Iraq, Israel, Afghanistan, Ukraine — Different Wars, Same Lies
From Iraq to Israel-Palestine, Afghanistan to Ukraine, the speeches change but the script never does—land, money, and God.
People act like wars are complicated. They aren’t. They’re the same recycled story: land, money, and God. The passionate speeches, the holy books, and the flags are just a cover. In the end, it’s men in suits who keep sending young people to die so they can look powerful on television.
The Iraq War: America’s Broken Promise
In 2003, George W. Bush told the world Saddam Hussein had “weapons of mass destruction.” Inspectors searched. They found nothing—no nukes, no chemical stockpiles, not even half-finished projects. The U.S. lost much of its international legitimacy in that moment. If you invade a country against the warnings of the United Nations—the very body you helped design—you had better find those weapons.
So why did the U.S. invade? Oil, revenge, and boosting the defense industry. Saddam had threatened Bush’s father, and Washington wanted tighter control of Middle East resources. But “we want oil” doesn’t sell well to the public, so the message was dressed up as “freedom” and “democracy.”
The result was catastrophic: about half a million Iraqis killed, a country shattered, and the rise of ISIS. A war launched to fight terrorism instead ended up fueling it.
Most of the world saw through the pretense. France, Germany, and even the Pope warned against the invasion. America went ahead anyway, and Iraq is still paying the price. Meanwhile, the men who sold that war live comfortably, writing books, giving speeches, and pretending it all made sense.
To be fair, while the war cost the U.S. an estimated three trillion dollars, it wasn’t all bad news for everyone. Some corporations walked away rich. American companies secured enormous contracts for security, logistics, reconstruction, and military services. At least $138 billion in contracts were tied to Iraq, with the top ten contractors alone pocketing about $72 billion (Business & Human Rights Resource Centre). And where did all that money come from? Straight out of taxpayers’ pockets.
One company, Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), pulled in an estimated $39.5 billion in war-related contracts. Private security firms like Blackwater received hundreds of millions. The Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund set aside $18.4 billion for rebuilding, and U.S. firms like Bechtel secured nearly $3 billion of that.
Israel and Palestine: A Cycle That Never Stops
To understand Israel and Palestine, skip the ancient scriptures and start with 1948. After the Holocaust, Jewish survivors needed safety. The West, instead of offering land in Europe or America, carved out a state in Palestine—where people were already living. Palestinians lost homes and land. At that time, the region was under British control, the result of World War I, when many Arab leaders sided with the Christian British and French against the Muslim Ottoman Empire.
Israel was born, Palestinians were displaced, and violence became constant. Wars, uprisings, and airstrikes have followed one after another. Each round kills civilians, sparks international outrage, and then fades until the next eruption.
The U.S. keeps sending billions to Israel as “aid,” partly to maintain a strong ally in the region, and partly to satisfy millions of Americans who believe Israel must exist for biblical prophecies to be fulfilled. This support isn’t about being “Jew-friendly”—it’s about religion and politics. Meanwhile, Palestinians live under occupation or blockade. Gaza is often called the world’s largest open-air prison.
Religion only makes it worse. Jews, Christians, and Muslims all insist that God gave them the same small piece of land. If God truly handed it out, He couldn’t have chosen a place more destined for endless conflict.
Afghanistan: The Place Empires Lose
Afghanistan has been fought over for centuries. The British tried to hold it. They failed. The Soviets tried. They failed. Then came the U.S.
After 9/11, the U.S. went in to destroy al-Qaeda and the Taliban. That mission shifted into “nation-building,” as if Afghan villages could be turned into Western suburbs. Twenty years later, trillions spent, and thousands of lives lost, the Taliban walked right back into power the moment the U.S. left.
Ordinary Afghans, especially women promised protection and rights, were abandoned overnight. What was achieved? Weapons contractors grew richer. Politicians back home made speeches. Afghans got another generation of war.
Ukraine: Old Ambitions, New Ruins
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was not a mystery. Putin wanted land, control, and to stop Ukraine from moving closer to Europe and NATO. He thought tanks would roll across the country in days. Instead, Ukraine fought back and showed how weak his army really was.
Now the war drags on. Russia bombs cities. Ukraine pleads for weapons and aid. Europe frets about energy prices. The U.S. pours billions into Ukrainian defense. And ordinary Ukrainians live in basements while politicians make speeches about “values.”
At its core, Ukraine is a proxy fight: Russia against the West, with Ukrainians paying the highest price.
The Common Pattern
Wars always sell themselves with the same lines:
“We’re spreading freedom.” Translation: we want resources.
“God is on our side.” Translation: we want divine cover for greed.
“They hate our way of life.” Translation: we interfered first.
And the cycle keeps repeating because war pays. Weapons companies earn fortunes. Leaders look strong but are rarely concerned with national pride or theological differences. Arab leaders frame the conflict as Muslims versus the “Christian” West, while the “Christian” West acts as if Islam is the main problem—implying that without Islam, these people would admire them. Meanwhile, news outlets get endless hot content to sell, and the people buried under rubble are forgotten the moment the cameras leave.
Sources and Further Reading
The True Cost of the Iraq War: $3 Trillion and Beyond
https://www.hks.harvard.edu/publications/true-cost-iraq-war-3-trillion-and-beyondIraq: 20 Years On From US Invasion, the Companies That Profited
https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/iraq-20-years-on-from-us-invasion-the-companies-that-profited-incl-co-responses/Blackwater (Company) – Iraq War Contracts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_(company)Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Relief_and_Reconstruction_FundIsraeli–Palestinian Conflict
Britannica https://www.britannica.com/event/Israeli-Palestinian-conflictHistory of the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Israeli–Palestinian_conflict
Afghanistan: The Graveyard of Empires – BBC
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-11451718The Taliban Regain Power in Afghanistan – Council on Foreign Relations
https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/taliban-regain-power-afghanistanRussia’s Battlefield Woes in Ukraine – CSIS
https://www.csis.org/analysis/russias-battlefield-woes-ukraineCivilian Harm and Human Rights Abuses in Ukraine War – UN
https://ukraine.un.org/en/289667-civilian-harm-and-human-rights-abuses-persist-ukraine-war-enters-fourth-year
Brilliant insights and summing up, Tanner. The only thing I want to mention that it is Nato and the US ('the West') that was the silent aggressor for years against Russia, until Russia could no longer allow more encroachment toward its borders.