Was all this in Rummy's battle plan before the invasion of Iraq? If not, when did he come to this point of view? Does this mean that the US has failed at nationbuilding? Just what is the role of the US military today?

I recommend a read of Andrew Bacevich's April 22, 2005 article "New Boys in Town - The Neocon Revolution and American Militarism" available at:

http://www.truthout.org/docs-2005/printer_042205N.shtml

The role of the US military is getting scarier and scarier. And if Bolton makes it to the UN, .... It's time to watch "Dr. Stangelove" again.

Aaaah, but there's that Black Gold, that Texas Tea. No troops have been spared, no expense is too much in protecting the black goo bubbling up crude from beneath the Iraqi sands.

Whoever controls the crude, controls Iraq.

Bush's War is a war of conquest, no matter what they claim. Before the war, Hussein and his Baathist Party controlled Iraq's oil wealth...and maintained the oil infrastructure with the expert help of the French, the Germans and the Russians...primarily.

Now, who controls the oil infrastructure? Bush and Blair and some of the "coalition of the willing" members who have received sub-contracts from the main Bush/Blair contractors. Could this explain the hesitancy of the French, Germans and Russians in joining the "coalition of the willing"? If they had, you know that they would have been given a sub-contractor role and would have been squeezed out of any primary contractor position by Bush and the British.

At present, the Iraqi people do not control their own oil wealth. Everything has been privatized or contracted out to foreigners.

So, the conflict in Iraq is actually being waged on several levels.

1) Who will control the oil? Attacks on the oil pipelines indicate someone is unhappy with the way things are right now. The Bush/Blair sell-off of Iraqi assets to foreigners has made these people unhappy...and they are fighting back. All foreigners are viewed as "the enemy" by these people. Contractors are killed. Any Iraqis doing business with the foreigners are threatened, or killed.
2) Will Iraq go the way of Iran and Saudi Arabia and become a theocratic hell-hole with the religious wardens of hell controlling the oil? If so, then the Black Iraqi Gold will fund terrorism attacks throughout the Middle East and beyond. At present, though, there are indications that there are tit-for-tat attacks occurring between religious fanatics and secularists who don't want Iraq to be just another Iran.
3) Tribal conflicts. There is no way to tell how many Iraqis have died in tribal disputes since Hussein's security infrastructure was destroyed. Thousands at the least.
4) Rural versus urban. The same as the tribal conflicts, but with the twist that urban dwellers tend to be more cosmopolitan and liberal, while rural dwellers tend to be more conservative (thus perfect recruiting fodder for the more radical Islamicists).
5) Foreigner jihadists entering to sow discord and destruction in the belief that out of the ashes they will gain control...of Iraq and it's oil wealth. Many of these are Iranian operatives sent in shortly after Baghdad fell.

Iraq is a seething caldron, and U.S. soldiers as well as private contractor security employees (mercenaries, basically) are caught in the middle. It is a meat-grinder. And it has not helped at all that the Bush strategists in Washington are a bunch of fools.

Solution:

1) Bush/Blair must declare emphatically that Iraq's oil belongs to ALL Iraqi citizens equally. No favoritism will be shown nor allowed. No more Hussein's solely controlling what belongs to ALL the Iraqi people. This important stipulation must be written into any Iraqi constitution.

2) The foreign privatizers must be sent home. Control must be turned over to Iraqis, who will then decide on the payment terms for any foreign sub-contractors hired to help maintain the oil flow. Bush and Blair have to butt out.

3) While this is happening, the religious fundamentalists who want Iraq to look like Iran must be forcefully told that an oppressive, repressive Islamic Republic will not be allowed. If need be, any recalcitrant religious fanatic leaders must be captured and locked up beside Saddam Hussein. Hey, dictators are dictators and are definitely anti-Democracy. They may hold so-called elections for show, but a true Democracy is much more, much much more, than just the right to vote. Unless minority freedoms are guaranteed (alongside majority freedoms) in a new constitution then Iraq will devolve into a censorship hell...just like under Saddam Hussein, but with a terrible, nationwide religious slant. The Iraqi people should be assured that they have the right to religious freedom and expression (no matter what religion) and also have the right to NOT belong to anyone else's religion, especially out in the public arena. There have been signs since Baghdad fell that the religious fanatics are laying claim to Iraqs public arena. Killings, kidnappings, beatings, beheadings. If an Iraqi cannot walk safely down an Iraqi street without being terrorized by some religious freak, then Iraq will never have a true Democracy. Some insane Iraqis believe that everyone must obey "their" religion out in public. These people deserve a spot beside Hussein in jail...if Iraqi citizens ever hope for Democracy to take root and flourish in Iraq. Otherwise, kiss Democracy good-bye in Iraq. The radical Ayatollahs next door in Iran will have successfully annexed Iraq into their crazed Islamic Republic fold. Which will only strengthen Islamic terrorism.

At least this is my analysis of the Iraqi situation. Unfortunately, the privatizers in the Bush administration are just as fanatical in their beliefs as the religious terrorists are fanatical in their beliefs.

And U.S. soldiers, contract security personnel, and all peace-loving, freedom-loving, Democracy-desiring Iraqi citizens are caught in their ideological cross-fire.

We're gonna be in Iraq as long as we can manage to afford it, so get used to it. Get used to the lying and obfuscation, too.

Without cheap energy (oil) our economy collapses, simple as that. With the coming of peak oil (and our esteemed leaders are well aware of it), we moved to secure a supply in the best manner that BushCo thought was available. Everything else is just a smokescreen, as I'm sure most of us here are well aware.

You know what? I'm all for keeping my rich, wasteful, first-world lifestyle, but someone in charge has to realize that it can't continue indefinitely, and begin taking real steps to "fix" things. Given that this would mean a great deal of economic hardship, no small amount of pain, and lots of weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, the likelihood of this happening is very slim.

The real scary thing is that there probably isn't any solution (painless or otherwise) at this point. The world is heading for some seriously bad times, folks. Hold on tight.

Fuckin' A Bubba

Just to put an "I told you so" in here, the most under-rated president ever knew about peak oil and tried to do something about it when it would have mattered, nearly thirty years ago.

I'm well aware of that, Mr. Frogsdong. Carter was a bright guy (he was a Navy Nuke, like me!), but let's face it, our political system isn't geared for the chaos that awaits us. When you elect you leaders with what is really just a popularity contest, there's no place for unpopular decisions.

Speaking of Rumsfeld, one of our bloggers at www.thisisrumorcontrol.org has found some interesting parallels between Abu Ghraib and one of the more famous atrocities of Vietnam, and I thought you might be interested in reading and/or commenting on her post here.

http://www.thisisrumorcontrol.org/node/2133

Dear Mr. Rumsfeld,
The Iraqi's are the insurgency, you dip shit. Can you say "Civil War"?

Amen.

Today is the 2 year anniverary since Bush declared "Mission Accomplished". What a joke- unfortunately so many Americans have had to pay with their lives for that jackass' miscalculation. I'll never forgive him.

The difference between Vietnam and Iraq is that LBJ's personal lawyer didn't specifically justify atrocities.

1. Timely
   
2. Strategery
   
3. Webb wins
   
4. Huh?
   
5. Bunnypants in Bagdad
   
6. Outage
   
7. Filthy Lucre Watch
   
8. Playing the numbers
   
9. My letter to Countdown
   
10. Jefferson's Nigerian Scams