Create an Account
username: password:
 
  MemeStreams Logo

RE: CNOOC: Unocal Bid Not About Politics - Yahoo! News

search

Decius
Picture of Decius
Decius's Pics
My Blog
My Profile
My Audience
My Sources
Send Me a Message

sponsored links

Decius's topics
Arts
  Literature
   Sci-Fi/Fantasy Literature
  Movies
   Sci-Fi/Fantasy Films
  Music
   Electronic Music
Business
  Finance & Accounting
  Tech Industry
  Telecom Industry
  Management
  Markets & Investing
Games
Health and Wellness
Home and Garden
  Parenting
Miscellaneous
  Humor
  MemeStreams
Current Events
  War on Terrorism
Recreation
  Cars and Trucks
  Travel
Local Information
  United States
   SF Bay Area
    SF Bay Area News
Science
  Biology
  History
  Math
  Nano Tech
  Physics
Society
  Economics
  Politics and Law
   Civil Liberties
    Internet Civil Liberties
    Surveillance
   Intellectual Property
  Media
   Blogging
Sports
Technology
  Computer Security
  Macintosh
  Spam
  High Tech Developments

support us

Get MemeStreams Stuff!


 
RE: CNOOC: Unocal Bid Not About Politics - Yahoo! News
Topic: Current Events 2:43 am EDT, Jun 30, 2005

Acidus wrote:
It is clear what the Iraq war is about: securing vital oil resources that we need to remain a super power. Human rights and "democracy" are just as worthless of an excuse as Germany saying it invaded Poland because of Polish saboteurs.

Is it? This has been a favorite theory of the left since the start but I have never found it particularly compelling. The logic is:

1. Bush says there is an imminent threat that Saddam will give WMD to Al'Q.
2. Turns out there probably wasn't a significant amount of WMD and the connections between Saddam and Al'Q were tenuous at best.
3. The real reason for the war MUST be [insert my favorite conspiracy theory here].

Obviously, 3 does not follow from 2, regardless of what 3 is. 3 must have its own justification which exists independently from the validity or invalidity of 1.

In fact, I don't think taking over Iraq would have significantly reduced our price for Iraqi oil, if all other things were equal. The primary reason the oil wasn't available is because the international community wasn't buying it from Saddam, because Saddam was a problem. If this was all just a greedy resource grab we could have simply not embargoed him in the first place and the resource would be far more available then it is now. We embargoed him because he was a problem. Ergo, even if we really DID go in there to free up the oil, it was really about Saddam, and not about the oil per say. Were Saddam not a bastard there would have been no need for a "resource grab."

I think 1 is oversimplified. I'm not convinced that the war was justified. However, I'm not convinced it wasn't either. The trouble with the dialog is that no one on the right is willing to accept 2, and everyone on the left is convinced of 3. I think the reality is that 1 was not totally unreasonalbe but not compelling enough to justify a war, and that 3 is totally unreasonable, but because we can't let both theories go we can't really have a national dialog about what the hell we ARE actually doing.

And this has gone on long enough now that it really doesn't matter anymore. The damage is done. We're in there. And frankly, we need to stay engaged until the situation is sustainable. It doesn't matter why we went in the first place. We cannot simply withdraw because we decide we're no longer happy with our original justification.

I think the recent Senate hearing and Bush's statement which was discussed here was orchestrated to put pressure on the Iraqi government to take more responsibility for domestic security. I don't think that after all of this, people in South Carolina are now suddenly wondering whether we ought to be in there, nor do I think the Republicans would be taking such a sentiment seriously if it weren't in their interest to do so. You're going to hear more about how the American people are getting tired of Iraq. You might even see a return of the protests. This is how we're going to negotiate with the Iraqi's. They rightly think its our mess to clean up, but if we're unwilling to do that they have to do it or live in it. They'll do it.

Our next problem will be keeping them from hating us for making them do it.

RE: CNOOC: Unocal Bid Not About Politics - Yahoo! News



 
 
Powered By Industrial Memetics
RSS2.0