Why did the US invade Iraq?

[TrustTheProcess]

I am really curious as to why America invaded Iraq. For a while, I assumed that it was simply because it benefitted the military industrial complex and fossil fuel industry. Now, while I am sure there is a partial truth to that, it feels like this feels a bit too simplistic. I am wondering your thoughts and if you had more resources/book suggestions on it

[commie]

Because Iraq invaded Kuwait. Now, that was a simplistic answer.

Why did people die in the Grenfell tower fire? Because photosynthesis produces oxygen. Was that simplistic? That's not quite the right word considering the level of bias and deflection involved, is it not?

To begin with, the US didn't invade Iraq with either time. Any explanation that fails to explain why other states collaborated is a non-starter.

Frankly, the question isn't specific enough to be answered fairly. It's an invitation for bias, kind of like a Rorschach. Consider all the reasons why the invasions shouldn't have happened or the number of people who were supposed to stop such destructive schemes and failed or did not bother.

[Nak Khid]

3 hours ago, louhad said:

I am really curious as to why America invaded Iraq. For a while, I assumed that it was simply because it benefitted the military industrial complex and fossil fuel industry. Now, while I am sure there is a partial truth to that, it feels like this feels a bit too simplistic. I am wondering your thoughts and if you had more resources/book suggestions on it

It depends on which,

under Bush I  or Bush II 

[LaucherJunge]

 

[Rilles]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationale_for_the_Iraq_War

[Leo Gura]

$$$

[JosephKnecht]

After the 9/11 attacks, the US was enveloped in negative energy that had to be released into the world. 

Iraq was the country the US decided to release that negative energy onto.

They chose Iraq most probably because of convenient economic, military, and political reasons. 

[Gesundheit]

Why does the bully in school bully other students?

[Nak Khid]

In 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait, a U.S. ally .  When Iraq who had the strongest military in the region at the time Saudi Arabia and the United States did not like it
because they perceived the power of Iraq to be a threat to stability 
and the crucial resource that fuels the modern nations, oil is in the region. 
They did not want Saddam Hussein who was a secular Arab dictator after being emboldened by a take over of Kuwait to then progress to take over Saudi Arabia.  So with the aid of U.S. airstrikes they beta back Saddam Hussein  under Bush I
Shortly after it ended in 1991, Shia and Kurdish Iraqis led several uprisings against Saddam Hussein's regime, but these were successfully repressed using the Iraqi security forces and chemical weapons. It is estimated that as many as 100,000 people, including many civilians were killed.
Iraq was ordered to destroy its chemical and biological weapons and the UN attempted to compel Saddam's government to disarm and agree to a ceasefire by imposing additional sanctions on the country in addition to the initial sanctions imposed following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. The Iraqi Government's failure to disarm and agree to a ceasefire resulted in sanctions which remained in place until 2003.

Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the George W. Bush administration began planning the overthrow of Saddam's government and in October 2002, the US Congress passed the Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq. In November 2002, the UN Security Council passed UNSCR 1441 and in March 2003 the US and its allies invaded Iraq.

____________________________________

So why did the U.S. with allies then invade Iraq  if Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11  ? 

Because they thought that by regime change they could democratize Iraq and if not that put someone in place that would be U.S. friendly.
Saddam Hussein had had friendly relations with the U.S. before they invaded Kuwait.  
The 9/11 attack made the U.S. look vulnerable and it was extremely scary and shocking for a lot of Americans. 
After Iraq invaded Kuwait was this the first step in Iraq taking over more counties in the gulf or was this just a territorial depute with Kuwait? 
This is unknown
But there was a think tank in Washington called Project for a New American century.  They had a vision for the middle east that being a superpower 
the U.S. could create a middle east that would be U.S. friendly and yielding.  The gulf produced a much higher percentage of  oil in the world then..   This need for oil is like the blood of the nation not just a source of profit. There  had been an oil crisis in 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations perceived as supporting Israel during the Yom Kippur War. 

The effects of the embargo were immediate. OPEC forced oil companies to increase payments drastically. The price of oil quadrupled by 1974 from US$3 to nearly US$12 per barrel ($75 per cubic meter), equivalent in 2018 dollars to a price rise from $17 to $61 per barrel.[3]

This price increase had a dramatic effect on oil exporting nations, for the countries of the Middle East who had long been dominated by the industrial powers were seen to have taken control of a vital commodity. The oil-exporting nations began to accumulate vast wealth

Oil is crucial to our whole economy and more so at that time.   So the concept was that an independent minded militaristic regime like Saddam Hussein's Iraq was a threat to the economy due to access to oil . 
Eventually Saddam Hussein was killed by Iraqis on the side of the U.S. 
but this whole concept of regime change and a military "shock and awe" campaign proved to be much less effective than planned.
And the middle east has many complex political agendas of it's own and use many guerrilla and other asymmetrical warfare tactics. 
So defeating a country is one thing but controlling it thereafter is another entirely 

[Nak Khid]

https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/us-energy-facts/

Edited July 26, 2020 by Nak Khid

[Apparition of Jack]

Division vs. Unity is a part of it too. The more I study the history of war, the more I realise people will find and excuse to fight even if things are going well and dandy (as was the case in the US in 2003 outside of the collective shock of 9/11.)

So on top of all the other reasons people listed (money, need to release anger, etc.) it was also because the US empire simply hadn't had a "good war" for long enough and felt the need to start another. "The sword itself incites unto violence" and all that.