Why did deterrence, the threat of swift and total nuclear annihiliation, work for arguably history's most bloodthirsty tyrant - Stalin, but won't work for Hussien?
I'm all for cheaper oil, drilling ANWAR, whatever. I'm also for creating new sources of energy altogether. But the reality is, right now we need oil and we need it at a reasonable price to avoid serious economic consequences. If we bomb out Saddam and take over the Iraqi oil fields, that's fine by me. At least I know we will share it and Americans will benefit from it.
The price of oil isn't 'reasonable', it's simply the price. The price is simply a reflection of supply and demand. The Unites States only buys ~23 billion dollars worth of oil each year from the Middle East. What's the price of our latest excursion, not to mention the yearly recurring costs of our heavy gulf presence?
Freedom isn't free, it isn't even cheap. If men didn't risk and give their lives to create and protect this country, where would we be today? The voices of cowardice I read on this thread are pathetic. What quality of life is there for your families if we live in fear of Saddam acquiring WMD? Take him out, problem solved, life goes on and lessons learned.
You figure that's it? Just kill him then what? What of the WMD held by Syria and Iran? The nukes in Pakistan and the fact their government is trending toward extremists, with only the military standing between the creators and supporters of the Taliban and nukes. Our nukes kept Stalin out of Western Europe, why do you think the threat of their use wouldn't deter a decidedly secular arab tyrant?
Because we cannot trust his neighbors and our supposed allies, that's why. And the nuclear fallout would hurt all of us and especially our friends in Isreal. I don't think we need to use a sledgehammer to kill a gnat.
The price of oil isn't 'reasonable', it's simply the price. The price is simply a reflection of supply and demand. The Unites States only buys ~23 billion dollars worth of oil each year from the Middle East. What's the price of our latest excursion, not to mention the yearly recurring costs of our heavy gulf presence?
You mean to tell me that if we owned our own oil fields, the price wouldn't be less? That makes no sense. As for what we spend on our presence in the Gulf, that wouldn't be necessary if we stabilized the region and needed only a skeleton crew to keep things in order.
You figure that's it? Just kill him then what? What of the WMD held by Syria and Iran? The nukes in Pakistan and the fact their government is trending toward extremists, with only the military standing between the creators and supporters of the Taliban and nukes. Our nukes kept Stalin out of Western Europe, why do you think the threat of their use wouldn't deter a decidedly secular arab tyrant?
One enemy at a time and each attack cannot be cookie cutter in its strategy. And, as I stated above, nukes would not earn us any friends in that area of the world and would kill the very people we are trying to save.