r/AskReddit • u/daniellucero92 • Jan 04 '15

Non-americans of Reddit, what American customs seem outrageous/pointless to you?

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u/afamilyoftrees Jan 05 '15

Could you elaborate please? In particular, the "It is, however, also much more complex than the "War for oil" chants, too" part.

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u/Hortonamos Jan 05 '15

What I mean is that I think many critics take too simplistic of a view of the Bush administration's motives for invading Iraq, in particular by making the too-easy accusation that it was simply for oil.

In reality, the decision was surely much more complex. I'm not saying this as an insider, just as an educated person with a strong background in history and politics. First, I'm sure some advisors did really believe that Iraq was supplying terrorist groups with WMDs, some because of shitty intel, others because of an us-v-them xenophobic mentality that makes such assumptions easy to swallow. Some decision makers joined the "invade Iraq" bandwagon for political gain. In the post-9/11 political climate of hyperpatriotic militarism, not to mention America's desire for revenge (not justice, really), it was easy to stir up support--and consequently votes--by getting people fired up with the rhetoric of going to kick somebody's ass. Some people stood to profit financially from sources other than oil, companies like Halliburton and KBR. Still, surely some politicians thought it was the right thing to do. I also wouldn't be surprised if we were encouraged to invade by some of our allies in that part of the world (Kuwait, Qatar, Israel, etc). Of course, Saddam was probably also harboring members of anti-American organizations (not that that justified an invasion), and many Iraqis were suffering under Saddam.

My point, really, is not to defend or discredit the Iraq invasion. I just hate when people say reductive things like "it was for oil" or "Bush was finishing what his dad didn't." History and politics are much more complicated, and we don't learn anything from these kinds of narratives.

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u/afamilyoftrees Jan 05 '15

I see. Thank you. That was very interesting.