In Iraq to Protect Our Oil

Kissinger, of Nixon/Vietnam fame, came right out and said it. "American forces are in Iraq to prevent the Iranian[s] from dominating the energy supplies of the industrial democracies."—that would be the oil. Not quite the line Bush&Cheney have been feeding us, but it ... makes a lot more sense.

The Iraq "surge" is about Iran and began Oct 3, when the Eisenhower carrier strike group left for the Gulf. Bush announced a second carrier deployment in his Surge speech. That's over 20,000 men right there, and they are of no use in Iraq. The surge is just an extension of "Operation Together Forward" started last July to re-take Baghdad. It failed in October, so add another 20,000 troops and give it a new name.

The danger is Cheney's incompetence. He and the neocons have driven Iraq policy from the start and blundered at every turn with disastrous consequences: Risk from terrorism is up. Al Qaeda has sprung up in Iraq. Iran's president is now a fanatic. He and Hezbollah's leader are now the most popular men in the Islamic world. We are losing Afghanistan. Why should American's sacrifice so Dick Cheney can continue expanding his quagmire?
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