Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Our airstrikes against ISIS are not motivated by oil

Yes, Iraq has oil. So does Venezuela.

But we didn't invade and occupy Venezuela with 160k ground troops for the better part of a decade. Because our actions in Iraq are not about protecting some slick business interests there. Our national security goals are more about fostering stability (and even if you're not a neocon, democracy is part of stability) in the troubled regions of the world. In a wide arc from the border of India and Pakistan across Northern Africa, it's a mess of failed states and mercurial friends.

Unfortunately, the Bush Administrations war in Iraq displaced a (relatively stable) dictatorial regime with a (kind of democratic) failed state. And with ISIS actively conquering territory and setting up a services and governance in the land it administers, Iraq looks more and more like it will crumble if we don't provide some air support. We fucked up in Iraq and we should fix it.


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