I am aware that a few years before the invasion, Iraq started selling oil in Euros instead of dollars, and I understand that the preservation of the petrodollar was a reason for the destruction of Libya. Also, there must have been a reason to go to war with Iraq the first time in 1990 and to then wage economic warfare against Iraq.
I’ve heard some stuff about the war being really against Iran, but that doesn’t really make much sense because Iraq under Saddam Hussein was a counterweight against Iran in the region (and in fact the imperialists sponsored an Iraqi invasion of Iran during the 1980s).
Of course, the WMD lie and attempts to link the Iraqi government of the time to al-Qaeda (which seems to just be an imperialist asset anyway) and 9/11 was just a way to find an excuse for the invasion.
The weapons manufacturers, private military corporations, and many other corporations profited greatly from the war, but there must have been a reason that Iraq specifically was targeted.
Saddam was not a friend to the US nor were they a friend to him. The US opportunistically supported Iraq in the war with Iran.
Iraq under the Baath party was a threat to Imperial domination of the Middle East. Firstly because it was Arab Nationalist, so it supported Palestine and considered Israel a colony, the Imperialists feared Iraq could become a source of anti-colonialism in the region. Secondly because it was Socialist and had nationalized its oil, much in the same way Venezuela would do later. After the fall of the USSR America had no reason to fear putting boots on the ground and immediately manufactured a war between Iraq and Kuwait to allow a repeat of Korea and build a UN blessed invasion. The 2003 invasion was because Saddam was still in power and Iraq could rebuild into becoming a regional power.
The “Axis of Evil” countries were all anti-colonial and needed to be isolated and eventually colonized to ensure American dominance was unchallenged.
“It was oil” “it was war profits” do not explain enough of the reality, which is that the US intends on colonizing every resource on the planet.