General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAt this point, what is our "National Interest" in Iraq?
Oil? I keep seeing ads showing that we're the #1 natural gas producer in the world. I see wind turbine blades rolling down the highway every day. Canada is begging us to build a pipeline.
Middle East stability? Only the Middle East can stabilize the Middle East. We can't do that for them.
Bulwark against Soviet Imperialism (yeah, I went there)? I think Putin likes Al Quaeda less than we do.
I feel for every family that lost a son, daughter, brother, sister, father, or mother in that stupid war. Brave Americans who died for nothing other than greed, a misguided vision of an American-imposed peace, and gross stupidity -- with a dash of revenge thrown in.
So I ask everyone here -- is there one good reason why we should send any member of our military to Iraq? Do we have a "national interest" there?
Gravitycollapse
(8,155 posts)As the Western capitalist venture expands into the world, so too does our national interest to the point that any destabilization in a population that MIGHT compromise US strategic financial interest becomes a matter of national security.
This is not about the Iraqi people. It never has been about the Iraqi people. It always has been and will always be about securing our own financial interests.
We couch this inside of a concern for the interests of the Iraqi state. Which is true in the sense that the stability of the Iraqi state, or at least the stability of the state as being just capable enough to resist defeat, insures our own financial prosperity.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)Grenada, Haiti, Congo, and a whole slew of other countries we so generously "helped" into bloodshed, civil war, torture, assassinations, starvation, and other improvements were.
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)JayhawkSD
(3,163 posts)And so we have to fight wars to defend our freedoms, because if we lost our freedoms they would be hating us for no valid reason. Oh, wait, that didn't work very well. It's something about freedome, anyway.