Oil? Look at the costs and benefits..

Submitted by Juris Kaza (Latvia), Jan 14, 2003 at 12:30

I hardly think that oil is a rational explanation for Bush's wanting to invade and remake Iraq. The cost of such an enterprise -- not only the war, but the de-facto colonial administration of a Muslim country that would have to follow-- has been estimated between several hundred billion and 1.9 trillion dollars. I cannot see how this could pay off, in my lifetime (I'm 53 and not ready to test theories of the afterlife by the experiment of dying soon) in terms of lower oil prices or "control" of oil. If anything, Saddam will probably manage to blow up the better part of his oil during any coming war and the cost of re-opening the wells has to be factored in.

The reason for the planned war is a messianic mission to democratize and civilize the world that has, unfortunately, been part of the American foreign policy mentality over the past century. I, a dual US/Latvian citizen now living in Latvia, would consider myself an isolationist of the old school and a political libertarian were I part of the US political scene.

Juris Kaza
Riga, Latvia

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