I think there's a hidden agenda here. There usually is. Remember WMDs 'regime change' then 'democracy in the middle east'. Never mentioned O I L once. Funny that.

It's most odd.

OIL ive heard everything now

I was referencing Iraq...

The point being we should have learned by now to question everything we're told. From dodgy dossiers to Blair moving the goal posts several times, to the Arab Spring bollox to Cameron telling us the removal of Gadaffi was best for Libyans.

What was wrong with the arab spring, do you prefer to see these people live under a dictator involved in murder and terrorism?

I'll sound like a to55pot saying this but I was happier hearing about this stuff 1000's of miles away and not affecting our lives tbh.

lfc - America (imo) went into Iraq to take over the oil industry. Not own it but to remove it from Saddam and make sure good companies from China etc produce as much of it as possible.

Why? To keep prices in dollars.. and to keep prices low. Saddam's handling of the oil industry was chaotic and with him out of the way the plan I think was to make it far more efficient for world markets.

It accounts for 99% of Iraq's revenue..

Look at this Guardian article from 2016: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jul/07/us-and-britain-wrangled-over-iraqs-oil-in-aftermath-of-war-chilcot-shows

Sir David Manning, foreign policy adviser to Tony Blair, told Condoleezza Rice, the US national security adviser, in Washington on 9 December 2002 that Britain still wanted more of the spoils.

“It would be inappropriate for HMG [Her Majesty’s government] to enter into discussions about any future carve-up of the Iraqi oil industry,” he said. “Nonetheless it is essential that our [British] companies are given access to a level playing field in this and other sectors.”

UK government officials called in a team from BP for a briefing about the prospects for the Iraq energy sector on 23 January 2003, two months before the invasion, which ended in May.

Now what have they got, what do they want, freedom? don't worry they would have that as partners of America
Such a terrible shame and waste

really, and did America pillage Germanys wealth, did they pillage Japans wealth after the war
No these countries had greatest increase in prosperity and freedoms and progress they have ever enjoyed, that was the happy result in those happy countries

I'm not saying they did but I'm sure what the US have done in the world is for their benefit

Why do I disagree , because the evidence is there, and you have only to compare western Europe to eastern Europe under Russia
Or Japan to N. Korea
Take a look at that and open your eyes

What happened there?? Typing and checking markets at the same time
The possibility of that ever being the case in an Arab region was 0 but I didn't think the US would be involved if there was nothing in it for them.

i dsagree again, but so what, they don't have to be saints, the American empire is the most benign in history

No problem admittedly I'm generalising a fair bit in this conversation

Dave, I've doubted May and praised Corbyn for raising questions as to her blanket ban on all things Ruski.

Apart from singing the red flag and dating Diane what more do you want?

Something not right about this whole bizarre incident in Salisbury. It is a strange coincidence that this chemical attack occurred just 9 miles from the government research facility at Porton Down where coincidently they test certain types of nerve gases - presumably they have to manufacture such toxins in order to develop suitable antidotes for military personel. (Wikepedia
Until 2001 the military installation of Porton Down was part of the UK government's Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) when it was split into QinetiQ, initially a fully government-owned company, and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl). Dstl incorporates all of DERA's activities deemed unsuitable for the privatisation planned for QinetiQ, particularly Porton Down.

In 2013 Dstl scientists tested samples from Syria for Sarin, which is still manufactured there, to test soldiers' equipment.[1])

Something just doesn't seem right - same with the bizarre 'suicide' of Dr David Kelly. We know politicians lie (or don't actually know what's going on) eg Edward Heath upon taking us into the EEC as it was then - Lying to Parliament and to the British people saying that there would be no loss of sovereignty We know this to be a huge whopper!

jackanory,jackanory ,    fools

Tony Blair should be in prison with no chance of ever getting out after what he contributed too, same goes for George W Bush, but yet both are multi millionaires living the life of a king. In blairs case he's still got the bloody nerve to show his face on all media platforms and is trying to tell people they made the wrong choice regarding "brexit", even inciting violence, the bloke should be arrested.

Oh dear - some news leaking out that the rush to hysteria about Novichok and where it came from has been premature.

It could all be false news but when it comes from a US expert !!??   

Likewise a British expert and people who ACTUALLY worked on it etc etc

Like I said the accusations of insanity may be somewhat questionable now??

The former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, talking about the destruction of russian chemical weapons,  who visited the site at Nukus, said it had been dismantled with US help. He is among those advocating scepticism about the UK placing blame on Russia.

In a blog post, he wrote: “The same people who assured you Saddam Hussein had WMDs now assure you Russian ‘novichok’ nerve agents are being wielded by Vladimir Putin to attack people on British soil.”
Craig Murray, in a phone interview, is undeterred, determined to challenge the government line, in spite of having been subjected to a level of abuse on social media he had not experienced before.

“There is no evidence it was Russia. I am not ruling out that it could be Russia, though I don’t see the motive. I want to see where the evidence lies,” Murray said. “Anyone who expresses scepticism is seen as an enemy of the state.”

It seems people far more knowledgeable than me are subjected to personal abuse for raising questions.