Trade in general is the life blood of civilization. If you underestimate that, try studying the aftermath of the Roman Empire's fall.
In 2008, free and fair exchange of oil is essential. Pirates, bandits, terrorists, barbarians, tinpot despots, whoever, throughout history past and future represent an existential threat to a basically prosperous way of life.
So we come to the justifications for military action against hopelessly corrupt dictators with almost unlimited resources. To justify invasion as a defensive action against Butchers that will pass WMDs to terrorist networks, is to draw attention to the essential power (over many nations!) that a Saddams holds. If unchecked, at some point the evildoer will kill thousands and millions. Calling attention instead to the inevitable economic ruin would be justification enough.
To wring your hands over the hypocrisy of failing to stress the economic aspect of this necessary type of policing, or to imagine that the Christian community in Iraq would be in fine shape if Saddam were still in power, is to miss the forest for the trees.
The kind of trade the neocons are infatuated with is corporate monopolistic trade that respects neither nation nor people.
Any political entity that formulates policy and takes action in order to expand and defend monopolistic corporate goals to the detriment of its own well being and traditions is not worthy of respect.