Why Are We Still in Iraq?



I really don't get it. Is it:

A) the oil? The oilmen running the world economy at present want to buy, steal and fight over every last gallon of the resource, which in a car economy is not going to be existing all that much longer. The real agenda seems to be making every last frigging pound/euro/dollar on the hydrocarbon molecules, even if it means nobody can breathe and the climate becames unsustainable.

B) the military-industrial complex? There hasn't been this much swag since the Vietnam War. The looting of the American treasury (that's you and me, folks!) continues at a breathless pace, laundered through criminal corporations like Halliburton, Bechtel, and a host of military "contractors." The fact that billions at a time just sort of disappear amongst them in Iraq is amazing and the fact that our representatives aren't making a big fuss out of the fact is even more amazing.

C) the neo-cons? The demented followers of Leo Strauss are grotesquely prominent in American government again (Wolfowitz, Perle, Eliot Abrams, make your own long list). The two directors of AIPAC, the Israeli lobbying group, have just stepped down after the FBI accused the group of passing on classified documents. The Project for a New Century wistfully wished (pre-9/11) for a "Pearl Harbor" type event to galvanize the population at large. The unholy alliance with the loonier branches of the Christian right has been very scary to watch. Plus, the looting of the American treasury to pay for the dream of a Greater Israel as the dominant force in the Middle East, along with the trashing of the U.S. military over the last two years in Iraq as part of this strategy, are just unconscionable.

D) the Bush Administration? Their shortsightedness (global warming, anyone?), "magical" thinking ("Mission Accomplished," for instance), venality (Terry Schiavo or pick your own favorite), and outright corruption keep hitting peaks you didn't think possible until they actually top themselves. We could be in Iraq just because they're stupid and stubborn and taking in too much swag themselves.

E) all of the above? This is my greatest fear, that we're dealing with a confluence, a Perfect Storm of bad agendas, all resulting in an immovable mess.

Though I've been noticing cracks lately. According to the McPaper, USA Today (which has gotten better while the rest of the prestige papers and networks have become immeasurably worse), the majority of the American public is not amused by the Iraq war in any way, shape or form, even though their representatives and the media are telling them how necessary it is for our way of life. It reminds me of the Clinton impeachment all over again.

So pray, talk, write, protest, support -- whatever you're good at -- and let's get our troops home now and out of the poor Iraqis' country.