The past Iraq of Saddam Hussein is but a blurred memory. It is sad to see what has become of the freest Middle Eastern country. Most American citizens did not know the prewar Iraq or the prewar Iraqi citizens.

What is different about this war and the war with Iraq that preceded the current war? Does anyone remember why we invaded Iraq the first time? If you recall, Iraq had invaded Kuwait and the US intervened. Why did we intervene on the behalf of Kuwait in the first war? I think most will agree it was the US interest in the Kuwaiti oil fields. Furthermore, it was the Kuwaiti oil fields that Hussein was after in the first place. Resistance against US involvement in the conflict between Iraq and Kuwait was high. So a little lie of many was perpetrated to rile the American citizens into a battle cry. The lie was that Iraqi soldiers had entered into nurseries and dumped newborn babies out of incubators. The bloody bastards; how could they do such a thing! Death to the Iraqis! Let’s go take care of the bastards. This is an old tactic in persuading citizens of a country to go along with invasion. It was used during World War II by the president of the US to gain entry into WWII and acceptance by the American citizens to do so. The incident, in case anyone’s memory fails them, was the Pearl Harbor incident. I won’t elaborate on Pearl Harbor but will be glad to furnish the information to any who asks for it. The Iraqi-Kuwaiti lie was further embellished by the appearance on US national television of a nurse from one of the nurseries crying tears and retelling of the horrible Iraqi soldiers cruel acts. As we now know, the nurse was actually a princess of the Kuwaiti royal family. However, the lie worked, and the American citizens were a lot more eager to enter the Iraqi-Kuwaiti conflict.

I can see some justification for entering into a conflict where a country has been invaded by a stronger power without true provocation. However, where is the justification for the second war against Iraq? Iraq was beaten during the first war. It was quickly proven that the fourth largest military power on the planet at the time was only on paper. What is the real story here? Again, the answer can be found in oil.

One day I was doing some research and by accident came across an article in which a statement caught my attention. The statement was that the size of the Iraqi oil fields had been miscalculated and that in reality they were probably the largest in the Middle East; larger than the Saudi oil fields. That made me curious so I started doing a bit of research on Iraq and oil and oil agreements. As it turned out, Hussein had been making exclusive rights deal with many countries to be the sole supplier of oil and I found deals going back into the seventies. Now as anyone knows, the US has been involved with oil agreements with the Saudis for many decades. President Franklin Roosevelt met with the Saudi Royal family on oil agreements during his administrations. It is no secret that the Bush family has very close ties with the Saudis. You may be wondering why the jump from Iraq to Saudi Arabia? The Saudis were taking note of the many exclusive rights deal that Saddam Hussein was making with other countries. These deals were cutting into their sales of oil and also the lost of control over pricing. Money that is flowing into the coffers of Hussein is money that is NOT flowing into the coffers of the Saudis, and indirectly, the coffers of the Bush oil family. The Saudis wanted something done about Hussein and Iraq. The Saudis went to Bush and demanded that Hussein had to be dealt with and quickly. The result was the current war with Iraq. Now I will admit that the last few sentences are only speculation on my part and I have no real data to back them up. However, the statements leading up to my speculation are true.

When I look at the state of affairs in Iraq I weep. I openly weep. The destruction of lives and property in Iraq is horrible. The pictures of the Iraqi war are out there if people will just go and look. Yes, it is horrible to see so many children killed or maimed; legs and arms blown off of their bodies. It is horrible to see and watch the suffering that the Iraqis are enduring, but we have to watch, and yes it is just as hard to see what the soldiers who are being misled are enduring. As responsible human beings, we have to watch. I am not sure that Iraq can endure another two years of this war. While Hussein was no saint, the world of pre-war Iraq was a paradise compared to what the Iraqi citizens have now and what they will have if we ever leave the country. It will be a long time before the Iraqis have the freedoms they had under Saddam Hussein. The new Iraqi constitution actually grants fewer freedoms to Iraqi citizens than they had under Hussein.

Now here is the scary part, Bush is claiming that he does not need permission to attack countries. If you are not scared, you better well should be scared!