Why did we invade Iraq without provocation, why impose this bloody and brutal occupation, and why are we still there? Well, IT'S THE OIL.
Recommended reading: Michael Klare's article [http://www.tomdispatch.com/...] posted on TomDispatch, in which he discusses the geo-political chessgame being played over the energy resources of central Asia and the ME. This is the elephant in the room that is almost never mentioned in the MSM, or even on this blog, while we conduct furious debates over the incompetence of the administration, the nature of Evil, the morality of war, and the honor of the nation.
OK, let's say that oil is a vital resource, that its production peak is imminent, and that the implications of its impending scarcity are such that managing this resource truly is an international security issue of utmost importance.
The question is then not "Shall we invade and occupy Iraq?" The real question is "How shall we manage the peak oil scenario?"
The tragedy of the Bush administration's Iraq folly goes far beyond the horror of the war, the occupation, Abu Ghraib, etc. The far greater tragedy is that this is the ONLY thing they are doing in response to peak oil. No conservation or alternative fuel programs. No effort to foster an international consensus on how the residents of this planet can transition to a post-petroleum civilization. No strategy to avoid tearing the world and ourselves to pieces in a series of resource wars. No recognition that the way we have lived for the last 100 years is not a functional possibility for this century.
Given the total absence of any response to the peak oil scenario beyond the waging of aggressive wars, I conclude that the vision that informs Bush's Iraq fiasco is this: For as long as possible, preserve the dominance of America in the world, preserve the dominance of big oil and big coal within the US and world economy, and preserve the elite status of the current elites. Other than that, let the chips fall where they may.
That's it. Can we agree that this is an unsatisfactory approach?
No discussion of what the hell we're going to do about Quagmire Iraq will make any sense until it is put into a context of how we are going to transition to a post-petroleum civilization.