Perhaps the “truth” about Iraq and the real purpose of this war is becoming clear. It goes something like this:
- America’s international power (empire) abroad is secured by its 82 military bases is 18 countries (in addition to about 218 bases in 46 US states);
- Until this war we had only two bases in the entire mid-east (Saudi Arabia and Bahrain) to protect our interests in the future of energy. We desperately needed a larger footprint to protect both Israel as well as our own interests, Iraq seemed a natural choice, but Sadam would never have invited us, so we remove the impediment;
- Whatever the future political configuration of Iraq, we will vigorously defend our long term interests by creating a virtually permanent set of major military installations, airfields, etc. in the Shia and Kurdish regions. This has been our pattern of interest-protection in Japan, South Korea, Germany, etc.;
- It is unlikely that we will relinquish these bases in Iraq until we are no longer dependent on oil and Israel does not feel threatened by its neighbors. We will be there a very long time.
Why cannot our politicians just tell us the truth and stop insulting our intelligence? It is highly probable that both political parties would subscribe to this foreign policy. So why don’t we just say so and stop all the posturing?
Merle
