As for my speculating on the power vacuum theory of why the violence happens vs the natural course of events, believe me, it is speculation, but based on history. If a group of "civilized" Europeans can slaughter and kill many they don't like just based on events of hundreds or thousands of years ago, you have to get it into your mind that the Iraqi's don't need oil to go after each other. Religious intolerance among sects of Islam is real, and is the basis for much of the violence between Sunni's (Saddam's favoured class) and the Shiites (backed by Iranian interests bent on stirring up trouble). They don't NEED the oil to fight over. The Oil in the end maybe the catalyst to make them work together. Factor in the Kurd's who were hated by both groups, and persecuted greatly by the Sunni's and Saddam and you have a mess yes, but whether the US coming in or Saddam being taken out by other means, the tensions are still there.
