Ferretboy said:
> What exactly do you mean by this, and how with such certainty?

Well, it could just be coincidence that all of Bush's and Cheney's friends are in the oil business and are making money hand over fist for contracts that the government has awarded them and that other firms that aren't as friendly with the people in the administration have been largely locked out. And it might be coincidence that there are plans of establishing a semi-permanent armed guard to protect the oil interests there until such time as the United States has "paid" for its war with Iraqi oil. It could be coincidence, but you would have to pretty naive to believe these thoughts did not cross Bush's mind before the war. But alas, internal motives of people are hard to "prove" unless they are stupid enough to say it, but they can sure be implied by their actions.

Now, as for proof of this being about American hegemony, that there is plenty of. The people in Bush's administration have been urging and planning this for years, and that has documented.

The-guy-who-may-not-be-named said:
> Yeah, and long ago they all agreed that nobody else would get them.

And we largely ignore that. And it appears that Iraq doesn't have any anyway. Strange that, considering Bush said he knew where they were and everything.

> The main reason was the growing threat Iraq posed to the US and our allies.

He was no threat to us. His "support of terrorism" amounted to paying some families in Palestine. He had no way of hurting us. The inspectors had found no signs of WMDs and both Scott and Blix believed he had none. And his "control over a vast amount of oil" has nothing to do with being a danger to anyone, although it certainly was an opportunity for us.

> now it'll be controlled by sensible, elected leaders

Haha, you are an optimist I see. Saddam was secular, for all his faults. As soon as America is gone religious zealots are going to take over that country. We will have created a monster we will have no hope of containing. To believe Iraq is capable of democracy in our lifetime is not based in any understanding of the culture over there.

I wish you would argue at this level all the time man; when you put your mind to it and stop trying to be offensive you are pretty decent at this.