The International Populist Wave
Populists took control in Italy in 1994; Venezuela in 1999; Turkey in 2003; Bolivia in 2006; Hungary in 2010;, India in 2014; Greece in 2015; Poland in 2015; the United States in 2017; Italy (again) in 2018; and Brazil and England in 2019. There is no shortage of other populist parties on the move in Europe, so it appears that the populist wave does have real momentum.
The strange thing about this wave is the chaotic diversity of its leaders. In chronological order from 1994 to 2018 they are: a billionaire capitalist; a military socialist; an Islamist; a Native-South-American socialist; an authoritarian nationalist; a Hindu supremacist; a radical leftist; a devout Catholic nationalist; a billionaire capitalist; and a duo consisting of a left comedian and a right-wing nationalist; and an authoritarian social conservative. Despite the differences among these leaders, they all have something in common. That something is populism.
The Iraq War
The Iraq War was not about oil. It was mainly pushed for by a group of neocons that were tightly linked with conservative Israelis. You can see a description of the key players, the Iraq War Clique. that most influence Bush. Note that John Bolton, Trump’s National Security Advisor, was among the inner circle, the Iraq-War Nine. There’s also a chronolotical list of key Iraq-War quotes.