ok, not that anyone’s asking, but were i prone to petro-conspiracy theories here’s what i would think…
i would think that iraq has the 2nd largest petroleum reserves in the world. and i would think that one reason that so many countries are lining up to support a war in iraq is cos they want some of that sweet, tasty, oil.
and i would think that one reason that some countries are opposing the war (france, germany, russia, etc) is that they might have been told by the iraqi’s that they could have access to the oil if the war never happens.
just a conspiracy theory. and the fact that schroeder is in the middle of a political crisis also probably compels him to oppose the war. and chirac? maybe he’s just going for political support, i dunno.
although it is kind of sad that the least likely scenario is that any of these politicians might oppose a potential war on ethical grounds, well, given my conspiracy theory that is.
and there is actually a part of me that potentially believes that the bush administration genuinely wants to see democracy spread in the middle east. i know, i’m a naive little fool. but there’s a moderately compelling article in this weeks new yorker that does sort of advance that idea (democracy in the middle east, not me being a naive little fool. my status as a naive little fool doesn’t need advancing, as it’s pretty much common knowledge, right?). and it’s a nice idea. so maybe the bushies aren’t so bad, and they just want democracy for the middle east and a truckload of oil as a bonus.
naive? me? yes, hopelessly.
i mean, as much as i love peace and tranquility i have to say that having a world without saddam hussein as the leader of iraq is pretty attractive. i mean, ,the man did use weapons of mass destruction against his own people and torture and kill his opponents and wage war on iran, kuwait, israel, etc and burn oil wells out of spite and etc etc.
i worry that in the blind rush to criticize the u.s that people are also kind of forgetting just how bad of a man saddam happens to be.
i’m not defending u.s foreign policy. but it is worth remembering that saddam hussein is, by any conventional reckoning, a monster, and that a democratic iraq without saddam hussein is far preferable to a despotic iraq with saddam hussein.
just some opinions, for what they’re worth. just pretend i’m a loudmouth in a bar who takes his opinions too seriously.
moby