RE: Ada in Iraq

["Beard, Frank Randolph CIV" <frank.beard@navy.mil>]

-----Original Message-----
From: John McCabe [mailto:john@nospam.demon.co.uk]

[OFFTOPIC]
Of course, even if Iraq did become part of the US Empire, like the UK
appears to have become (!), there would be much more freedom of speech
etc than under Saddam Hussein's regime, but don't for a minute think
that this war was *all* about freeing the Iraqis from oppression and
stopping Iraq from being a threat to 'world peace'.
[/OFFTOPIC]

No one said it was, and I don't think anyone thinks that either.
There can be more than one reason to do something.

I'm just tired of the naive claims that it's all about the oil.
Especially since the rest of the world has a higher dependence on
the oil produced in the middle east than we do.  We might be the
biggest users, but we can produce our own.  It's just cheaper to
buy it from the middle east.  

I don't think the US is interested in creating an empire.  If it 
were, and it were all about the oil, we would have kept Kuwait, 
and many other parts of the world.

But lets also not think for a minute that all the opposition to the
war was for some moral principle either, as in no right to interfere,
or we need to follow the UN, etc.  In light of many of the new
discoveries, such as French and Russian missiles (production dates of
2002 and 2000 respectively) in the possession of the Iraqi's.  Both 
were in violation of UN weapons sanctions against Iraq.  And, of course,
the French oil deals with Saddam.  And then there's the issue of the
nearly 2 billion (that's billion) dollars Saddam gave to the UN.  The
UN president couldn't, or wouldn't, account for the money.  The only
UN response was that there were multiple audits.  When asked by whom,
nobody knows.  Apparently, some type of internal audit (more like the
fox guarding the hen house).  When asked to produce any of the audits
or information, it was refused.

It seems many of the biggest "moral" objectors had the most to gain
by keeping Saddam in power.  Where's the moral outrage there?

Frank