The Bush-Oil Connection... I don't get it (Vanity)

[The Unnamed Chick]

I'm fighting yet again with my best friend over Bush (he hates him) and once again he's talking about Bush fighting a war based on oil.

I don't understand the connection, i don't know how to fight back, i'm lost. Please help!

[counterpunch]

Tell him that we get over 50% of our oil imports from Canada. Tell him that we only get 6% from Iraq. Tell your friend that if the flow of oil to the industrialized world was disrupted, there would be a global depression that makes the Great Depression look like utopia. Most of all, tell him that the war in Iraq was about clearing a path for introducing liberal western culture to the middle east for the purpose of destroying terrorism at its source.



 
 
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[TheLion]

Don't confuse a liberal with the facts!

Maybe you should get frantic and scream like they do.

This is one of the major lines the left has put out and is totally bs.

[The Unnamed Chick]

Ah, but he won't vote : ) he doesn't like either Kerry or Bush. Which is good for now, but next time around I like him to be smart

[Billthedrill]

Kind of an old accusation, really, overtaken by reality but maintaining an existence past its shelf life in the sterile vacuum that is the liberal brain. The idea was that Bush invaded Iraq in order to seize the oil. In fact, it's in the hands of the Iraqis in a real sense now, not being divided up into shares in order to bribe the UN's Oil For Food commissars as it was under Saddam.

The war wasn't really about that at all, although indirectly it will provide a buffer against oil shocks to the world economy brought about by instability in Saudi Arabia. What it was about was the clear possibility that organized terror groups that were already enjoying a considerable level of state support would have transferred to then the products of Saddam's illegal arms development programs. It was to prevent that, and it worked.

The left tries to wiggle out of the point by objecting that the WMDs we were concerned would reach terrorist hands didn't exist (they did) or weren't found in the profusion that somebody or other expected, or by attempting to deny that there was a connection between Saddam and those terrorist groups, of which there were, in fact, many. If your friend does catch up to the last year of so of developments you may expect to hear such things regurgitated in your direction.

[crushelits]

FIRST TELL HIM IS A DONKEY (BURRO IN SPANISH ALSO MEANS STUPID. SELL YOUR CAR AND RIDE A DONKEY WITH KERRY.

[Belisaurius]

He can just shut up and munch tofu then. We don't have a draft. There are plenty of us volunteers to get the job done. No need for him to worry his pretty little head over it.

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

Anyone who uses petroleum based products of any kind for any reason supports the big oil industry.

So if your friend uses gas & oil to drives a vehicle, ride a bus, taxi, flies on airlines, wears synthetic clothing, uses pharmaceuticals, paint, or roughly thousands of other petro based products, then he/she to directly supports big oil. If he/she says different, he/she is a hypocrite

[TheBigB]

A post that is not grounded in any sort of news item, but is about questions, personal requests, and the like.

[RichInOC]

Dubya was involved for some time with an independent oil exploration company. He's been out of that a while, certainly since he became governor, and I think even before he got involved with the Rangers. Dick Cheney was CEO of Halliburton, which is not an oil company per se but provides construction and other services to the oil industry, before he left to run for vice president. The implication is that they do what they do (not just with relation to the war, either) with an eye to benefiting their buddies in the oil industry. I wonder how kindly Kerry and Edwards would take to the notion that they would run their administration for the benefit of their brothers and sisters at law. But of course, we know that they would never do that...right?

[kb2614]

I agree with Belisaruis. Also remind your friend the other uses of petroleum. Plastic for example. Ask him for other ideas for power sources beside oil. If he says wind or solar power, ask him how solar power will do any good in Maine and Washington, not a whole lot of sun in those parts. I remember reading about Nantuckett Island residents balking at the idea of big honking wind mills obscuring there beach front views or envirowackos complaining about that big windmill farm in California killing birds(not sure where it is located though, S. Cali probably). The leftists have all kinds of ideas as long as there not implemented in there back yard, hypocrites.

[oceanperch]

What is Halaburton(sp) that the left yells about.

[notpoliticallycorewrecked]

Tell your friend that if this war was about oil, then Bush would have invaded Columbia instead of Iraq.

[bluebeowulf]

Best answer to the "Bush went to war for oil" argument is as follows. If the US had indeed gone to war for oil in Gulf War I, then why didn't we just take the oil when we occupied great swaths of Iraq? Same thing can be said now. It's not all about oil. If it were, Bush would not be asking for $78B from Congress to prosecute the war.

[xrp]

Interesting that you bring up Gull Island, Alaska. I just did a Google-Research on it, having never heard of it before.

I have a friend who used to do computer/network related work across the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. He says there is a LOT of USA oil out there and we aren't barely touching what we could domestically.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

The only reason we are concerned with the Middle East is because there is oil there, otherwise we could just ignore it like we do Sudan. That being said the reason we went into Afghanistan followed by Iraq is because Iran is the most serious threat and we needed to surround it but not conquer it yet. Iran will hopefully implode and that will be easier without a threat from Saddam. Also Saddam was unfinished business that needed to be cleaned up before we tackle other problems.

[The Unnamed Chick]

Good point... I should have asked this question much sooner.
I can debate a ton of things, but when it comes to the oil thing I didn't know anything so I had to shut up.

Thank you all!

[VxH]

Saddam, so the story goes, was dabbling with selling Iraqi oil in Euros instead of Dollars. The Russians and Venezuelans were considering a switch as well... so the story goes...


http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=OIL+IRAQ+EURO+DOLLAR

[Arizona Carolyn]

Even if it was true (I don't believe it was) don't blame Bush, blame the enviros who stop everything we want to do in this country -- from oil and refineries - to water. Then there is the newfound prosperity in China, India, etc., that is sopping up more oil, steel, cement... I could continue...

[crushelits]

KERRY HAS A HOME THERE.

NOT IN BACKYARD

[not2worry]

Boy, do I like that answer.

I wonder how many of these anti-Bush kids would give up their "wheels" and start riding a bike or better yet taking public transportation. Every kid over 16 seems to have a car and the price of gas doesn't seem to keep them from cruising around town.

Also, don't blame the price of oil on Bush! The world demand for oil has gone up, especially for crude to make gasoline. China, Indonesia, the Philippines and even the Middle East populations are buying cars. They just imported 30,000 BMW's into Iraq last week!

In all honesty, your "friend" isn't going to buy into any rebuttal you offer him/her. It sounds like they are your typical Hate Bush For Any Reason or No Reason at All Crowd.