Reasons for War

[Terrance]

The Great Quail wrote:
> 
> I think there are several valid reasons for this War, just as there are
> several valid reasons to oppose it. By enumerating the pro-War reasons, I am
> not siding with the Bushies, who -- in my opinion -- did a poor job
> articulating the reasons to the world, and a worse job with the diplomatic
> build-up to the war. Also, this is all predicated on the fact that, at the
> root of it, oil is the a-priori reason we wish a stable, pro-US region. Of
> course it is! 

I snipped the list of reasons and perhaps I will take them up one at a
time, but first I think it is important to dismiss the idea that oil is
the reason the USA, the coalition, the people of the world want to and
need to "stabilize" the region. This war was sparked by a host of
rivalries in the region (i.e. Iran v Iraq) and outside of it (USA v
Russia). Some of these rivalries are ethnic, some are religious, some
political and some economic. Some are ideological and some are personal.
The oil wars and shocks ended after the Iran-Iraq war, although Iraq
made a desperate last gasp attempt in the struggle for primacy of the
Gulf when it invaded Kuwait. Other reasons for this war include, 
insecurities of national cohesion due to the arbitrary way in which
"states" were created and boarders were overlaid on a map of the defunct
Ottoman Empire. Indeed, geography and the use of and threat of Weapons
of Mass Destruction is the heart of the current conflict and the reason
why the UN passed resolutions and why the coalition is in Iraq. Oil is
not the reason. As I noted months ago, water, to name but one example, 
is far more important than oil in this conflict. On this List there
seems to be a very dated view of oil, oil markets, oil related conflicts
and the like. We are not living in the 1970s  and 1980s, oil is no
longer THE PRIZE it once was.