But the US could have just bought the oil on the open markets. In 2008, the US imported 600.000 barrels of oil per day from Irak -- that's when oil peaked at ~

But the US could have just bought the oil on the open markets. In 2008, the US imported 600.000 barrels of oil per day from Irak -- that's when oil peaked at ~150 -- but if the whole year the oil stayed at 150$/barrel, and the US just stole it without paying Irak anything, that's just 32 billion USD. It would take the US 60 years to recuperate all the money it would have spent on Irak war if it was to steal all the oil from Irak at the levels of 2008, or 380 years at todays import levels and valuations (assuming the oil was war booty -- it is not). There is no way the war was started over oil, that would be beyond dumb. My personal theory is it was just the industrial-military oligarchs who started the war as to forever saddle the US taxpayer.