[Peace-discuss] Why are we in Iraq?

[C. G. Estabrook]

     "The problem posed by oil is not one of mere efficient housekeeping as Bush 
pretends. It is one of imperial strategy, and should be understood as such. 
Cheap oil has been the lifeblood of the US-dominated post World War 2 economy, 
and thus would remain essential to the functioning of its imperial domain even 
if the USA itself ran entirely on wind power. Furthermore, given the desire to 
ensure that the global system does not pass to new management in the coming 
decades, oil represents a strategic weapon of vast potency, providing the US 
with what former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski described as 
“critical leverage” over its rivals. It was primarily these concerns that drove 
the policy to install a client government and a permanent military presence in 
Iraq, at the heart of the world’s energy producing region.

     "So the problem is not an American society addicted to oil. Rather, it is 
American state-corporate elites and institutions (and their counterparts across 
the world, not least here in London) addicted to the pursuit of economic and 
political power whatever the human cost. Those costs will continue to be paid by 
the western public – and, to a far, far greater extent, by the people of the 
third world - until the imperial nature of western foreign policy is recognised 
for what it is."

     David Wearing
     London, UK
     www.democratsdiary.co.uk