Just when Americans thought the Iraq War was over, or at least finally winding down, there is a new movement afoot to re-invade Iraq. According to some conservatives, the United States should make sure that the Iraq War is paid for with Iraqi oil reserves. The problem with this theory is that Iraq is now a sovreign nation, and under no obligation to pay for a war which it never asked for in the first place. To overcome this fact, GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump advocated using force to seize Iraqi oil fields if necessary. Bill O'Reilly, once again establishing himself as a more "moderate" conservative voice, disagreed with Trump saying it was crazy to suggest invading Iraqi oil fields. Still, O'Reilly did say that it was "the right thing to do" to make the Iraqi's pay back the United States with oil. Glenn Beck also suggested that the United States use the Iraqi oil to pay for the debt accrued from the Iraq War, saying that President Bush made a mistake by not securing the oil reserves earlier. Trump is arguably the most prominent of the current GOP presidential hopefuls. Beck is considered "crazy" by many on the left, but certainly holds sway on the right side of the political spectrum.
The United States still has some "troops on the ground" in Iraq, but those troops are no longer performing combat operations. In the coming year more troops will be withdrawn from Iraq as President Obama attempts to reduce the U.S. presence in the country. The draw down also has an added benefit of bringing down costs, as it costs tremendously more to station troops overseas.
Securing the Iraqi oil fields would undoubtedly mean increasing rather than decreasing the American troop commitment to the country. There would be a real risk of revolt within the country if Iraqi citizens felt their oil was being "stolen" by ther American capitalists.
Beck and Trump may have some support from big corporations who last year expressed displeasure about losing out with their bids for some of the Iraqi oil fields. Rather than showing favoritism to American companies, the Iraqi government simply put their oil fields up to the highest bidder. Companies from China, Russia, and France ended up winning most of the contracts. American companies like Exxon-Mobil ended up losing out.
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