Iraq: Repetition and Innovation? Pt Two

The Iraq War, whether you know it or not, is still very much on. Every day, brave Americans die at the hands of the unstoppable enemy. This does not even account for any casualties that our allies may sustain. Recently, many of our major friends, such as Britain, have drawn their forces out of the military quagmire. The American public has unfortunately been largely unaware of what really goes on in that little nation halfway around the world. Hopefully, this two part mini-series will be able to slowly uncover what I believe are the main issues.

The Innovation: Information

Now here is the irony. George W. Bush is actually one of the most intelligent presidents America has ever had. Why? He’s fooled over 80% of you. Whether you know it or not, he’s lied to make Iraq happen and he has made the people ignorant and careless. For those of you who even take the time to read this article, congratulations. You care more than most of America. How has Bush wittingly lulled all of us?

First of all, he has used the “War on Terrorism” to make the people think you have an identity. Honestly, as much as you may reject it, we are an empty culture. Cities are made for corporations, roads are made for simple transport, and communities are non-existent outside of tight-assed gated communities and a few select suburbias. Europe uses cities for communities like café gatherings and parks, and uses roads to intertwine communities. So where do we find American identity? Simple: individualism and consumerism. At that point we are aimless and truly find ourselves devoid. With an enemy like terrorism, or previously communism, we have a way to define ourselves from the outside. This is a weak way to do so, but most Americans get to sleep better when they feel like they have purpose besides being self-serving animals occasionally exploited by corporate masters.
How do I know this “war” is for this purpose? We have already lost it, so we prolong it for no other reason. The kingpin of our “terrorist” enemy is undoubtedly Osama Bin Laden. Thing is, he’s already got what he wanted. You can search for any of his letters on Google when you like (I suggest you do…know thine “enemy” comes to mind), but I’ll take the liberty to summarize them. He has stated two main aims. For the United States to withdraw forces from his homeland, Saudi Arabia. We withdrew them the exact same day Bush declared victory on the U.S.S. Lincoln, sort of funny now that I think about it. Thinking we claimed victory, we took out forces from Saudi Arabia, even when we read Bin Laden’s letters, over half of the 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, and that Saudi Arabia is the biggest hive for Radical Islam’s jihadists. Good way to fight a “War on Terrorism” right? Bin Laden’s second aim was to make sure oil prices raise sky high. Oil benefits Saudi Arabia, seeing as they control OPEC, a Middle Eastern oil alliance similar to our own NAFTA for the purposes of energy. Seeing as Saudi Arabia controls a majority of the world’s oil (or at least suppresses other nation’s oil reserves like Venezuela, Russia, and Iraq [you’ve heard of that place before right?] with official OPEC sanctions), if the prices raise, they benefit big time. If anyone defies the previously mentioned sanctions, Saudi has the ability to flood the oil market with their oil reserves and kill the prices, which would in turn decimate a nation’s oil economy. Saudi can survive a year on its reserves, so it has no problem with bullying others around. They used this tactic against Venezuela, and more importantly the USSR, which was the biggest factor of its collapse (neither Reagan nor Gorbachev match the impact of this event). Since we’ve gone to Iraq, we’ve undoubtedly let oil prices soar, mostly to make Saudi happy. Iraq has the ability to harness huge oil reserves; it is hardly drilled as much as Texas and has much more oil than the state. Imagine if it was as explored as that state down south? OPEC’s restrictions and our puppet government in Iraq are keeping the oil from flowing. What we’ve forgotten (or choose to ignore) is that Bin Laden wants this, and so we’ve let him get two out of two of his aims. We’ve already lost.