Oil a Motive for Aussies in Iraq

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by rkzenrage

Oil is the ONLY reason anyone, other than Iraqis, are in Iraq.
No amount of oil is worth one soldier's life.

My immediate reaction would be to agree.... but, reflecting on it.... is the continued prosperity of 300,000,000 people worth one life? Two lives? Three? Tough question considering the lives spent on much, much less.... and celebrated in song and story, too.

Quoting Michael Yon... again.

Most Iraqis I talk with acknowledge that if it was ever about the oil, it’s not now. Not mostly anyway. It clearly would have been cheaper just to buy the oil or invade somewhere easier that has more. Similarly, most Iraqis seem now to realize that we really don’t want to stay here, and that many of us can’t wait to get back home. They realize that we are not resolved to stay, but are impatient to drive down to Kuwait and sail away. And when they consider the Americans who actually deal with Iraqis every day, the Iraqis can no longer deny that we really do want them to succeed. But we want them to succeed without us. We want to see their streets are clean and safe, their grass is green, and their birds are singing. We want to see that on television. Not in person. We don’t want to be here. We tell them that every day. It finally has settled in that we are telling the truth.