What is Digg?175 Comments
- IbnDigg, on 10/11/2007, -9/+76Well at least they are honest.
- yurbud, on 10/11/2007, -7/+62The oil law Bush is forcing on the Iraqis will give $6-20 TRILLION to big oil companies. We pay for the hostile takeover, they reap the profits.
http://professorsmartass.blogspot.com/2006/10/why-did-bush-invade-iraq-6-20-trillion.html - yorxs, on 10/11/2007, -13/+43The first western government, I always thought Australia was in the eastern hemisphere?
- danielsan1701, on 10/11/2007, -8/+32Is our children learning?
- devindotcom, on 10/11/2007, -0/+13FTA:"Obviously the Middle East itself, not only Iraq but the entire region, is an important supplier of energy, oil in particular, to the rest of the world,"
"Australians and all of us need to think what would happen if there were a premature withdrawal from Iraq.
"It's in our interests, our security interests, to make sure that we leave the Middle East, and leave Iraq in particular, in a position of sustainable security."
He's a defense minister, not a spin doctor (like our defense guys). He's just telling the truth - obviously Iraq is a huge international hub for oil and energy, and to leave it lurching would have extreme consequences. Which is not to say we've already wreaked plenty of "consequences" on the country, but he's just stating the truth.
It's also important to note he's describing why we should not pull out, not why they got in. - siriusly, on 10/11/2007, -5/+16True, but they are "western" in every other sense of the word.
- plhearn, on 10/11/2007, -6/+17What a bunch of greedy bastards. I'm glad we Americans would never do something like that.
- devindotcom, on 10/11/2007, -0/+10Consider that the defense minister's comment was in regards to why we should not pull out now, as opposed to why we got in in the first place. He admitted no such thing.
- nblsavage, on 10/11/2007, -1/+11Western in culture not location
- thegoldenavatar, on 10/11/2007, -2/+11You say "all for oil" like society as we know it isn't completely and utterly dependent on oil.
- astyanax, on 10/11/2007, -1/+9This is not even what the article says. "But PM John Howard has played down the comments, saying it was "stretching it a bit" to conclude that Australia's Iraq involvement was motivated by oil.". RTFA
- wiggles, on 10/11/2007, -3/+10*sigh*
OK. Yes, we're in Iraq for the oil. The question then becomes, is oil worth the blood and treasure the war has cost us.
On the surface, we are inclined to say no. But when we look deeper, we see that our entire economy depends on oil for goods and transportation. The computer you're viewing this on is made with petroleum products. The power you use for that computer may very well be generated by petroleum based fuel. If that substance is cut off, or if the price is made to rise artificially, then the economy of not only the US but the entire world could grind to a halt. GDP for all major world economies would plummet, resulting in another Great Depression. Not to mention the fact that most of the world's accessible oil supply is owned and controlled by those who hate western countries and their culture, increasing the chance that the supply could become disrupted just to damage the 'infidel'.
There are only three things we can do about this.
1. We can invest in new technologies to replace oil as such a necessary commodity -- more nuke plants, electric cars, and non-petroleum based plastics and other industrial products will go a long way, but this is going to take a long time for the construction, R&D, and industrial retooling
2. We can live with the global depression that a cut in supply would create and hope it lights a fire under someones ass to do no. 1 -- too painful for me, thanks.
3. We can secure our supply of oil in the short term while the government pushes investment in no. 1
The problem with the current administration is that they're doing #3 so poorly that we're looking at #2 happening anyway. Hope you guys like selling apples on street corners. - VaporBro, on 10/26/2007, -2/+9Hey...'Merica are in iRaq fer oil 2
- jxs2151, on 10/11/2007, -2/+8As we all sit on our petroleum-based computers, using petroleum-based energy to post on Digg.
- PaulOwen, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7So I'm a mass murderer!
Can I go free now? - blackholemonkey, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7I'm still expecting to find this to be a fake story. Seriously that was a refreshing air of honesty
- DruSam, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5At least you're honest. Yes, you can go.
- GabrielS, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Hi. We're the US Navy. We protect trade routes for the United States. Some of these routes are used to transport oil. You could argue, quite sophomoricly, that the US Navy exists to protect oil.
- timc1956, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Austria makes Glocks. Austria.
- pyry, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5What poor grammar? The 'are' reflects a facet of British English grammar whereby collective nouns, such as businesses and countries may take plural verb morphology. "The BBC are investigating..." and "Australia are in Iraq..." are both correct with regards to British English speakers. To them, "Australia is in Iraq" might seem like it's 'poor grammar'.
