Yankeepez has me thinking again; he does that a lot. I am thinking of John McCain's extension of Bush's plan to keep troops in Iraq for a long, long time.
Should we leave? When should we leave?
The reason I was very anti-war to begin with—other than it is morally wrong to attack a sovereign nation just because our president doesn't like their president—has to do with the complicated political and economic realities of the region. Show me one person or any group of persons whom say they are Middle-East experts, and I will show you one liar or a group of liars. Sure, there are a few people whom know a lot about the region and its problems, but there is not a one that understands it well enough to say, "I know what is wrong and how to fix it".
The main fact is the people of the region, including Israel, don't want us there. We are seen as invaders and occupiers, and even worse, infidel invaders and occupiers. Do you understand Muslim religion and how it is interwoven into the lives of these people? Do you understand the history of the Gulf region? The Muslim religion is their lives! It is their history!
The only reason I can think of for still being in Iraq is to keep that nation's oil out of the hands of Muslim fundamentalists like those whom control Iran. Does Bush really want democracy in Iraq? No, but he does want the free flow of oil to keep coming to the big businesses that paid for his appointment and election.
If you don't like the price of gasoline now, you darned sure aren't going to like what comes when the US pulls out. Not only will the price skyrocket even compared to what it is doing now, but you will see the same supply situation we had during the oil embargo of 1973 when our good friends in Saudi Arabia cut us off. You remember the Saudis, don't you? The Muslim nation that gave us Osama Bin Laden and most of the 9/11 hijackers?
So we pay a price for the present administration's idiocy and greed. Either keep sacrificing our service people to the Holy Oil, or be prepared for this nation to grind to a near halt in its ability to do anything that is based on the use of imported oil.
No, I'm not for McCain's proposal to "win"; I know it can't happen unless we bomb the entire region back to the stone ages.* Nor am I for Obama's plan to pull most troops out in less than two years because I believe it will cause utter chaos and we will end up bombing the hell out of them anyway and have to return our service people to an even worse slaughter. Don't forget to look over your shoulder, because the biggest player of all in this situation isn't saying a lot right now. Instead, China is quietly buying and stockpiling all the oil that it can, using the money you spent for their cheap goods, a lot which were manufactured by an "impressed" prison labor force.
We have our selves in a lose-lose situation, and there is no 'lesser of two evils' here. I see no way out unless someone comes up with a miraculous and quick alternative to imported oil.
*To say the truth, I'm not entirely against bombing them into history, but it is unrealistic. I fear any kind of strong, religious uprising anywhere in the world. I fear that religion will eventually pull us all back to the stone ages. At the present, I am afraid of Christianity more than any other communal faith because it is so widespread and downright sneaky and hypocritical, but the thought of uncontrolled Muslim fundamentalism gives me chills in my spine.
3 comments:
I would love to leave right now. Can we, most likely not. We now have to much vested or invested.
We seem to not understand that the Middle-East is driven by religion.
Yes these people want many of the trappings of life we have, but their life is driven by God. Until our leaders understand that we will continue to have problems in the Middle-East.
Until we can accept that "their God and "our God" are not and never will be the same then we will never have any type of mutual respect or ability to work with one another. The only reason we have any kind of relationship with any country's in the Middle-East is because of the power of money.
The other thing to remember is this simple fact. The oil is THEIRS. They can do what they want with it, plain and simple. Would we be so kind if all that oil was underground in the U.S. Think hard before you answer that because the answer may not be so kind.
The oil is theirs.
Should a family of sheiks be allowed to hold the world hostage with it? No!
Who saved the Saudi Sheikdom from being overrun by Hussein? The US! The royal Saudis lived in mortal fear of Iraq, but they didn't fear Iraq as much as they fear their own religion. They know their days are numbered, and are going to amass as much wealth as possible before the Muslim fundamentalist hammer falls.
Most of America's wealth is going to the Saudis and the Chinese. The Saudis own and are invested in more big American companies than are Americans. Do you think the sheiks would allow Americans to buy most of Saudi Arabia? How much property do Americans own in China? Zilch!
The oil is theirs and no they should not hold the world hostage.
The only way to break the stranglehold they have on us is by reducing our dependence on oil. There are many ways that will have some effect but there have really been no effective answers to the problem.
If we as a country put our collective intelligence together we could come up with real solutions. We need people to put politics aside and work for our future as a country.
The Saudis are doing what they can to make as much money as possible. I bet they know how much oil they expect to get from their wells. They are running scared. They know full well their time is short and are attempting to do what they can to remain vital to the world in the future. I bet that once the oil goes away the money All leaves Saudi Arabia and the country will be taken over by someone else. We will not defend them because there will be nothing to defend.
I also think if a country will not let us buy property in their country we should let them own anything here. Screw 'em.
The one thing this friggin' war did was wake us up to the problems we have with being so dependent on oil. We should have learned in the70's, hopefully we are learning now. I have my doubts.
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