Blood and Oil

I watched the documentary tonight about the ongoing battle for oil in the Middle East called "Blood and Oil." I thought it was really interesting how it related exactly to what we discussed in class on Tuesday. How we (the U.S.) puts shady people in power to help our own goal of maintaining the flow of oil into the U.S. and then we have to go back later and take out those people like Saddam and Osama who WE put in power because they're terrorizing people. I also thought it was interesting because in class we talked about how the U.S. has to have their hand in everything. A perfect example of this is when we told Saudi Arabia that we would only occupy his country until the war in Kuwait was over which was the only reason he accepted our presence. But realizing that the only way to ensure the U.S. was getting the oil that we needed, our government decided we needed to be a constant presence. So before the war was finished, we decided we needed to contain Iraq which trumped the decision to leave and allowed the U.S. to have a permanent presence. It bothers me that we have to be so involved in everything. I know it is because of oil in these instances, but when I think about the way many of the countries in the entire world act...I get this image of the playground. I think of each country as a typical child you might find. I may be stereotyping and may need to edit this later, but I think of the U.S. as two different kids. I see us as the bully who is able to physically push others to the ground. But I also see us as the gossipy girl running around sticking her nose in everyone's business. Then all of the other countries would represent kids of the playground. The nerd, the athlete, the tag along, the wing-man, the trouble-maker. If you look at it, the countries as a whole are all acting like children, and some of those children are waving around daddy's loaded gun (WMD's and such). Even the U.S. has "Plan B" in his/her back pocket. Though she may not be blatantly waving it around, all the other children know its there. I just get frustrated that the government feels the need to lie and say its not about oil, but its obvious that oil is the driving force behind ever decision. When we (the people) call them out on it, they still lie right to our face. I think the film really shows that, how oil is the basis of every decision.