Anyway, why not look at the point of the article, not the grammar? - inactive, on 10/11/2007, -21/+25I am totally flabbergasted that they actually admitted to causing so much death and destruction - all the deliberate murders, all the accidental murders, all the friendly fire murders - all for oil.
- Magillicutti, on 10/11/2007, -10/+14Of course, Fox News only reported one side of the story. They completely ignore the Defense Minister's comments but rather had two articles about the Prime Minister denying it.
- Bdog2g2, on 10/11/2007, -2/+6What!!!!! I thought we were there to bring democracy and freedoms to a country who has cried out for those things.
Oh and topple Saddam.
And there was one more thing we were there for..........what was it.......its there.....W....WM..something.....WMDS...that's it. - rationalist, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Wow, it's true - time travel is real. Here is a post from the 1920's:
"we have more oil in North America then all the middle east you fool." - popothebright, on 10/11/2007, -4/+7Australia *is* "in Iraq for Oil".
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3"The computer you're viewing this on is made with petroleum products."
Mine isn't. Its made out of wood and paper! - tacomannerism, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4According to the article, Australia's Defense Minister "resource security" is a priority (yes, this means oil). He didn't say it was *the* priority, or even that it was the top priority. While there are forces in Iraq, why not make of point of protecting oil assets there? Would you rather them lie about it? Would you rather them just ignore the huge energy resources at risk there?
Yes, it would be great if we lived in a world where human life and well-being was the only thing we needed to be concerned with. - monkeyrun, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5It's about bring freedom and democracy to the middle east... Believe!
- rationalist, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Typical ignorant freeper, can't even get the continent right.
- herb99, on 10/11/2007, -8/+11How dare those people have our oil under their sand!
- ruley, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5The Australians will great us as liberators.
- rcran, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3We may not be 'completely and utterly dependent on oil', But most countries would be severely ***** without it.
- pyry, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3The use of 'are' in this case reflects the collective plural of British English grammar. Thus, they use 'are' with things like businesses and countries.
- Harrison88, on 10/11/2007, -7/+10"The first western government"
How far west are you gonna go? - kuzotz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3too bad your culture is western..
- dagaz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Actually most household energy comes from burning coal, not 'petroleum-based' products.
- donkz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3I thought they were fighting for Freedom from Terroristians like we do
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Fox News, only telling 1/2 of the story to make Bush look good (well, less bad)!!!!! Say it isn't so!
- swrostmore, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2its not about the availability of oil, its about the PRICE. Saddam was jerking around the international oil market, so he had to hang. And no, neither the availability nor the price is worth going to war over.
- madhouseradio, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4It depends on what your definition of the word "is" is.
- eth3l, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3Yes, securing the supply of energy for the world should be a priority. Putting it in siple terms as the poster and many commenters do is irresponsible and ignorant. Exactly what we have come to expect from Digg.
- n8f8, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4Read the actual source material. He was making an argument for supporting Iraq. A lot of you guys say "***** em, lets just leave" and this guy is just saying that we'll pay a price for that policy also.
- BESTenemy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2We're not there for Oil to extract and transfer to the States, you are correct in that aspect. We are there to keep oil monopoly going in Europe and Asia, to make sure countries such as Korea and China only buy oil through OPEC using USD. Where do they get the money? From us. In exchange for what? Cheap mass produced products. We don't hand them dollars out of generosity. We use oil for leverage to get better deals out of those that produce and consume it. We use oil to inhibit the rate of developing nations. Oil is power. We need to keep it, cause if we don't, someone else will.
Much of our currency relies on oil trade. Without oil there can be no dollar. - osirisothedead, on 10/11/2007, -6/+8No, I'm pretty sure he means "Is". It's a Bushism, and a very well known one at that.
- jknevitt, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3Try again: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_west
- MephistoX, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I didn't know there was more than one Australia...
- kinerry, on 10/11/2007, -12/+14Dugg down for poor grammar
- DestroyFascism, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2We got red necks too. ! : p
- 0ceanic, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3West vs east refers originally refers to the split of the roman empire between catholocism in the east and orthodoxy in the west. countries spawned from the west are what we call western.
This includes france, germany, and italy, even though they are all technically in the eastern hemisphere. its usually associated with a type of government closer to democracy and further from despotism.
Australia was born from england, just like america. - kuzotz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I thought we were there to keep the terrorist from attacking home.
/sarcasm. -
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