News/Research articles, page-279

Regarding any potential invasion of Congo, I don't think that'll happen. American companies kept their hands off Iraqi oil to a large degree relative to an invading power, due to the democrats passing laws on ethical concerns of their companies getting the contracts. Many of the contracts went to China, and with the exception of some some Republican controlled companies like Halliburton made billions, but the nation at large lost vast sums of money.

The primary motives were removing an enemy state and an experimental project in liberal imperialism that failed (it could've worked even as late as the second post-war election in 2010 if they'd stopped the Supreme Court from helping Maliki steal the election from Allawi) to create a dependable ally in the region (well, these days with Abadi it is, but the Iranians have way too much clout for it to be considered a success).

I agree that there were economic reasons, Halliburton et al, but they were a secondary reason.

As for Congo, there's already UN troops there, and if the West desired to cut out their production it could just inflame the humanist lobbies to pass more laws.