So some of these stated items may be sub-plots, the truth is Iran - Saudi rivalry plays a major part in ME politics. Syria was a proxy battleground so was Yemen.
Except that at the time, Iraq was itself a highly unstable conflict zone. Building a pipeline in those conditions was not viable, and probably still isn't.
Iraq is further along in that process.. than starting anew with Syria.
I fail to see how turning Syria into an unstable conflict zone would help.
That's precisely the point. Nobody set out to cause long-lasting, destructive conflict in Iraq as well.
Furthermore, in Iraq there was a multinational coallition allocating hefty amounts of resourses to ensure a clean politically advantgeous outcome, while the war in Syria would be, according to that conspiracy theory, at best a covert operation leading to a drawn out conflict.
A lot of what is written there doesn't pass the basic smell test of anybody even vaguely familiar with the conflict
[0] https://www.minnpost.com/media/2015/11/mystery-mintpress-new...
[1] https://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/the-inside-story-of-one-w...
Just to clarify if it is Gaza+West Bank, or the usual Arab definition that includes all of Israel, or all of the old Palestine mandate that included also present-day Jordan?
Depending on what is "Palestine", it s surrounded by 5 to 7 countries: Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi-Arabia and Egypt.
Being french this argument annoys me particularly because if you remember France was against this intervention because we thought the WMD menace was bullshit. Turns out that we were right. Then a few years ago France was saying "Assad is using chemical weapons against civilians, we must do something!" and the whole internet started parroting the russian talking points "But remember Iraq!!! It's all a bunch of lies!!!".
Not to say that french intelligence is infallible or can't be manipulated but using the garbage fire that was the "Gulf War Episode 2: The Empire Strikes Back" to immediately dismiss any kind of foreign intervention is rather disingenuous. Yet an other terrible long term consequence of the Bush administration years I suppose.
A public reticence to create further disasters, if indeed it existed, would be among the best possible long-term consequences of that foolish administration.
Believe it or not, every time something goes wrong in the world, the US is not behind it.
Ok, so you're just working on other people's democracies for their benefit. Gotcha.
Your missing something obvious with this conspiracy theory. Look at a map. Iraq borders both SA and Turkey. It would be cheaper to build through Iraq than destabilize an entire country.
Believe it or not, every time something goes wrong in the world, the US is not behind it. These conspiracy theories help no one.