Has there ever been a war whose purpose was so questioned and so questionable? Five years into the Iraq war, hundreds of thousands of lives lost, a country blasted to pieces, and we still can't get a straight answer as to why we're there.
I wish someone in the press corps would stand up and ask Dana Perino whether our threats regarding Iran are because we see our policy in Iraq crumbling and we have to save it at all costs?
There's a clue in recent weeks, as Bush and Cheney have frantically deployed their surrogates to get legal cover for staying in Iraq. Clearly they want to. But the Iraqis are finally saying, "Okay, we're ready, get out." And the Americans are saying, "No, wait, you're not ready. We need to stay."
But why do we want to stay in Iraq, if our purpose was to put Iraqis on their feet and grow their military so they could take care of themselves? Iraqis are now clamoring for us to leave? Why don't Bush and Cheney want us to leave when Iraq demands it?
Why did we build that enormous embassy?
Why do we have such big bases all over the country?
Why are we holding Iraqis prisoner in American jails there?
Why do we want immunity for our contractors to do their brutal business?
The answers are written all over the face of Iraq. America had planned a long-term occupation of Iraq from the beginning. A puppet government was essential to Bush and Cheney's plans. But Iran has entered the picture, offering Iraq dominance by at least a near neighbor and disrupting the American plan for spreading "democracy"--American hegemony and domination of the oil supply--in the region.
Sounds like the war drums that Cheney is beating against Iran are spelling "Iraq is ours. You're ruining our plans. Get out or get toasted."
All of which makes the bombing of Iran a great deal more likely. And the more Iraq resists American dominance in the region, the closer the bombing of Iran becomes.
Throughout this whole long national nightmare, there has been a consistent thread of frightening sanity: Cheney's. He has known exactly what he wanted. He has, for the most part, gotten it. The cards are all laid out on the table for the American/British oil industry to dominate the Middle East through puppet governments. Here comes Iran offering Iraq a way out of humiliating subjugation to America (subjugation to Iran, but at least they're Muslims). And Iran must be dealt with.
Expect a bombing campaign in Iran before the end of the term. Cheney cannot afford to lose what he has spent 7 years building at incalculable cost. He must remove Iran as a threat to American hegemony in Iraq or everything will have been wasted.
At least that's what I think.