About 11 1/2 years ago I took to the streets with thousands of others to shout “Not In My Name” and otherwise protest against the illegal invasion of Iraq, the illegal toppling of its government, etc. I spent a lot of time back then reading about the War which ensued, writing about the illegalness of the Bush Administration in lying us into a major catastrophe of a War, etc. Thanks to recent events we are finding ourselves drawn again into a war in the Middle East, with the Obama Administration taking us there will all speed. Remember that back in the day Obama was one of the few voices brave enough to speak against the Iraq War.
There are big questions over how legal it is for the Obama Administration to take action against ISIS/ISIL/IS and the U.S. Congress has abdicated its responsibility to approve/disprove the Obama Administrations’ actions.
I come to LongTailPipe.com to write about this because all our efforts in the Middle East have to do with the need to maintain access to Oil resources in the Middle East. In other words, while the rhetoric around the push for this war has to do with the evilness of ISIL/ISIS/IS, the real reason is Oil.
How many brutal regimes around the world conduct evil against their citizens, and the rest of the world looks the other way? To take an example, what about the genocide in Rwanda? Why is this particular instance of ethnic cleansing in Syria/Iraq any different from others where “the world” doesn’t do a thing? The difference is Oil.
What happens in the Middle East has outsized importance because of Oil. Western countries have relatively small Oil resources, and rely on the Oil producing nations for the Oil that keeps our economic situation humming. Ideally we would just buy Oil on the open market, but under the guise of maintaining an open market on Oil the U.S. and other Western powers have inflicted war after war in the Middle East, and in general have acted to undermine normal governance of Oil producing countries.
Those with a long enough memory may remember a couple things from the 2003 Gulf War:
- Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 attacks – the perpetrators were in Afghanistan, and were all Saudi Nationals
- The Bush43 Administration came into office with an agenda to attack Iraq, and manipulated the 9/11 attacks to serve that agenda
- That agenda was published via the Project For A New American Century, in a paper signed by dozens of Washingtonites who went on to take major/top roles in the Bush Administration. That paper called for first toppling the Government of Iraq, followed by toppling the Governments of either Syria or Iran depending on conditions.
- The purpose was supposedly to install moderate democracy in the middle of the Middle East, so that the region would become friendly to Western powers and our need for Oil
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called the 2003 Invasion of Iraq an illegal war
We’re finding ourselves again in the role of more attacks on groups in the Middle East – actions that will certainly cause more hatred against the West. Last night the U.S. began a bombing campaign inside Syria, an action that might provoke an actual war between the U.S. and Syria itself. And, because of Russia’s long support of Syria, that increases the amount of conflict between the West and Russia’s zones of interest. Not only is there a standoff over Syria, but also in Ukraine.
The U.S. Congress has refused to do its duty, as required by the Constitution, to debate and approve/disapprove of the use of military might by the Obama Administration. Instead, Congress just voted itself a two month holiday so it can campaign for reelection.
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