Make no mistake about it, securing oil reserves is the game of the millenium.

The Russians just planted a flag on the seabed near the North Pole to claim that territory as their own.

See http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/08/02/ap3982506.html

Think about this, Iran has the third largest oil reserves in the world. Isn’t it natural for them to get a bit itchy thinking about who might invade them to get control of their oil? It’s funny, I read today that it looks like our government may have sold millions of dollars of F-14 fighter jet parts to guess who? Iran. Oops. Iran aging fighter jet forces are made up of primarily F-14s. In my deepest paranoid nightmares, I imagine that our government did this intentionally. Why? So, Iran can have the equipment to confront us in an incident like the recent capture of British patrol boats, so we can justify an invasion when they do. I know, pure paranoia. Check back this time next year.

And how can we leave Iraq without first ensuring all that oil doesn’t fall into unfriendly or economically competetive hands?

The Bush Administration has made quite a mess and there are no easy answers.

Not many Iraqis like America. Most want us the hell out of there. Who in Iraq will treat us favorably when we leave?

So, knowing all this, the Bush Administration begins to talk about Iraq as if it were South Korea. A permanent “temporary” presence.

We have an untenable moral dilemma on our hands, assuming you have a worldcentric perspective. On one hand, hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis, with more dying every day. Millions of Iraqi refugees, six million to be accurate- that’s roughly 15% of the population leaving the country to save their skins. That would be  equivalent to 45 million american refugees. And, the possibility of a flow of cheaper oil and gasoline for our Hummers, plastic for our water botttles, and a supposedly more certain and prosperous future for we americans–if we acheive the peace that we keep getting promised but never get delievered. On the other, if we walk away, who knows really. A full fledged civil war in Iraq? Al Qaeda strongholds and training camps? An anti-american theocratic government? A true chance for peace?

If your worldview is ethnocentric, the answer is easy; we take what we need for our survival, and, sorry about the mess, isn’t that what the bottom line is here?. Then for good measure throw in some slogans.  Fight ‘em over there, NIMBY! We fought for their freedom! Better with no Saddam!(even though he successfully kept Al Qaeda out of Iraq). They hate us for our freedom. You’ve heard all the propaganda.

No wonder some Bush supporters don’t want to open their eyes and look beyond their own ethnocentric perspective. I understand now.