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.
