Yeah, it would be real great if you ignored the risk of a western power conquering and and occupying an Islamic country. Which is exactly what the democracy for all zealots advising Bush did. Religion was of little interest to them so they discounted the trouble that Islam could create for an occupying power.
GHW Bush in contrast to his son was a foreign policy realist and didn’t try to occupy Iraq. Iraq couldn’t even defeat Iran in a 10 year war. Defenseless Kuwait was their sole conquest, and after the beating the US administered to them for that Iraq wasn’t a threat to their neighbors.
Samuel Huntington had been warning about the clash of civilizations since 1992 but Dubya’s eggheads wanted to believe the goofy End of History ideas of Francis Fukuyama instead. Well at least we got to see who got that debate right. Some people correctly predicted what would happen. Some had to learn the hard way. And others have managed to learn nothing.
All very interesting and I agree with some of it. However I still don’t find anywhere in the post a valid motivation for GW to lie in order to start a war. Lots more than “oil and money, duh” but no justification of your opinion at all. He did not benefit from it politically, economically or personally.