LETTER: Iraqi invasion for oil, not safety

In his letter to the editor on March 12, Jason Clark urges readers to “Find examples relevant to the current [Iraqi] situation. Compare what happened when action was taken, as opposed to complacency.” Clark compares Iraq to Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

However, I would compare Iraq to a few other situations: Mexico (1846-1848), Hawaii (1893), the Philippines (1899-1902), Panama and Colombia (1903), Mexico again (1914), Russia (1919-1921), Iran (1953), Guatemala (1954), Vietnam (1956-1975), Lebanon (1958), Zaire (1961), Chile (1973), Grenada (1983) and many others.

In all of these cases, the United States attacked, invaded or forced a regime change upon a country, not because it was necessarily the right thing to do (although sometimes it could have been), but because it was economically beneficial to the someone in the United States.

George W. Bush does not want to invade Iraq to keep the world safe for America. Iraq poses no threat to America.

Instead, he wants oil. In fact, according to historian James Loewen, oil has been in impetus for various wars. Standard Oil of New Jersey was very influential in the decision to send troops to Russia in 1919 because Russia was nationalizing their petroleum assets, which posed an economic threat to Standard Oil.

The same is true now. This planned war on Iraq is meant only for the benefit of American multinational oil and weapons companies.

The greatest example of this is that the United States just contracted Halliburton, Dick Cheney’s old company, to reconstruct oil machinery in Iraq after the invasion. This war is devised for the economic gain of those in power and companies linked to the administration.

The Iraqi situation can be solved through peaceful means. Weapons inspections are working and can continue working. Allowing the U.N. weapons inspections to continue is not inaction, as Clark would want us to believe, but rather actions towards peaceful disarmament.

Don’t believe the Bush rhetoric that invading Iraq will keep America safe. Iraq currently poses no threat to the United States, and an invasion will only increase anti-U.S. sentiment and increase terrorist attacks.

I am reminded of what Mark Twain once said: “Statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that … war is just, and he will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception.”

Michael Faris

Senior

English and Education