No ignorance for oil!
Alright, this "We're in the Middle East for oil" crap has simply got to stop.
I'm listening to the late night re-broadcast of Dennis Prager who's guest, Robert Pape, author of "Dying to win : the strategic logic of suicide terrorism" just said that the primary reason for our 140,000 man combat presence in the Arabian Peninsula is easy access to oil.
Let me say that again... Even today, post 9/11, post Madrid, post London last frickin' week, this man still believes we're in the Gulf for oil. It just makes me weep with frustration. Not freedom for Iraqis, not increased US (nay, world) security, just oil. And he feels that we should get our oil from alternate sources and get out of the Gulf to reduce the bloodshed. "No blood for oil" rears it's ugly head again.
Talk about naive.
Dennis advances another theory, namely that a bloodthirsty wing of Islam has visions of re-instating a shari'a caliphate over the entire Mid East, then all muslim countries, then ultimately the world. This explains not only suicide attacks on Americans but also why Al-Qaida targets their fellow muslims in Egypt and even Saudi Arabia where we no longer have a single soldier. Dennis is dismissed almost out of hand. "I don't doubt that Al-Qaida attacks targets for other reasons as well. I just think that we could reduce suicide bomber recruitment by two thirds." replies Professor Pate.
How? Appeasment through withdrawl,though he never comes out and says it.
Professor Pape? Listen to me real close, now. Listening? WE DID NOT GO TO WAR FOR OIL. Not in 1991, not in 2003. WE WENT TO SPREAD FREEDOM AND THEREBY INCREASE OUR OWN SECURITY. The world's oil supply is just that. A world pool from which we all dip. Those geographicaly blessed nations who sit atop large portions of that world supply stand to make a lot of money, true, but the days of American colonialism are over, sir. We're too rich to bother. The economic rewards for dealing fairly with the US far outweigh the few bucks one could make by refusing us as trading partners. Sane, stable governments realize this. Despotic, dictatorial ones do not. By coincidence, dictatorships treat their citizens like crap and tend to breed terrorists who attack the US. This is why we go to war. TO SPREAD FREEDOM AND TO INCREASE OUR SECURITY. To say we went to war in Iraq for oil is as stupid as saying we went to war with Germany for laderhosen or Japan for sushi. Cheap suspenders and raw fish are not good reasons to wage war, Mr Pape. Reducing human suffering in the world and protecting American citizens, however, are good reasons.
I'm listening to the late night re-broadcast of Dennis Prager who's guest, Robert Pape, author of "Dying to win : the strategic logic of suicide terrorism" just said that the primary reason for our 140,000 man combat presence in the Arabian Peninsula is easy access to oil.
Let me say that again... Even today, post 9/11, post Madrid, post London last frickin' week, this man still believes we're in the Gulf for oil. It just makes me weep with frustration. Not freedom for Iraqis, not increased US (nay, world) security, just oil. And he feels that we should get our oil from alternate sources and get out of the Gulf to reduce the bloodshed. "No blood for oil" rears it's ugly head again.
Talk about naive.
Dennis advances another theory, namely that a bloodthirsty wing of Islam has visions of re-instating a shari'a caliphate over the entire Mid East, then all muslim countries, then ultimately the world. This explains not only suicide attacks on Americans but also why Al-Qaida targets their fellow muslims in Egypt and even Saudi Arabia where we no longer have a single soldier. Dennis is dismissed almost out of hand. "I don't doubt that Al-Qaida attacks targets for other reasons as well. I just think that we could reduce suicide bomber recruitment by two thirds." replies Professor Pate.
How? Appeasment through withdrawl,though he never comes out and says it.
Professor Pape? Listen to me real close, now. Listening? WE DID NOT GO TO WAR FOR OIL. Not in 1991, not in 2003. WE WENT TO SPREAD FREEDOM AND THEREBY INCREASE OUR OWN SECURITY. The world's oil supply is just that. A world pool from which we all dip. Those geographicaly blessed nations who sit atop large portions of that world supply stand to make a lot of money, true, but the days of American colonialism are over, sir. We're too rich to bother. The economic rewards for dealing fairly with the US far outweigh the few bucks one could make by refusing us as trading partners. Sane, stable governments realize this. Despotic, dictatorial ones do not. By coincidence, dictatorships treat their citizens like crap and tend to breed terrorists who attack the US. This is why we go to war. TO SPREAD FREEDOM AND TO INCREASE OUR SECURITY. To say we went to war in Iraq for oil is as stupid as saying we went to war with Germany for laderhosen or Japan for sushi. Cheap suspenders and raw fish are not good reasons to wage war, Mr Pape. Reducing human suffering in the world and protecting American citizens, however, are good reasons.