When the United States sent troops into Iraq ten years ago with the intent of toppling Saddam Hussein’s government, many questioned whether the Bush administration was really seeking to liberate Iraq’s oppressed people, or to liberate the country’s vast oil reserves.
In the decade since the invasion, Iraq has seen a massive oil boom, becoming one of the world’s top oil exporting countries. But if the goal of the invasion was really to bring all that oil to America, then things haven’t quite gone according to plan. According to a recent report by the New York Times, the U.S. is far from Iraq’s biggest customer. That distinction goes to China. Fully half of Iraq’s oil output is being bought by China, with American oil companies accounting for quite a bit less.
This, perhaps unsurprisingly, does not sit well with Donald Trump. Phoning in to Fox & Friends this morning, Trump criticized the Obama administration for failing to claim a bigger piece of the Iraq oil pie. He lamented the fact that America sunk $1.5 trillion into the invasion of Iraq and is now getting “nothing” from it, while China reaps all the benefits.
Check out the segment for yourself below: