What was the real intent of George W Bush in the decision to invade Iraq in 2003?

[buritobr]

What do you think George W Bush was thinking when he decided to invade Iraq?
Here I list the hypothesis discussed by the media at that time.

Since many insane rulers really believe in their own lies, we cannot eliminate the hyphothesis that Bush really though Hussein had dangerous chemical and biological weapons, he really though about Al Qaeda or the possibility of liberating Iraqi people.
George W Bush might be considering that his father's job was not complete, since the Iraqi army was sent away from Kuwait but Hussein was still ruling, and so he could have though that the complete job should have done.
There were some hypothesis related to oil, and some of them were contradictory. The US government could have the intent to make a war in order to raise the oil price, since this administration was friendly to oil companies. But the real intent could be remove an enemy government in the Middle East in order to reduce OPEC's bargaining power so that oil price could be reduced and benefit the US, which is a net oil importer. Or maybe he wanted only business oportunities for American oil and building companies (and Tony Blair to British companies).
Since Iraq is close to southern Russia and western China, the intent could have been increasing the military presence in the region.
Another possibility is that the US government wanted to build something like Chile in the Middle East: an example of a sucessful free market economy in a region in which even in capitalist countries, the governments are not very free market friendly. Since there was no local Pinochet, the Americans wanted to do it through direct occupation.

Maybe, there were many of these motivations, but what do you think about the most important one?

[President Johnson]

Multiple can be true at the same time. I think cheap access to oil and and an increased military presence in a critical region were the main objectives.

[Big Abraham]

Enriching defense contractors and energy corporations, and having control of global oil prices.

[LostFellow]

Because Saddam "tried to kill my father, man", and Bush "don't play that s---."

[OSR stands with Israel]

I think W genuinely believed it was the correct thing to do . Now Cheney on the other hand I think did it cause it was a good way to further expand the unitary executive authority theory

[Agonized-Statism]

https://bit.ly/3rwp4mt

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

To extend American power in the Middle East, with implications for democracy promotion and a stronger geopolitical position against "rogue nations" throughout the region.  Perhaps economic interest factored in as well but that's very much secondary imo.

[LBJer]

Because Saddam "tried to kill my father, man", and Bush "don't play that s---."

Yeah, I said in another post that while it's unclear to me whether it was conscious or not, Bush's core reason for starting the war was to avenge his father.  WMDs and Saddam's bad behavior were just excuses and/or rationalizations. 

[Mr. Smith]

Outdo Daddy. Simple as that.

[LostFellow]

Because Saddam "tried to kill my father, man", and Bush "don't play that s---."

Yeah, I said in another post that while it's unclear to me whether it was conscious or not, Bush's core reason for starting the war was to avenge his father.  WMDs and Saddam's bad behavior were just excuses and/or rationalizations. 

I was just quoting, in jest, a line from Chapelle's Black Bush skit haha. Imo avenging his father isn't a great reason since obviously there were neo-cons like Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc. that were stronger voices for the Iraq War than W. Bush himself. The buck stops with Bush of course, but I think the Bush admin had generally odious strategical pursuits for Iraq rather than a personal vendetta.

[ElectionsGuy]

Unlike some others, I don't believe the true nefarious intent behind the Iraq War. It was an awful tragedy, one that was completely unnecessary, but I don't think they just wanted oil or just wanted to enrich their defense buddies. Those things happened,  and the excuses to get us into war were obviously lies, but people like Bush just tend to believe we have a duty to rid the world of tyrannical dictators and spread "democracy" and "freedom" to those places. Even though time after time, they reject our worldview, they do not view us as "liberators" and their countries end up in worse shape than prior. It is a truly delusional ideology.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

I think it happened mostly because there was a vague feeling in the Bush admin that after 9/11 the US had to kick something over and Afghanistan wasn't big enough. America was at war and Saddam was the biggest bad guy they could take out.

[LBJer]

Because Saddam "tried to kill my father, man", and Bush "don't play that s---."

Yeah, I said in another post that while it's unclear to me whether it was conscious or not, Bush's core reason for starting the war was to avenge his father.  WMDs and Saddam's bad behavior were just excuses and/or rationalizations.  

I was just quoting, in jest, a line from Chapelle's Black Bush skit haha. Imo avenging his father isn't a great reason since obviously there were neo-cons like Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc. that were stronger voices for the Iraq War than W. Bush himself. The buck stops with Bush of course, but I think the Bush admin had generally odious strategical pursuits for Iraq rather than a personal vendetta.

But I'm not convinced Bush would have listened to the neocons on this if Saddam hadn't tried to assassinate his father.  We'll never know for sure. I don't think Bush Sr. himself thought the war was a good idea.  I think that at the very least, the assassination attempt influenced W's willingness to accept what others were telling/advising him.  

[I Will Not Be Wrong]

 If any of you actually read a biography on him, you would know option one is the right answer.

[LBJer]

If any of you actually read a biography on him, you would know option one is the right answer.

But even if Saddam DID have WMDs, it didn't automatically follow that he was a threat to the U.S.  As someone said, the U.S. saying it was afraid of Saddam was like if Mike Tyson had said he was scared of Steve Urkel.  

[Vice President Christian Man]

He wanted to steal their oil

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

PNAC got their second Pearl Harbor.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

He needed to win reelection and he couldn't get Vin Laden so he bait and switched Saddam Hussein with Bin Laden and Yasser Arafat was still alive doing suicide bombings in Israel so it helped him and Kerry picked Edwards that had no natl Security knowledge Wes Clark should of been picked, he would have won

But, D's told him to pick Edwards due to his youthfulness and look what happened to Edwards a sex scandal came out anyways on hil

[OSR stands with Israel]

If any of you actually read a biography on him, you would know option one is the right answer.

But even if Saddam DID have WMDs, it didn't automatically follow that he was a threat to the U.S.  As someone said, the U.S. saying it was afraid of Saddam was like if Mike Tyson had said he was scared of Steve Urkel.  

Suddam having WMD's would have violated his surrender agreement from the Gulf War

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Oil had little to nothing to do with it. It was ultimately because he was against Saddam personally.

[HillGoose]

to seize the stargate

[HisGrace]

Have to roll my eyes at "finish his father's job" being the no. 1 choice when virtually all the choices here except that one likely played a role in the decision.

[Schiff for Senate]

President Johnson makes a good point on this:

Multiple can be true at the same time.

I personally think Bush was largely duped into calling for Iraq by the likes of Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz.

Motives of Bush (the first one's a maybe but the other three are more likely): He really believed Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, He really believed Saddam Hussein was supporting Al Qaeda, He really believed he needed to bring the liberal democracy to Iraq, He wanted to complete his father's job

Motives of Cheney/Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz: He really believed he needed to bring the liberal democracy to Iraq,  He wanted to complete [George HW Bush]'s job, He wanted to in/decrease the oil price (could be either, I don't really understand how the oil industry works if I'm being totally honest),  He wanted to increase business opportunities for American oil/building companies,  He wanted to increase American military presence near Russia and China

[buritobr]

The option "complete his father's job" is leading.

I remember that time, the media named this option "the freudian explanation"

[Senator Incitatus]

"He really believed he needed to bring the liberal democracy to Iraq" and "He wanted to increase business opportunities for American oil/building companies" are the same thing.