I’m so sick of hearing that we’re only “fighting for oil” or “our Foreign Policy is only about oil”. That’s such BS, and History proves it. You know the Marine’s Song? “From the halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli…”
That song comes from a US action in the Mediterranean region back in 1805. By order of President Thomas Jefferson, our 3rd President, US Marines and Berber Mercenaries marched 500 miles across Egypt to Derna Tripoli to combat Piracy. Pirates who were interfering with shipping, and to support a Pro-US Administration. This is what defending our foreign interests is all about. It’s not about secret cabal of oil barons squabbling over our planet’s oil fields.
If that was the case, where are the great battles in Alaska, Canada, Texas, Utah, Wyoming, the Dakota’s and the Gulf of Mexico? Where are the Armies that are invading Venezuela? These places are all rich in oil resources. How come the US has not gone in and taken Venezuela’s oil? Because it’s not about the oil. It’s about Regional Stability and protecting our interests and those of our allies. Do you think Thomas Jefferson was concerned about Middle Eastern Oil? No, he wasn’t. Was he concerned about Egyptian or Tripolian oil? No, he wasn’t. He was concerned about the Pirates. Just like Bush was concerned about Saddam Hussein. Who, you may remember, was the concern of the Democrats, who all VOTED FOR that war, and as soon as Bush pulled the trigger, suddenly cried about it because he did what they voted for. Insanity. Oil its self had nothing to do with it. Saddam Hussein threatened the Regional Stability. Oil is only merely the main product from that region. The US has other interests there as well.
On another note:
This is why I scratch my head about Obama’s handling of ISIS. It seems everything Obama has been doing has been to undermine Stability in as many regions has he can. Middle East, Egypt, Russia, Korea, Libya, China… if he can screw it up, he can and will try. Who has been reaping the benefits from Obama’s meddling and failures? The Islamic Brotherhood. This makes me question what Obama would have done in 1805, had he been in charge. Because I’m having a hard time deciding if Obama is just a pure pile of incompetence… or if he really is smart and doing just what he promised to do. He’s always talking about it.
Raises an interesting series of question…
Was he propped up and planted for this purpose? Clearly he was molded into this mindset at a very early age. Once the time was right, the pin was pulled and allowed to explode into what our world at home, and abroad, is today. Another angle to look at is what if the Republicans won the two elections post 9/11? Would our situation be better, or worse? Think about it. Not saying Bush was right or wrong in Iraq, but, it was justified. Had a “post” Bush, Republican White House, had the wheel would the middle east and Europe/Ukraine be any different of a hornet’s nest in terms of stability? The rise of ISIS and Putin’s power play, and now the ebloa problem would still be in the headlines. BUT, would it be a predictable, and persay, controllable? My thoughts are that the “powers that be” beyond the UN and the White House are the ones dictating and directing the whats on stage we see before us. They know the beginning of it, and they know the end of it. The riveting question is that it’s clearly not about oil, but rather “Who’s wrting the script and for what purpose?”
I think that had Obama lost to McCain – things would be different. Obama’s chronic Low-T condition, bowing, apologizing for being American, lack of leadership, has emboldened Anti-American forces. The support he’s given to the Muzzy-Bro’s, in weapons, and in funds, has directly contributed to the rise of ISIS. The Power Vacuum has left the door wide open for Putin.
It could be said that Bush’s lack of response to the Russian invasion of Georgia is what gave Putin the stones to go after the Ukraine… but considering Obama’s complete and utter incompetence, Putin just saw it as a green light.
I’d go with Obama being incompetent. I think he possesses the same sense of entitlement that he encourages in others thanks to his having not had to genuinely work for anything (President of the Harvard Law Review without getting a single law review published?). Now he thinks of the Presidency as something that is his by divine right rather than a position of authority that has only been leant to him by the people he lied to. This is why he is unable to genuinely compromise with opponents, he is incapable of understanding how anyone can disagree with him.
For now he has a Democrat controlled Senate to shield him from Republican legislation, but what happens if (or hopefully when) the Republicans take the Senate in November? Watch for him (and probably a fair number of his supporters) really fall apart as he has to either accept or veto legislation with no one there to shift the blame on to.
The region was MORE stable with Saddam and Gadaffi in power. Some kids need an iron fist to rule them. Democracy does not fit in all cultures.
That’s very true. Iraq didn’t turn out like we had hoped.
I have to disagree. You said we are there to protect US interests. If there was no oil there, just what interests are we protecting? Camels? We wouldn’t give two shits about Iraq otherwise. Now, I don’t go and make the idiotic assumption that we are just puppets to big oil conglomerates. Oil is the foundation of our economy. Without it, our country collapses. OPEC in the 70s proved that, and our dependence on foreign oil hasn’t gotten better.
It is about oil. Just not why the left portrays it.
If it was about oil, then WHY did we get none after the last war? That makes no sense what so ever….
Oil is a part of it, of course. But saying its about oil is like saying the Civil War was about Slavery. There were/are Bigger Issues at play.
Your supposition that Thomas Jefferson was not concerned about Middle Eastern oil in 1805 is indeed correct.
Oil was not discovered in the Middle East until the 20th century.
Yes, I think we all know that.
You realize that the in Thomas Jefferson’s day oil wasn’t really a commodity, right? The technology to utilize it on a large scale didn’t even exist. Heck, the first US oil wells weren’t drilled until the late 1850’s.
So yes, you’re correct that Tripoli wasn’t about oil but it’s absurd to use that as an argument for why present day Middle Eastern conflicts aren’t about oil.
As for Venezuela, they certainly claim that we’ve had a hand in the attempted coup and other destabilizing incidents. Is it propaganda? Undoubtedly. But given our long history in Latin America, including recent incidents under presidents of both parties, I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if there was some truth to it.
You didn’t get my point.
If you want to know what Tripoli was about, it is crystal clear: It was Muslim Jihad, plain and simple. The “Barbary Wars” (they were not pirates, they were kidnappers and slavers), were about a clash between militant Islam and Christianity, in which the “pirates” were kidnapping and enslaving at least 250,000 Christians and forcing them to covert or die. The only thing that has changed has been the technology. The ideology of those waging jihad has not changed one iota. We must come to grips with this.
http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=4574
Jefferson first thought we could negotiate with them. Remember that the concept of “negotiate with terrorists” is not a modern one, nor are the reasons to be clear, lesson learned, that we “do not negotiate with terrorists,” for all they understand is force.
I do not say that all Muslims are terrorists. I do say that there is a strong element within Islam that views jihad”convert or die” as their duty, and that modern, moderate Muslims must stand up, be firm, and be a part of the solution, rather than being a part of the problem.
To borrow the phrase then:
Not all Muslims are terrorists but all terrorists are Muslim.
Or from Belfast?
I used to think that Obama was about done with his Marxist economic wreckage and redistribution, from the car-company bailout and used-car destruction sector, to the financial takeovers (AIG), to the destructive influence by introduction of massive government incompetence into the healthcare economic sector – but now with Ebola he just has another wrecking policy-tool…
Ah schmutz; I can’t wait for a new president, so all the wrongs of the world will be corrected.