The 11 th Crusade For A Fee

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1 The 11 th Crusade For A Fee Written by Jacob S. "The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him." --Washington, D.C., Sept. 13, 2001 "I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority." --Washington, D.C., March 13, 2002 "I think I was unprepared for war." on the biggest regret of his presidency, ABC News interview, Dec. 1, 2008 Is it possible to pinpoint the exact roots of the Iraq War? Was it motivated by international politics? Did it stem from differences in culture? Was it caused due to religious tensions? Was it started due to economic concerns and incentives? Was it a blend of these elements? Did international politics play a role in our beginning of the Iraq War? Starting this war would put political pressure on Iran. The U.S. would also be gaining, in Iraq, another ally in the Middle East. Israel would become less isolated. We would be sending a message out to all potential rogue nations to not mess with us. There would be a shift in the balance of power favoring us. These were our political hopes. Hussein s ruling Baath party was Sunni but Iraq, like Iran, had a Shiite majority. If we were to put a Shiite leader into power, perhaps Iran might be grateful. If we helped Iran they might become less hostile towards us. When we invaded we put democracy into place subsequently allowing a Shiite leader to become elected. Our logic was that, when Iraq emerged from military occupation, the government would be thankful to us for overthrowing Saddam. We would have secured an ally whom we could call upon. When someone is our ally, they are Israel s ally as well. As every Note: The copyright of this work belongs to the author.

2 country in the Middle East currently hates Israel with the majority of these countries not even acknowledging its existence, this would be a significant fact that would increase the prospects for peace. There would be other benefits as well. By overthrowing a powerful dictator we would be demonstrating our strength and our willingness to act when action is needed. We would be defusing a threat while simultaneously preventing future attacks. It all looked good. The countries of the Middle East would be more favorable towards us than before. We would be adding Iraq to a group of allies that already included Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Israel. We might even neutralize Iran. As Ahmadinejad stated so clearly after the invasion, Iraq, after the fall of Saddam Hussein, is not considered as a threat to its neighbors and the entire region. Our cultural goals paralleled our political hopes. We would bestow many gifts upon the Middle East. We would give them democracy, American culture, Western civilization, and freedom. We would be very generous, Just as the western nations did in Africa during the early 20 th century, we behaved as if only our ideals were valid. The European nations that attended the Berlin Conference cut up the continent of Africa like a pie. Most countries allowed missionaries to go into their colonies making this act of imperialism look like the intention was to help out these poor, uncivilized African nations. But, after the fact, when the acts of cruelty were exposed, the world realized that it was all about the resources and that nothing else mattered. Would the democracy we were giving to Iraq stop the ethnic violence? No but that didn t matter to us. All we cared about was that it would look good to the outside

3 world. The United States went to Iraq with a goal in mind but did we adhere to that goal? The majority of any population chooses the government that agrees with them. A Shiite majority would elect a Shiite dominated government likely to ignore the rights of Sunnis and Kurds. Would this really stop the endless cycle of violence and revolution? Buy Big! Buy More! Buy Too Much! That worldview was what we tried to give to millions of people who were more isolated than the Amish. Iraq was invaded. People s homes were destroyed. Family members were killed. These villagers were scared of us and devastated by the destruction we brought. We couldn t speak their language but we wanted to tell them how to live and what to value. We made it easy for Islamic extremists to portray us as evil and create an army in our wake. We gave them Western civilization. We destroyed their holy sites and built military bases in their stead. The ancient site of Babylon home to the Hanging Gardens, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World has been significantly damaged due to its use as a military base by coalition forces in Iraq from , according to a report released by the United Nations Educations, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today. (Alex Jones InfoWars.com). The United States was the devil for Islamic extremists and average Muslims were becoming extreme. We didn t really give them what we promised right away. We told them that they would eventually be free, but only after 6 years did we even begin to act on that promise. We said that the dictator would be removed along with the WMDs and that then we would leave. But we ve had military control over the entire country since the war began. Until very recently, there has been no plan to leave.

4 My belief is, Dick Cheney said in March of 2003 That we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators." Did we give the Iraqis democracy and freedom or did we force our concepts of democracy and freedom upon them? If so, why? Was there something else deeply rooted in our common history in play? Was the war caused due to religious tension? Since the time of the Crusades, Christianity and Islam have been at war. Also for centuries, Sunnis have battled Shiites with, under Saddam Hussein; the Sunni minority controlling the religious lives of the Shiite majority in Iraq. The Crusades, a jihad of sorts, was a war motivated mainly by religious hatred. Christian Europe wanted to recapture the Holy Land from the evil Muslims while slaughtering various heretics along the way. The mentality that the Crusades created continues to corrupt our thinking. George W. Bush is a firm believer in Christianity. Iraq is a Muslim nation. In saying, "I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn't do my job. George W. Bush is expressing the same mindset held by the popes who executed the Crusades. Mustapha Akkad said, If there ever was a religious war full of terror, it was the crusades. The key word is terror. Terrorism is defined as, The use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes. Isn t that what we did? We stormed a country and took over its cities without caring about whom our bombs would kill. In the Crusades, both sides thought of each other as terrorists. The Muslims thought the Christians were terrorists because they launched a religious war against all other religions. But from the Christian point of view the Muslims were terrorists as well. According to G.K. Chesterton, They seem entirely to forget that long before the

5 Crusaders had dreamed of riding to Jerusalem, the Moslems had almost ridden into Paris. Both sides were convinced that they were right. Was the Iraq War the 11 th Crusade? When the U.S. invaded, the minority population in Iraq was Sunni and the majority was Shiite. The ruling government, under Hussein, was Sunni. He favored only Sunni Muslims. All other forms of religion were wrong. Even the Kurds, who were mainly Sunni, were persecuted because they made a few changes to traditional Sunni practices. The ruling government controlled the people and the economy of Iraq. This meant, among other things, controlling the flow of oil, a subject of significant concern to the US. Was the Iraq war started because of economic concerns? Unemployed people can enlist in the army. Recessions can be fixed by wars. Influential companies stood to make huge profits in Iraq. Billions of barrels of oil were up for grabs. The period of time following the 9/11 terrorist attacks was economically disastrous for the United States. We were in the midst of a recession and the unemployment rate was increasing daily. We had already invaded Afghanistan. Clearly the economy wasn t being bolstered quickly enough. By starting the Iraq War the army could put money in the pockets of the unemployed and, at the same time, could help to stimulate the economy with their demand for more supplies. A good war can pull an economy out of a recession. For example, the United States was in the Great Depression in The very next year we were attacked by the Japanese and subsequently went to war with the Axis powers. By the end of 1945 we had emerged from the depression as the strongest economic power in the world. In war, the

6 factories produce supplies and machinery for the army. To keep up with the demand, the factories must hire new employees. War creates jobs for factory workers and stimulates the economy. Companies that had influence inside of the government had a chance, during the invasion and occupation of Iraq, to make billions of dollars off of government contracts. Companies like Halliburton Industries and the Boeing Company live off government contracts. Boeing and others arm the military and, once the country in question is demolished, Halliburton, where Dick Cheney was once the CEO, rebuilds it for a fee. In this particular war there were billions of barrels of oil that were up for grabs in Iraq. By the time we had invaded there had been over 350 billion barrels of oil discovered. Oil prices were rising by the day and American reserves were lower than expected. If the United States were to invade Iraq, take out the dictator, and have control of the land, we would have plenty of oil at our disposal. What really started this war? No one can pinpoint one specific cause. But there is one factor that did not cause the Iraq War: Terrorism. As Bush put it so simply when being interviewed by Katie Couric in September of 2006, You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror.