What's really going on...

...with the Iraq situation? My belief is, it is solely about the new oil law -- the one that is reported to be less and less likely to pass. If we substitute that for all of the other items cited to measure Iraq's "progress" or not, then the stances taken make sense.

Bush gets furious when he hears people suggest withdrawal, because withdrawal before the oil law is passed means the US (and the big US oil cos) get nothing, zero, zilch, nada from the whole damned enterprise. And he has equated that, in his own mind, with America's best interests -- remember, he is a born and bred oilman. It's in his blood -- probably literally as well as figuratively.

And it's true that the rhetoric about withdrawal emboldens those who he calls "our enemies". Only the "enemies" that he is speaking of, are the Iraqi lawmakers who do not want to hand the lion's share of their oil wealth to the US based oil companies. So they are holding out because they do see America's resolve weakening -- which in reality is a good thing, since our resolve should weaken when we see that what we are doing is wrong, wrong, wrong.

Oh for just one day a year, when politicians took off their layers of dissembling, and just laid it out for us, their real motivations and reasoning for things. If only we did not have a situation where everyone has a hidden agenda, creating elaborate theater in order to sway the population, but never based on the one thing we all long for and need so badly: simple truth.

They will never admit it though.

I think you get the picture.

When a common criminal will kill a person to rob him of $50.00, how many people will a team of world-class criminals kill to steal a hundred trillion dollars? So far it's north of 600,000 or so....

I think Bush has a Messiah complex who truly believes he can transform the middleast. He and Cheney are exploiting each other, as long as Bush thinks democracy is a path to Christianity, Cheney can use him to get the oil. And as long as Cheney wants the oil, Bush can use him to act out his delusions of grandeur.

Maybe it's that simple?

but that pales next to the tens or hundreds of trillions in the ground in Iraq

and the prospect of doing it all over again in Iran and who knows where next

...and I thought about that. But as you point out, these pale in comparison to the oil profits to be had.

The war profits do their part though. They make it possible to conduct wars at any time, because there is a big line of people and companies just rubbing their hands together at the "opportunities" that war brings.

Which makes me think: one nice idea IMO would be to outlaw profiting from war. Hear me out. We all understand the concept of taking profit out of health care in order to provide universal health care, without paying the exorbitant prices that occur when private enterprise runs rampant. So how about a law that private military contractors and arms manufacturers be not for profit. If something has a dual use, that could be problematic. But surely there are some industries that are simply allied with military and warfare. Companies should not profit from this. It is a public service to help provide for the common defense, but it should never be seen as an avenue of great profit. If that were to happen, there would be fewer wars waged, which would be a great thing even as it confirmed a most cynical view of human nature.

Oh well just taking a time out here to dream on. :-)

health care should be a not-for-profit enterprise

we should practice enlightened socialism

capitalism has metastasized and is devouring our entire planet

..."and is devouring our entire planet".

Agreed it is a pretty compelling analogy. This is one argument for strong regulation. If we look at it as a system, and draw an analogy to biological systems, a very essential part of the system is to keep the growth of each part in check. Growths that do not heed these growth-checking signals are called "cancers". Now capitalism's one imperative is growth. If there are no -- or ineffective -- government regulations on capitalist enterprises, then they will follow their one imperative and grow without limit, and in doing so they will eventually impinge upon other healthy functions of the system and harm or even destroy them, thus hastening the demise of the overall system.

So that to me is the compelling argument for regulation. Effective regulations presupposes strong states that can enforce them. Then let capitalists do their thing -- profit is still a great motivating factor and allowing this force to be harnessed is not a bad thing IMO, just don't allow it to run amok.

I think they know it is running out and I see us staying in Iraq till it does and China funding Iran for their oil and a proxy war using both of those nations in the future for control of the supply. We are already demonizing Venezuela and they have( I think) the next largest amt of oil. We should be investing in alternative energy in a big way and conserving the oil we have left as a transition but I don't think these guys think that way.