Home to the third largest reserve of conventional oil in the world, Iraq is also the home of one of our world’s most callous conflicts. Oil has become one of the most coveted natural resources on earth, especially among Americans, considering that 40% of the United States energy comes from oil. Thus, our current administration has acted upon this demand with the help of war-profiting and oil corporations.

Ex-president, Bill Clinton characterized this in a 2006 speech, when he stated, “You may see $100 a barrel of oil in the next two or three years… the old energy economy is well organized, financed and connected politically."   

Looking at it from a geo-political perspective, by gaining Iraq , the United States gains “critical leverage” among the other countries of the world by having its hand on the power spicket. Essentially, we would have the veto power over other countries. Economically, since oil is such a scarce and highly demanded product, corporations have a great deal of interest in acquiring rights to the vast Iraqi oil fields, and siphoning profits from the military-industrial complex.

The fight for oil and natural resources is nothing new in the eyes of our world, however. For example, looking back at World War Two, Japan ’s reason for bombing Pearl Harbor had a lot to do with oil. While Japan was conquering China during the late 1930s, the United States ceased oil exports to Japan from the Philippines , leaving Japan with a tough decision: either give up their war effort, or attack the United States , and later conquer the oil rich Philippine islands. The rest was “infamous” history.

Not only must we talk about the side-effects of our love-affair with oil, but also how we can correct this obsession along with the imperialistic wars that accompany it. Unfortunately change coming from our government is highly unlikely considering the influence of corporations that helped get this administration in power. If one truly wants to do their part to hinder this imperialistic war, or to some, “The War on Terror”, one could start by simply conserving oil. After all, oil was one of the key motivating factors in the decision to invade Iraq .