We have spent, what? 150 billion on the IRAQ thing so far? ASk them if it was just about oil why we didn't just spend that money on the oil instead of going to all the trouble and loss of life. It's bigger than oil, it's security. $150 Bil would buy 3.75 BILLION barrels of $40 a barrel oil.

S.O.

Just to play devil's advocate.  The $150 billion is an investment to make trillions in the future.  

I dont know about trillions. If there was THAT much money involved the gooberment would be drilling for pvt sale! I fully understand you point though. It's just to illistrate to people that it's not just about oil as by the time we are done we could have bought ALOT of it without all the problems.

S.O.

At the end of the day, the war is about oil. For over twenty years, Saddam spoke and wrote about his plans to control the supply of oil from the Middle East. His plan was to roll up Kuwait, then Saudi Arabia, then the United Arab Emirates. The other sheikdoms would then come under his domination or be overrun. Gulf War I put a crimp in his plans. Having anthrax or nukes atop a missile supplied by China or Russia, countries whose oil reserves would become dramatically more valuable should the Middle East shut down, would make him a player again. He wouldn't need armies anymore. All he would have to do is squeeze and western Europe and Japan would collapse. The US is not even close to being capable of supplying our own needs, and competing in a depleted would market would foment economic disaster. So WMD or no WMD it is a job that has to be done.
FWIW
YMMV

I honestly don't see why we don't spend more time trying to find technology that allows us to get rid of our dependence on oil.  I bet $150 bil would go a long way towards that.

Oh, and I heard another good theory over the weekend.  Haliburton has been gearing up over the last 8 years to be in a position to be the only company in the world capable of rebuilding Iraq and providing other services.  They knew that Bush jr. would get elected, and select Cheney as his VP, so that Haliburton could get all these contracts.

We're fighting to protect the american way of life man..  You ever been to England?  Europe?  You ever seen the dinky little shitboxes those people drive around in?  My Civic was a land yacht compared to that.  Those electric Barbie cars they sell in Walmart would fit more crap in the back.  I once picked up a few Brits from the airport in a fullsize V8 Bronco, they thought I was David Friggin Rockafeller.  Over there, it would cost you $10 to turn the key on a good truck like that.. $120 or so to fill it.

Seriously though, we do need to work on alternative fuels and energy sources, but in the meantime (and for the foreseeable future) we're tied to dead dinosaur juice.  Without it, our economy flounders.. Millions go out of work and starve, and the world destabilizes just that much more.  Next thing you know, your neighbor is looking at your brand new Geo Metro saying, "Man, NOBODY needs THAT much car."

Screw the war for oil.. This is a war against the terrorism of sub-subcompact automobiles.

What's wrong with protecting oil supplies?

Quoted: What's wrong with protecting oil supplies?

do you want to die for it?  Do you think the folks that joined the armed forces did so to die so you can drive an H2?

Wars have always been fought over economics.  Anybody who joins the Military should do so with a clear understanding of that fact.

 Oil just happens to be one of those things, like food, or water, that is worth fighting for.

IMHO. War for oil, is a better reason, than war to "free" the muslims.    

I just wish our government would seize the oil fields, and pump out every last drop, giving some of the profits to our troops.  We could share the spoils with the Ruskies, so as to not make them jealous.

If the war was all about oil, why didn't we roll Libya?  Less population, shorter delivery times....

Quoted: The $150 billion is an investment to make trillions in the future.

Correction,  for a few politically connected companies to make billions.

Why did we give the oilfields back after GW1 then?