quote Originally posted by KidO: Well said. There are many places in the world that would benefit with our help. It is sad that we ignore some of them because it won't benefit us. It is understandable though. War is expensive, and without a way to "profit" from it, our nation would go broke supporting it. We can't afford to be the world's police force for free. You can't blame the rest of the world for wanting what we have. It took a long time for us to get where we are, and I hope we can continue to hold our place at number one!

If economic reasons are insufficient to go to war, then what is the criteria? Only if injustices against humans are happening? Or should we never go to war?

Let's assume that the Iraq war was about oil and only oil. There's a lot of talk that oil supplies, or at least oil that can be recovered for a reasonable price, are reaching or have passed the maximum ("peak oil"). It would stand to reason that current and near future wars will be fought over access to oil. If that isn't a good enough reason to go to war, then how much are you willing to pay for a gallon of gas? $5? $10? What if oil becomes in such short supply, for whatever reason, that you can't buy gas for any price - in other words, it is in such short supply that you simply can't even get any gas? Would *that* be justification for going to war over access to oil?

quote Originally posted by fierobear: If economic reasons are insufficient to go to war, then what is the criteria? Only if injustices against humans are happening? Or should we never go to war? Let's assume that the Iraq war was about oil and only oil. There's a lot of talk that oil supplies, or at least oil that can be recovered for a reasonable price, are reaching or have passed the maximum ("peak oil"). It would stand to reason that current and near future wars will be fought over access to oil. If that isn't a good enough reason to go to war, then how much are you willing to pay for a gallon of gas? $5? $10? What if oil becomes in such short supply, for whatever reason, that you can't buy gas for any price - in other words, it is in such short supply that you simply can't even get any gas? Would *that* be justification for going to war over access to oil?

So with that logic, we should support our government if they go to war to reduce the price at the pump? Maybe we should also support our government when the work to reduce our dependency on oil, or look for fossil fuel replacements. Is war the only thing a government should finance when it comes to preserving it's countries energy needs? Or should research and development also be funded as well? History tells us that financing a war is very expensive. Maybe exploring other options would be a better cost savings in the long run.

I don't see that the profit from the war in Iraq is to our government directly. The money to be made is in rebuilding the infrastructure that was lost due to the war, providing private security for the civilian workers that will remain there for the cleanup, civilian support of the military, and numerous other civilian positions around the country. The contractors (businesses, not employees) that provide these services are making the big bucks, many in direct service to our government, and I hope paying appropriate taxes on their profits, just as you and I do.