Reply #12: No, war profiteering is when a supplier to the government gouges the government...

[rfranklin]

Wars have always been fought for resources. In fact, WWII was, to alarge extent, about oil and other resources for the Japanese. there were other contributing factors but resources were a big motivator.

"The Japanese military faced a particular tactical problem in that certain critical raw materials--especially oil and rubber--were not available within the Japanese sphere of influence. Instead, Japan received most of its oil from the United States and rubber from British Malaya, the very two Western nations trying to restrict Japan's expansion. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's embargo of oil exports to Japan pressured the Japanese navy, which had stocks for only about six months of operations."

http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/japan/japanworkbook/modernhist/wwii.html