If Iraq posed no immediate threat to the US, why was Bush so dead set on invading Iraq?
The war had much more to do with expanding US control over the Middle East s oil supplies, and increasing the US oil corporations profits. The US economy is dependent on oil, and that dependency is growing. In 2000, the US imported one half of the oil it used; by 2020, it will import two-thirds. The US has the technical know-how to reduce our oil dependency by converting to clean fuels; the US auto industry doesn t want to have to re-tool, and the oil companies and banks financing them want to continue making huge profits on oil. The Bush and Cheney families, as well as some Democrats, have strong financial ties to the oil industry. Control over Iraqi oil also gives the US more political leverage over countries like Japan and Germany that need to import oil.
