[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Wow, in less than four years (one term in office), we’d have hundreds of billions rolling in from that oil business !

And we'd have the birth of the Empire of The United States. No thanks.

[PieterCasparzen]

Wow, in less than four years (one term in office), we’d have hundreds of billions rolling in from that oil business !

And we'd have the birth of the Empire of The United States. No thanks.

We're already in the wars. I did not say claim the territory, just do what we did in the first few weeks of the wars we already fought. Just finish the job (destroy everything worth destroying), then take the oil as the spoils of war. Protection for the oil pumping would be paid for by the oil, and take far fewer boots on the ground. Planes, apaches, drones would be very cost-effective for establishing a ring around the oil wells. Shoot everything that moves in no mans land "ring".

As it is now, we're not claiming the territory, but we're undertaking some ridiculous nation-building with people that have hated everyone for 1400 years. We're spending hundreds of billions that we will never be paid back. And we've lost thousands that, under my plan, would not have been lost to all those IEDs/homobomber attacks.

I don't think we should risk our guys when we don't have to - if anyone attacks our guys, they should simply back off and level the whole town. Let the locals figure out that attacking Americans is bad for their health.

The minute the oil is gone, we pack up and leave.