From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Sat Jan 25 2003 - 13:42:27 MST
John Clark writes
> "Kai Becker" <kmb@cameron.kn-bremen.de>
>
> > Iraq has the second largest oil resources currently known. A
> > puppet regime in Baghdad would guarantee a good profit
>
> Wow, but I'm confused, I thought you felt that going to war with Iraq was
> not a good idea.
Could someone knowledgeable start a thread on "oil economics"?
Wouldn't a Western takeover of Iraq just put the oil at market
prices, (to the main betterment of Europe)?
> > The US are not going to war for moral, ethics and
> > democracy - or [blah blah blah]
>
> Who gives a damn why the USA is going to war, it's not important,
> the only thing that is important is the results of that war.
Okay, I'll admit that *why* the U.S./U.K. are going to
war is not so important as analyzing the probable results.
But it's still interesting to ponder the reasons we on this
forum might support the invasion, and one can then try to
square up those reasons with what eventuates. I was proud
of my little list of reasons (that no one commented on):
(1) non-proliferation of WMD
(2) diminishing support for terrorists
(3) breaking monopolistic control of oil
(4) punishing the abrogation of treaties and agreements
(5) giving the evil and murderous Iraqi regime what
it richly deserves
(6) instilling fear in small dictatorships in general, and
also respect for the West's values on human rights
Of course, this is only the list of reasons *we* here
might support. Who knows what the motives might be,
for example, in Washington? Perhaps, in order,
(A) getting re-elected
(B) increasing U.S. prestige and power
(C) making the Democrats look bad
(D) the reasons 1-6 on the previous list
Naturally, this is speculation since one expects Western
government planners to have been through many iterations
of "We think that they think that we anticipate that they
plan that after we announce that we may...", and to have
weighed up the many pros and cons to each contemplated action.
Lee
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