- Few know why we went. Those who do are not talking. Yet.
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- The real reason the US went to Iraq had little to do
with democracy. Only fools who believe we have democracy here inAmerica,
believe we went to Iraq to spread democracy. Democracy, unlike manure and
rumors, isn't spread, it's nurtured rather than fertilized.
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- Former CIA analyst, Ray McGovern said the Iraq war "has
nothing to do with democracy or freedom or defending our way of life, it
is to do with enriching the pockets of those who support this administration."
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- We went to Iraq for oil, empire and Israel, in no particular
order. Not incidentally, we also went there so a select few, influential
friends of those in power, could make a whole lot of money. And of course,
we went there to wreck things so American taxpayers and Iraqi citizens
could be doubly billed: once for wrecking them and once again for repairing
them.
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- "The War on Terrorism benefits the arms/security/surveillance/oil
industries, Bechtel, Halliburton, the Carlyle Group," commented Carol
Brouillet.
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- Benefits and rewards them with no bid contracts. Benefits
and rewards them by allowing no oversight on those contracts, by allowing
the sole bidders the luxury to fulfill their contract at whatever cost--or
not.
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- For example, an Iraqi woman detailed the depth of these
corrupt practices in her thought-provoking link, The
Promise and the Threat
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- "One of my cousins works in a prominent engineering
company in Baghdad- we'll call the company H. This company is well-known
for designing and building bridges all over Iraq. My cousin, a structural
engineer, is a bridge freak. He spends hours talking about pillars and
trusses and steel structures to anyone who'll listen. As May was drawing
to a close, his manager told him that someone from the CPA wanted the company
to estimate the building costs of replacing the New Diyala Bridge on the
South East end of Baghdad. He got his team together, they went out and
assessed the damage, decided it wasn't too extensive, but it would be costly.
They did the necessary tests and analyses (mumblings about soil composition
and water depth, expansion joints and girders) and came up with a number
they tentatively put forward- $300,000. This included new plans and designs,
raw materials (quite cheap in Iraq), labor, contractors, travel expenses,
etc. Let's pretend my cousin is a dolt. Let's pretend he hasn't been working
with bridges for over 17 years. Let's pretend he didn't work on replacing
at least 20 of the 133 bridges damaged during the first Gulf War. Let's
pretend he's wrong and the cost of rebuilding this bridge is four times
the number they estimated- let's pretend it will actually cost $1,200,000.
Let's just use our imagination. A week later, the New Diyala Bridge contract
was given to an American company. This particular company estimated the
cost of rebuilding the bridge would be around- brace yourselves---$50,000,000
!!"
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- Fifty million US taxpayer dollars for a million dollar
bridge? Sounds about right for the current, corrupt administrations of
America and their puppets in Iraq.
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- We went to Iraq for oil, empire and Israel. But mostly
we went so a whole bunch of Bush buddies could make a helluva lot of money,
soaking the public. As Condi Rice admitted, we could be in Iraq another
ten years. Imagine the profits; Empire doesn't come cheap.
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- We also went to Iraq at the instigation of religious
gangsters. Ours not theirs. We went so foreign and domestic religious leaders,
who have far more say in our government than you or I, could hasten along
their dream of a poisoned Middle-Eastern kingdom to entice some messiah
to come back and reward them for their efforts. Enraptured, these Judeo-Christian
jihadists envision a holy war, with plentiful profits along the way.
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- We went there for Israel. We went there to effectively
destroy Israel's sworn enemies, despite the denials of numerous media honchos.
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- Joel Mobray wrote: "Discussing the
Iraq war with the Washington Post former General Anthony Zinni took the
path chosen by so many anti-Semites: he blamed it on the Jews ...Technically,
the former head of the Central Command in the Middle East didn't say 'Jews.'
He instead used a term that has become a new favorite for anti-Semites:
'neoconservatives'."
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- Does the war with Iraq, or future wars with Syria or
Iran or Pakistan, benefit the average US citizen--or Israel? Before the
war, General Zinni was one of the very few high level commanders with any
experience in the Middle East. Zinni dared speak his mind to Washington
and to the American media, not that anybody listened.
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- We went to Iraq the way Mallory went to Mt. Everest:
because it's there. We went for the glory. We went to rewrite American
history with neocon names writ large with hubris and with the unfortunate
ignorance of history. We went to Iraq with the bodies of American soldiers
who naively trusted their leaders. We went for empire cleverly disguised
as patriotism.
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- We went to Iraq to rid the world of Saddam and slowly
became Saddam ourselves. We went to free the imprisoned, relieve the tortured,
and stuck around to imprison and torture ourselves! We went for a few good
reasons, but many more bad ones slowly becoming worse.
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- And, of course, we went to Iraq to make a whole lot of
money in the process for a select few.
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- Since the Iraq war began the price of gas at the pumps
had nearly tripled for consumers. Oil profits in that time measure in the
tens of billions. While families sacrifice--wartime usually meant sacrifice--the
oil industry reaped windfall bonanzas (Hurricanes don't hurt either). The
oil-soaked White House, well connected to the oil industry, may intentionally
have bumbled the Iraq war to perpetually benefit big oil with "scarcities."
Few know exactly. Those who do are not talking. They're too busy counting
all that money.
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- Pragmatists may claim, with more than a shred of truth,
that the US had to invade and occupy the Middle East to erect a fortress
around the petroleum resources there. To insure a steady supply of the
lubricant that allows the entire creaky machine to function. The theory
of Peak Oil is holy writ to them. Thus the patriotism of self-preservation
for the American way-of-life outweighs any moral arguments. The need for
oil, not just for today or tomorrow but for the next century, necessitates
the perpetuation of the American empire, by hook or by crook or by pre-emptive
strike.
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- Like a Trojan horse, democracy was a false gift to the
Iraqi people. Inside were the real reasons, fully armed and ready to plunder.
Democracy was an afterthought for the thirty-month military occupation
of Iraq. Indeed, if democracy truly existed, the Iraqis would have quickly
voted us out of Iraq.
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- And if democracy existed in American, criminal indictments
and the impeachment of the president would have occurred long ago. For
lying the country into the Middle East, for wasting men, money and materials
for the enrichment of a few people connected to the administration. For
oil, empire and Israel.
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- Few know the exact reasons we went to war with Iraq.
Those who do are not talking. Yet.
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- Amateur historian, US veteran and novelist, Douglas Herman
is the author of the provocative thriller, The Guns of Dallas.
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