Here’s the answer to the oil question:
Yes, we imported more oil from Iraq than most of Europe combined. We go all over the world telling every rat hole 3rd world country how wrong they are: Haiti, the Phillipines, Cuba, Somalia, Vietnam, Korea, Nicaragua, etc. We tell them how wrong they are and how Democracy is the best thing there is. And by God, it is the best thing there is to offer. But we go in and do a half way job of it or manipulate the new “Democratic” gov’t into doing what we want it to do, then leave the country in shambles. And when it reaches a boiling point and comes back to haunt us, we shrug our shoulders and ask, “why? why us?” You can’t wash your hands of past transgretions and claim innocence when it comes back to bite you. How many times have we had to “intervene” in Haiti? How many “free elections” have we disrupted? How many country’s have we exploited or manipulated b/c in the here and now it suited our best interests at that very moment? How many wars do you think this country has fought that we were totally innocent when it started? One, the Revolution. War of 1812, WWI, and WWII were good wars we needed to involve ourselves in. But only one war did we not provoke or sit back and let it boil over. So now we go to Iraq and try to clean up our old mess from over 20 years ago. Maybe we’ll learn something, maybe we won’t, but we keep going with our heads held high. So p*ss on Europe and their firm stance against us. Heck, they’ve only been doing this 250+ years before us, so what do they know? But as the hard headed new kid on the block, we’ve got to learn and try in our own unique way. Sometimes experience is the best teacher.
