Make war , not love

[quintessentone]

@ Ninurta, quoted:

"or more specifically, the real answers to the question "why are we there?""

To benefit from the spoils of war and/or colonization. USA dollar has and continues to slip. Trump's tariffs are a total failure. Money needs to come from somewhere.

Yes, that's one way of looking at it. I don't think it's the correct answer, mostly because I cannot fathom how that would work - spend billions to thump a country, but then how would we possibly even be able to recoup those losses, much less turn a profit on the venture?

We'd have to annex the country to incorporate it into the US GDP and support the charges of "colonization", and then we'd have to go to the expense of rebuilding infrastructure, restructuring it in some cases to counteract the dismal decisions of the Clerics, and then, after all the expense of the war, rebuilding, and "colonization", it would be years and years before we could ever recoup those losses in order to turn a profit.

I just can't see how that would work in the real world,instead of on paper.

But yes, that scenario would most definitely require American "boots on the ground", and lots of them. That in turn would inevitably lead to the "failure" scenario as the Iranians would eventually get tired of being second-class ciizens in their own country, and would then rebel, repeating the war cycle all over again.

There's just no profit in that.

.

Seizing the spoils of war and/or colonization and/or coercion. Venezuela oil so far has $2 Billion in USA's coffers to benefit the people of Venezuela and the U.S.A. (We will see about any of that money benefiting any people)

"The United States is leveraging Venezuela’s oil resources to generate financial benefits through controlled sales and revenue management. Following the U.S. capture of President Nicolás Maduro in January 2026, the Trump administration initiated a plan to sell Venezuelan oil, with the first tranche of 50 million barrels sold at market price.  Proceeds from these sales are held in U.S.-controlled accounts, primarily in Qatar, to prevent creditors from seizing funds due to Venezuela’s estimated $170 billion in external debt."

I rather think Trump thought or hoped that he could use the same tactics in Iran as he used in Venezuela through intimidation and coercion. It didn't work with Iran. And we are touching upon the why the USA is there, I say, again, that their original reason IMO was thinking they could eliminate their supreme leader then the people would take over and comply with the West and all the US-dollar oil would be flowing in unprecedented levels to enrich the USA. The delusion is now over and reality has set in.