We are not leaving Iraq - or Afghanistan - ever!
The slippery slope of empire is coated with oil and we are sliding towards a world conflict of grand proportions.
The real unspoken reason Bush and the neocons took us into Iraq and Afghanistan is complete control of the middle east oil and natural gas reserves. Remaining the world's number one superpower and assuring unchallengeable world supremacy is the goal of the neocon corporatists. In their view, whoever controls the earth's biggest and most easily extracted oil reserves controls the world. Plain and simple! The reasons previously given, the threat of WMD, giving Iraqi's their freedom by removing the evil dictator Saddam Hussein, establishing democracy, and chasing down Osama bin Laden and the terrorists are all pure hogwash.
Without any real progress towards development of alternative energy sources, the future of America's dominance as a world power is dependant on adequate, uninterruptible oil supplies. In our present condition, a reduction by only ten to twenty percent of our oil needs would throw this nation into a chaotic downward spiral from which we would be a long time recovering - if ever. Our world would be turned upside down. During this period of chaos and recovery some other nation or a coalition could step up and take over the number one position of power.
The neocon theory is that if we had stood by and done nothing Iraq and other middle east countries would have eventually either aligned themselves with or would have been taken over by China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan or others considered hostile towards and resentful of America. Our nation could then be easily held hostage by our addiction to oil.
Other countries are in much the same situation and they see this coming. They will not stand docilely by while we grab up the oil supply and they will also not be denied the right to develop nuclear power both to supplement energy needs and to develop nuclear arsenals to protect against takeover.
Right now many of these countries are very likely feeding and financing the insurgency much in the way the US interests fed the Afghan warlords who resisted Russia's attempt to take over Afghanistan. Russia's interest in Afghanistan was the same as ours. Everyone is watching to see if we embroil ourselves with Iran and overtax our military as we sink deeper into debt.
There is no easy solution to this problem of energy needs. World conflict will likely increase and become more violent as a result. Large corporate masters may eventually take over all governments and large international mergers will likely take place held together by what amounts to corporate owned and financed private armies that operate under the flags of sovereign nations.
I can envision combined entities such as a South American conglomerate with hegemony over all of South and Central America. A likely merger between Canada, the US and Great Brittan is possible. Anyone can use their imagination to determine what other mergers and coalitions might evolve as a result.
The world's oil and coal supply is finite. Eventually alternative energy sources will have to be relied on if we are to survive. If the United States, Russia, Japan, and China among other technologically advance countries would take all the money and effort spent on wars protecting oil reserves and defense buildup and instead direct it towards developing alternative energy technology - the world could be saved. If simultaneously they made an effort to provide for the basic needs and social welfare of all the world's poor, most conflict including terrorism could be brought under control.
I saw Paul Hackett, the Ohio Democrat who was sabotaged by his own party, on Hardball last night and he articulated the same message as to how terrorism must be addressed. He said all the armies in the world can't kill terrorism, that only a combination of efforts to correct social ills, establishing human rights and addressing economic issues would solve the problem.
It's not a simple issue and all terrorists are not poor or uneducated. Indeed those that committed the atrocities of 9/11 were not poor or uneducated but they most certainly were rabid conservatives and idealists not unlike the neocons who orchestrated the invasion of Iraq. But everyone can understand that poor, uneducated and oppressed people, those subjected to slave labor or those with no jobs and little means to feed their families, will most often resort to or become victims of corruption and violence. They are also easily manipulated to hate and easily recruited to become terrorists and suicide bombers. What's to lose?
Gary
