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Originally Posted by llama64
Iraq was about securing Middle East oil and boosting the American Economy (aka Military/Industrial complex). All the junk about terrorists and freedom for the Iraqi people was all sugar to make it palatable to the people. Not sure why this is even debated anymore.
Having talked to a few Americans, I tend to believe they are willfully ignorant. The information is there, it's not like people have really gone out of their way to hide it.
People are conditioned to be ok with killing their enemy. To make an enemy, you define the difference between your group and the group that you are fighting against (Christians vs Muslim, Serbian vs Croat, etc). Once they are the enemy, they are dehumanized in to a nice black and white morality situation, which is palatable for people en mass.
For an interesting take on why the Iraq war took place, take a look at this youtube vid. It's a short film based on the book "The Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein. The concept is pretty simple: push through your agenda by keeping the people in a state of shock, there by reducing opposition. It's a tool that has been used throughout history and continues to be used now by those in power (political orientation has nothing to do with it). |
Even though I'm a liberal I have to disagree about why the Iraq war was started. I think it was genuinely about spreading democracy. It would be very beneficial for the United States to have the Middle East move into the first world. If a successful Democracy ever managed to function in Iraq, it would be a huge boost to spreading Democracy throughout the Middle East.
All this talk about securing oil and getting contracts for Halliburton as the main goal of the war seem a little far-fetched. I think Bush and his neo-conservative clan genuinely thought that this would spread democracy. That said, I also believe it was a generally horrible idea with little regard for what would happen once Hussein was disposed.