Topsez said:
The balance of power in the Mid East since WWI has been the responsibility of England, France and the United States.
It should have been the responsibility of the nations of the Middle East all along.
Topsez said:
The original national interests of these countries were the oil reserves that would be needed in WWII and any future wars. However, the demand for domestic oil in these nations now trumps the war reasons. America in particular imports over 20,000,000 barrels of oil each day, 365 days a year. Yes, our national interest in the Mid East are oil and Israel. Managment or mismanagment of the ME nations following their defeat in WWI and II when they chose the wrong side to support has caused terrorism along with the establishment of Israel.
So Saudi Arabia should have backed Turkey? Anyway, the rest is correct.
Topsez said:
President Bush stated after 9-11 we would no longer mismanage the ME and changed the foreign policy indicating America would no longer prop up dictators or play dictators against dictators but pursue a policy of democracy.
OK.
Topsez said:
Oil is a world commodity like corn, water or air and is not to be controlled but offered to the open market for the bid price based on demand.
Says who? It would seem to me that, if we're being completely honest about the whole free market thing, if a country anywhere chose to keep its resources to itself, it should be allowed to do so.
Of course, pretty much any Middle Eastern country that kept its oil off the market would result in general pandemonium. I have no particular problem with preventing that by force; my problem is that we say one thing and do another. All this talk of free markets is B.S.
Topsez said:
To control oil is an act of war as it would be if a country attempted to control water or air.
You don't say! Do you realize what a can of worms you're opening here? If we've been managing the ME (as you admit) then we've been controlling oil
ipso facto. Which must also mean that we've been committing acts of war, eh?
Actually, I realize it's not that simple. But Israel, for instance, has definitely been committing acts of war against Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq through controlling water supplies. This is a far bigger issue than most people in America realize.
Topsez said:
Russia has been interested in Iran since the end of WWII and was quite busy there while the US was involved in the Korean Conflict. China is busy around the world acting similarly. The interest in Iraq in 1990 was oil and the fear that Saddam would overpower neighbors and become the ME oil King and the most powerful man in the world by setting production rates.
That was part of it, yes. There was little fear in America that he would do that; the Saudis however were quite frightened of this possibility, and they wanted him dealt with. That is why we got involved, all B.S. aside.
Topsez said:
The reason for the restart of Iraq War was Saddam's contempt for the US and the UN and little more. Now Iran is the threat and not Iraq and Iran has the interests in Iraq for the same reason Saddam had interests in Kuwait. At least that is my opinion.
I disagree. We were depending on discoveries in the Caspian sea region to make Middle Eastern oil less important and forestall global production peak. However, it came out in late 1999 that the Caspian region, originally thought to contain nearly half a trillion barrels, really only contained about 50 billion. When Bush and Cheney took control, they held a closed investigation on world energy and realized that we would have to set up as many police stations in the ME as possible to maintain global dominance. This had already been understood as an eventuality since Reagan.
Topsez said:
The 1990 war was about oil, the restart not but continues partly in concern for the above stated concerns for free flow of the oil commodity. America doesn't desire to own oil fields, it desires to purchase oil freely on a world market.
Again, I disagree. Of course we want to control as much oil as possible. We don't want to own Iraq's oil per se, we just want to get the money from the sale of the oil, and be able to control it in case of a shortage.