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1. Iraq's noncompliance with the conditions of the 1991 ceasefire agreement, including interference with U.N. weapons inspectors.
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That alone justifies military action. No need to conjure a WMD boogeyman. I've not heard any concrete evidence of WMD.
I'd have given Sadam the choice of accepting weapons inspectors, or a non-ending barrage of cruise missiles.
The world is undoubtedly a better place without the guy, but why mislead people in the process?
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Originally Posted by acparker
As I wrote in my previous post, oil Demand is (effectively) inelastic. This has been known for decades. The variable then becomes Supply, and the oil companies control that in various ways. Demand shifts do occur and those are driven by extreme Price shifts, as we are experiencing now. These Price shifts are very disruptive to economies and are, by and large, avoidable.
In this case, politics and money are following the same path. Raising prices neutralizes a threat and makes money, lots of money.
The problem is not with OPEC, it is with the oil companies. In 2004, Royal Dutch Shell caused a significant spike in oil prices simply by adjusting down their stated reserves. Shell went on to experience their greatest earnings in history and the greatest earnings of any European company in history.
Politicians, on both sides of the aisle, generally do not interfere with oil companies because they profit by them, either directly or indirectly. The dictum is, "don't bite the hand that feeds you." Saying things and doing things are not the same. Oil companies care nothing for rhetoric, only action. They let politicians complain, often quite loudly, but complaining rarely leads to action.
They did find weapons and facilities, though the bulk of the weapons were moved to Syria (who is using them now) before the invasion. The information was simply ignored by the press. It didn't support the narrative. Fake news is not new.
I don't know what happened to Dubbya. He seemed to lose all enthusiasm. He stopped fighting, even knowing he was in the right. It was extremely frustrating watching his non-confrontational second-term.
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