The value of the dollar as the world currency reserve was a motivating factor. Sadam Hussein and other middle eastern/OPEC oil producers wanted to sell oil for other currencies like Euros and drive down the value of the dollar. It was just one of the factors, there were others.
China may be getting ahead of us in this regard, as they consume about a quarter of the world's oil production and are trying to reduce their own dependence by encouraging electric vehicles.
I believe China's main concern is how it is going to control it's population and feed it's people. They can build all the electric vehicles they want but they can't eat them. Or sell them to us unless we allow them into our market. Much of China's progress is hype and will be exposed in the near future as the world undergoes economic tribulation.
Exactly. While there were other factors, we were told repeatedly and adamantly that oil was not a factor at all. The truth was that the economic motivations that you outlined played a significant role in the decision to start a war that has cost the lives of thousands of our troops, 100,000+ Iraqi civilian lives, and over a trillion dollars of taxpayer money. Each day we witness the continuing crapstorm that has resulted.
I say, “Never again.”
“I believe China's main concern is how it is going to control it's population and feed it's people. They can build all the electric vehicles they want but they can't eat them. Or sell them to us unless we allow them into our market. Much of China's progress is hype and will be exposed in the near future as the world undergoes economic tribulation.”
Apocalypse aside, China has brought hundreds of millions of its people into the middle class, estimated to be composed of around around 430 million people now. “Today the government is no longer worried about starvation, but satisfying an affluent and growing middle class that wants to eat like Americans.” (source) We can't keep our heads in the sand.