insurgents (they would plant bombs, inform AQI on coalition movements) some where gangsters (basically running an extortion racket and dealing drugs, using their arms and status to protect their territory) and some were hardcore patriots who legitimately wanted to do some good but, intelligently, stayed away from the Army.

Dealing with these guys was a crapshoot, and we actually came upon a running gun battle between some SoI and IA once. Both were trying to extort the same market and the CO of the IA started waving his pistol around like Saddam was still in power. He died first.

The American, from what I can see, is an experienced grunt. His fat face screams POG to me, but all of his gear tells me otherwise. His weapon is especially telling, despite all the shit on it, it's all useful. He doesn't have a bunch of dumb useless gear queer shit hanging off of it the way a POG playing operator would.

And he's a dirty fucking CamelBak thief.
>Cobb
>Harris

Sorry for the /k/ommando diatribe.

>Iraq was seen as a belligerent destabilizing presence in a region

Nobody ever accused Junior of being smart.

To keep it flowing, sure. To take it, that obviously did not happen, and was not even attempted.

>When everyone uses your currency to buy modern civilization (essentially), you can maintain ridiculous levels of debt and control. It's why the debt counter is fucking retarded.
Actually the reason the US can maintain high levels of debt is because they always pay back what they owe, on time, with interest. The fact that oil is traded with the US dollar does not affect the US's ability to accumulate debt. Countries trade in US dollars because it is a strong and stable currency which can be used practically anywhere. The average company won't accept payment in Iraqi Dinars, but they sure as hell will accept US dollars.

Don't worry, the person you are replying to is an economic retard too.

What has Israel done since 1948 that destabilized the region?

kike-sandnigger intrastate conflicts =/= invading sovereign nations

that green shit never existed

did you fight in Iraq, sir? btw who is Harris? I only see Cobb

>It's too widespread of a meme to be true
I wish more people thought like this.

Look at the nametag on his left shoulder, our right. And yes, I did. Iraq once, Afghanistan once. The "sir" is a little weird, I'm not THAT old yet.

Exist.

French faggots wouldn't let us fly over their faggot country.

neat

You think you feel old? I was in DS/DS.

>sir

30% oil
30% geostrategy
40% neo-con ideology

Although those 3 factors are entangled ofc.

>And he's a dirty fucking CamelBak thief.
>>Cobb
>>Harris

Took me a minute

Why can't everyone exist around them?

>me on the right

It was. I miss it a lot.
I had a PSG that was in DS, he shot a Saudi on accident and said his whole platoon just bailed and pretended it didn't happen. It was apparently some big mystery and the Saudi's were pissed about it.
Kek

Removing Saddam, neocon fantasies, oil must flow, contracts for rebuilding, geopolitics (Iran, backfired horribly).

>wanting to be the asshole who wore his promotion pads on patrol

the usa can also mainrain a high level of debt because they have full sovereignity of their currency.
but when oil is traded in dollar there is a high demand for dollars, therefore the currency is worth more and the us can import goods for better terms

If I move into your kitchen and militantly occupy it, could you just exist around me? I mean sure, but you sure as shit would rather have your kitchen back right? Me lounging around in your kitchen with my AR is going to make things a bit tenser around the house.

US essentially mantains hegemony over oil trade in that it must be conducted in $.
AFAIK the only nation that has said no to that is Iran, which has been allowed to export oil since the Iran deal was signed. It sells its oil in € which royally pisses off the Americans (one of the unspoken reason the US business class is pressuring Trump so hard to shred the deal). Their hands are tied however, since the other signataires are quite happy with trading in € and it's making neocons so mad.
I love it.

Thank you for your service.

i dont get it what does camel back thief mean and have to do with cobb and harris

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE
LET ME SEE MY FLAG

If I tell you it won't be as fun.
Just analyse the picture and use the names as clues.

The US had a huge supply of weapons not being used. Iraq was about creating the demand.

I honestly didn't realize anyone who went there enjoyed it in that same morbid way they do in my Vietnam veteran films.

If it was about oil, gas prices would be cheaper.

Uh. why are the flags like Mario blocks?

Who are you, CIA spook or SOF/SF spook?

Removing Gaddafi as well.

were r flags?

No but it was about America establishing more of a foothold in the middleast and taking out an enemy of the Saudis.

Thing is, is fighting a war for resources really so terrible? Most wars in history had something to do with empires wanting a resource of one kind or another and killing people for it. Maybe it doesn't seem as noble as fighting for righteous freedom or something, but it's a pretty valid Cassius belli.

Really mods? You moved a halfway civil thread, but all the
>hurr durr niggers lmao
Don't even get deleted? What the fuck.

Btw there's no flags because this was a /his/ thread.

Killing Gaddafi was. Now Europe looks like the ME.

25 year rule

Regardless of what the hippy fucks and libtards say. Fighting a war for something like Oil is fine.
If we need a resource to keep our country fueled and have it not collapse how is that bad?

>attracting attention to the one halfway decent board on Sup Forums
kys

This pic made me realize that most of the refugee location it's done by the soldiers.

We got flood with Haitians since the army got stationed there.

The American economy benefits from war. We have always been at war and we will always be at war.
Also we needed to get control of all those poppy fields

I imagine it's the same actually. I miss the violence, and my friends. The hash wasn't half bad either, hard as fuck to get booze though.
>but all the hurr durr niggers lmao threads don't even get deleted
I get the 25 year rule, I don't get mods arbitrarily deciding when to enforce rules at all.

>Countries trade in US dollars because it is a strong and stable currency which can be used practically anywhere

It's a strong and stable currency which can be used practically anywhere BECAUSE countries trade for oil in US dollars

The fuck does that even mean? You think people don't know about /his/?

Same. I would have happily stayed deployed if they allowed that.

It was about Saddam switching from selling his oil in Dollars to selling them in Euros. Research the Petrodollar and this will make sense

Yeah I though things were going uphill a couple days ago when this happened

Good. Fuck off to /k/ if you just have to shitpost in a "colony." Sup Forums and Sup Forums are just a constant barrage of shit coming into /his/, though I will admit that its much more Sup Forums.
Yeah, me too, but they kept saying stuff like
>hyper aggression
>anti social tendencies
>tribal mentality
And? Let me go Lord of the Fucking Flies, what's it matter as long as I slot floppies?

It was to prevent the entire region from gaining any kind of stability. You cannot look at Iraq, Iran, Syria or even Afghanistan as separate individual events in geopolitics. It is following one very simple idea.
This is the idea of controlling the crossroads of AsiaXEuropeXRussiaXAfrica. If Western influencers do not control this area, no one will and it is better to bomb to shit out of the area making it unfunctional that to leave it alone.
The silk road cannot be rebuilt without the express control of western figureheads.

it was about sex

>what's it matter as long as I slot floppies?
This. I volunteered both times to transfer to the unit that was relieving us and all I got was fucking weird looks from higher. Why the fuck join the army and choose the infantry if you don't want to throw down.

Fuck, how awesome would that have been, to deploy for a decade plus. That's some old school campaigning there.

The oil was left behind, that's why so many terrorist groups started grouping together and fighting for the oil fields.

debunked

everything!

...

the problem is that we let the saudis have the oil and everything an look what happened. We fucked up. No we can't control hardly jack shit. So we just control what we can. Make friends, then convince each other to stab each other in the back.

>mfw people actually think spending trillions on a war is profitable because of petrodollar magic
stay kosher