The fiscal burden of the prosecution of the Iraqi war has risen by over 155% since it started...:down: and there is no end in sight. Latest estimates put the monthly financial burden at something like $12 Billion/mo...

Just another source to take a look at: http://zfacts.com/p/447.html

Talk about a self-fulfilling prophesy...

I call BS.

That's not true. No one in europe regrets that Saddam was removed from power, and there was hardly anyone complaining when he was executed, in spite of the european view on the death penalty.

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To get back to topic, in the end I think Iraq will have to pay for the reconstruction, and fortunately they will have the money. Oil exports will open up a whole lot of new opportunities, and there will be lots of international support, so in that respect it doesn't look so bad I think.

I agree here. Iraq is oil rich. From what I hear, their electricity is free. If anything, perhaps the US will see returns in oil at better prices then the US is seeing now per barrell

If they can get it out. http://www.iags.org/iraqpipelinewatch.htm

I'm sure they can get it out. If we recall a few years ago, everyone was saying this war was about oil. OK, they have fat tanks of it and fat reserves. I honestly do not see the US saying,"OK, you are free now and we are going home, have fun." I see the US saying, "We want to bring home a momento of our hard work and lives of our men and women. I think billions of gallons of oil would be just swell".

It may well be that the population in our respective countries would benefit similarly......if only so few of them had access to it ;)

Add to that, "We'd also like get a lease on some land for a couple small ground and air commands, along with some ocean front property for the Navy. Never can be too sure about your neighbors."

Good point! Beach front property to park our hardware!

Add to that we also have some great ideas for your constitution like a power to veto new laws an such.

I say lets steal it ... all we have to do is get it over here, right?

One million barrels of crude oil equals = $109,000,000,000 USD

modern oil tanker

No US flag oil tankers makes it harder to steal that much oil, but Russia had a plan ten years ago that is now very affordable.

Russian submarine oil tanker

Quote:

Originally Posted by http://www.fishingnj.org/artoilsub.htm 04:22 PM ET 08/11/98 (from InfoBeat) MOSCOW, Aug 11 (Reuters) - It may sound like science fiction but the first nuclear-powered underwater oil tanker could soon be a reality, cruising from Russia under the Arctic ice cap. A Russian naval architect who designed nuclear submarines for the Soviet navy said on Tuesday his firm had already won interest in its blueprints from companies wanting to transport oil from northern Russia to Japan under the frozen polar sea. Boris Dronov, a chief designer at the Malakhit design bureau in St Petersburg, said the first 30,000-tonne submarine -- about the capacity of a medium-sized surface oil tanker -- could be launched within four years if a sale can be clinched this year. ``The era of ice-breakers is coming to an end, underwater tankers are an all-weather transport and can carry oil and gas all the year round,'' he said. Russia's Arctic north coast, close to many of its biggest oil and gas fields, is ice-bound for most of the year. Dronov said the company has several designs capable of carrying 10,000, 20,000 or 30,000 tonnes at speeds of 19 to 21.5 knots up to 400 km (250 miles) offshore. He said it was envisaged that the new tanker could deliver oil and gas from Russia's northern Yamal peninsula to western Europe and Japan, South Korea and other big Asian consumers. ``We abandoned an idea of using decommissioned nuclear submarines for carrying oil and other fuel, and our newly-designed tanker is completely different,'' Dronov said. ``Only superficially does it look like a submarine.''