The cause of the Iraq war?

The causes of the two Iraq wars are different, but the key point is oil.

1, the first Gulf War:

After the Iran-Iraq war, Iraq was badly weakened and tried to seize Kuwait, which is rich in oil reserves, to gain benefits. The United States sent troops to carry out the first Gulf War in order to maintain the international order (moral commanding heights) and the petrodollar system (self-interest). The purpose of this war is to stop Iraq's aggression and weaken Iraq.

2. The Iraq War:

After the war in Afghanistan, the United States used weapons of mass destruction as an excuse (so far, Americans have not found weapons of mass destruction, so we call it an excuse) to send troops to Iraq again. Its self-interest lies in: Iraq challenges the petrodollar system (Saddam tried to settle oil in euros), disrupting the Middle East and raising oil prices (which can suppress rival China to some extent).

Essentially, the root cause of the two Iraq wars is interests (diplomacy, fundamentally, is a struggle for interests), but all these need to be rationalized, which is the direct reason for sending troops.

In the first Gulf War, the reasons of the United States were basically recognized by the international community (anti-aggression) and belonged to the absolute moral commanding heights;

In the second Gulf War, the excuse of the United States was a joke, so that when this guy talked about "weapons of mass destruction" in Syria again, he was questioned on the spot at the United Nations General Assembly "using a pack of washing powder as an excuse to kill Iraq". European and American proposals in Syria were almost rejected in the end, typically at the moment when the list was pulled later.