US Foreign Policy: Iraq

[JB_Bboy]

During the 1920s the US and Britain had oil fields in the Middle East after its discovery a few years before. After World War II, OPEC raised the price of oil from $3 to $22 per barrel. That's why Abdel Karim Qassim (Iraqi leader before Saddam) placed all oil fields under the government's control. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger even publicly stated that "Middle East oil is much too important a commodity to be left in the hands of the Arabs" (That line alone explains the whole Middle East conflict, and why we're there)The CIA attempted several times to assassinate him, but remained unsuccessful, until they found their man, Saddam Hussein. In a coup, Saddam took over the country, and was in full control by 1968. Under CIA direction, he killed Communists and radicals. We provided Saddam with weapons, including chemicals. Similar thing was going on in Iran, where we replaced the ruler who wanted to place all oil under government control, with the Shah. We assisted the Shah with $22 billion between 1972-1976 in weaponry alone. When Iraq went to war with Iran, 55 countries were providing them with resources, 29 of which were assisting both countries. That included the U.S., who claimed that it was assisting neither country. Again, we were playing the double standard to boost our arms industry. After the war with Iran, Iraq was $40 billion in debt. The country was pretty much devastated. At the time there was a limit placed on the amount of oil that each OPEC country could produce. And Kuwait was producing 20% more than it was allowed to, which brought oil prices around the world down, and made the Western world very happy. But, by Kuwait doing that, Iraq lost one-third of its income, at a time it needed it most. Now this is were things got messy. The US continously, publicly claimed that it had no defense of Kuwait. They let Saddam know that they were not backing Kuwait. Saddam fell for the trap and invaded Kuwait. Before Saddam invaded however, according to Gulf War veterans, the US military was already preparing for a fight against Iraq. They were already carrying out routines in the desert, and informed the soldiers that they were most likely gonna fight Iraq. In addition, the US claimed that Iraq sent almost its entire army to Kuwait, which was complete bullshit. The US then went to Saudi Arabia and convinced them with more bullshit that Iraq was planning to invade Saudi Arabia. The US wanted the Saudis to let them into their country, for reasons that Kissinger explained many years before: OIL IS TOO DAMN IMPORTANT TO BE IN THE HANDS OF ARABS. We convinced the Saudis that they were going to be under attack. We told them that Saddam had soldiers lined up at the border, but satellite pictures proved otherwise. Satellite photos showed that there were minimal troops (which were always there) along the Saudi/Iraqi border. In fact, most Iraqi troops were to the north, and the majority of the rest were in Baghdad alongside the Republican Guard. Then we bombed the shit out of Iraq. The US military claimed that it was pin-pointing on only military facilities and such. That claim was false. The US bombed reservoires, destroyed their access to clean water, bombed electrical companies, generators, phone companies, food processing plants, and basically anything that was necessary for the survival of people. Children were dying all across the country. Pinpoint? Yeah right. Now comes another catch. People start gathering together and plan a rebellious movement to overthrow Saddam and the Iraqi government. As soon as that happens George Bush calls for an immediate end to the war. General Schwarzkopf informs Bush that in another two days they can gain control of Baghdad and get rid of Saddam and his regime. Bush stays with his decision and wants an end to the war. He ordered US troops out, giving Saddam a chance to crush the rebellion. And that was that.

BTW... guess who had exclusive rights to offshore oil in the Gulf at that time? George W Bush... so daddy was making his crackbaby a lil money.

*About 250,000 Iraqis were killed; 100,000 of which were civilians, half of those being children
*We didn't rebuild what we destroyed, and due to our sanctions placed on them, we didn't give them  the chance to do so either
*In the 8 years since the end of the war, 1,500,000 Iraqis have died as a direct result of US/UN sanctions; half of those are kids under the age of 5
*100-200 kept dying daily
*We used 500 tons of depleted uranium bombs and artillery shells. The radioactive dust caused birth defects and cancer to soar

What right did we have? Why did we do all this? Kissinger seemed to have the answer: OIL IS TOO DAMN IMPORTANT TO BE IN THE HANDS OF THE ARABS

Sad, sad shit, and now we're there again... I guess all the oil is worth fucking the country up to a greater extent and rebuilding it after....

[Lincoln]

That is fucked.

[Woodrow]

Typical Liberal Bullshit!