Comments by "Michael RCH" (@michaelrch) on "Has Donald Trump lit the fuse to a new conflict in the Middle East?" video.

This is what happens when the US military industrial complex and the US oil majors get concerned that Iraq is about to kick them out with Iranian prompting and support.
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Elvynd Only the US oil majors are allowed to exploit Iraqi oil.
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This attack is supposedly in response to an attack on US troops in Iraq. That attack was by an IRAQI militia albeit with Iranian backing. This has nothing to do with that attack and everything to do with Iraq planning to kick out US troops and oil majors out of Iraq, costing the military industrial complex and the US oil majors billions.
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jakiiboi8 Along with oil remember. The Iraqis were about to kick out US troops. With Iranian prompting and support, US troops provide military support for the US oil majors in Iraq. Iraq would then be free to renationalise it's oil industry and kick out the US oil majors who got in there after the second gulf war. That's why there is all this pressure on Iran - to get out of Iraq so the US can reassert it's control.
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HENRY WALKER Not at all. Consumption is increasing every year. But Iraqis hate the presence of US troops and US oil companies on their soil. They want them gone. They want the Iraqis to exploit Iraqi oil.
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Nick F You don't honestly think that the US assassinates people just because they are "bad dudes" do you? The US is allied and best buds with people just as bad. Iran doesn't need to force the US out militarily. They just need to provide Iraq with security assistance and funding to deal with ISIS etc (which it has been doing for about 3 years now) and to convince the Iraqi government to tell the US to leave. The US is only in Iraq with Iraqi permission. Iraq can withdraw that permission any time it likes. Iraqis generally hate the US being in their country so it would be very politically popular to get rid of them. That's why you are seeing statements like this https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/pentagon-chief-visits-iraq-pullout-syria-191023062531650.html With Iran supporting them, Iraq can do so. The attack on the Embassy was a precursor to this. This was an attack by Iraqis on the US embassy. The Iraqi government is making the calculation that they would prefer to team up with Iran than the US. The US is telling Iraq that they won't be giving up easy.
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Brad Stream Does that include the US proto-theocracy that Trump, Pence and their band of Christian nationalists are busy creating? FWIW the UK actually has a constitutionally established church of which the Queen is head. Does it count?
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Brad Stream I know. That was more of a joke, What about the "religious freedom" laws in the US that allow people to be fired by Christians because the employee happens to be gay? Doesn't that count as being motivated by "what's written in a book"?
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guppy0112 You have misunderstood how this works. Taxpayers are getting screwed, but defence contractors are doing great. The military industrial complex receives most of its income from public taxes. They budget for the US military is about $750 billion a year. A huge chunk of that goes to defence contractors like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop, etc. Funding for wars and campaigns, like most of the operations in Iraq, is on top of that $750 billion. If the US is kicked out of Iraq, military spending will go down. That means the profits of defence contractors will go down. That means that politicians will receive less in bribes (sorry, "campaign contributions") from them. That's how this shitty game is played.
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Rhonda Clark Untrue "The world production of coal is dominated by the People’s Republic of China with 47.4% of global production; India is the second largest producer (9.9%) followed by the United States, Australia and Indonesia; " http://energyatlas.iea.org/#!/tellmap/2020991907 US coal production is falling off a cliff while natural gas and renewables take over. Renewable energy is the fastest growing source of jobs in the US and provides 7 times more jobs than coal already.
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Brad Stream The U.K. aren't in Iraq. They haven't been there for 9 years. I think you need to pay closer attention to the news and perhaps quit being insulting.
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Valerie Bennett They don't need a distraction. Impeachment is working out better for Trump than the Dems. The attack on the embassy showed that the US is losing its grip on Iraq because Iran is both influencing and supporting Iraq. Iraqis hate the presence of American troops and Iraq has talked a lot about getting them out recently. With the troops goes the security cover for the oil majors. Then Iraq can renationalise the oil industry and kick out Exxon and Conoco etc. That's the kind of blow to both the oil majors and the military industrial complex that justifies this kind of provocative action.
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Artemistokles owo It's not a matter of what CNOOC does or doesn't do in Iraq. It's a matter of what US corporations stand to lose if the US military and oil majors have to leave Iraq.
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Vader Whoop The International Energy Agency says otherwise. But what do they know 🤦‍♂️
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Brad Stream I wish that was true. State legislatures have been passing laws to do this all over the country. Eg https://www.thenation.com/article/why-mississippis-new-anti-lgbt-law-is-the-most-dangerous-one-to-be-passed-yet/ It's part of a well established campaign https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/22/ohio-religious-liberty-bill-project-blitz-christian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/04/project-blitz-the-legislative-assault-by-christian-nationalists-to-reshape-america
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Iran isn't that stupid.
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Ghazanfar Ali Gilgity No they won't. Because they aren't suicidal. They will take revenge but it will be slow and careful. Because the Iranians aren't idiots and don't fall for traps like this.
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Nick Breen What 3 letter word describes all western intervention in the Middle East since 1900? If you want to find the country that has been involved in the most wars and most coups of foreign countries since 1900, you are looking in the wrong part of the world.
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