Cheney and Iraq

The 1994 video clip of Cheney discussing the disastrous consequences of removing Saddam from power has been circulating around the net for a while. Critics of the administration have used this video to cite the hypocrisies of the administration and some are even calling for his resignation or impeachment. I however see this video clip as being wholly consistent with the policies of the Project for A New American Century (PNAC) and those who share their ideology of American social, political and economic world domination.

Let me sum up. The PNAC believes that American foreign (and domestic) policy should be geared to secure and promote American dominance of the world. They don't necessarily advocate the whole Napoleonic take over the world by force routine, but firmly believe that we should be the world's only true super power. To that end, we should do everything we can to ensure that we will have all the resources we need to continue our dominance, most notably oil.

Let us not forget the image of Rumsfeld and Saddam shaking hands in the 1980s even as the reports of Saddams killing of Kurds was being made public. Those who today deplore Saddam's human rights record didn't seem to mind twenty some years ago that he was killing hundreds of thousands of his own citizens. The difference? Twenty years ago, Saddam was willing to play ball when it came to his country's oil reserves.

During the first Gulf War, we got a taste of what Saddam was really like when he crossed the border and invaded Kuwait. Unable to ignore an international for retaliation, we led an international coalition to push him back into his own borders. Call it biting the hand that feeds, Saddam began to stray and began to eye deals with France, Germany and China for access to its vast oil reserves, a proposition that was utterly unacceptable to the PNAC crowd.

So, no longer willing to play ball, it was time for Saddam to go. Not because of his human rights record, or his weapons of mass destruction, or even his alleged connection to terrorism, but because he was no longer an asset in the long term plan for American foreign policy.

I firmly believe that when the likes of Bill Kristol, Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld and co, assert that the Iraq war is crucial to survival of the American way of life, they mean it. But not for the reasons they would like us to believe. Like it or not, our lives depend on fossil fuels, to the point that if there were to be a sudden change in the oil supply, the fabric of our Nation would be ripped apart. One only need to look at the recent oil price hike to see how tenuous our economy is when it comes to the price of oil, it is linked to everything.

Knowing that the world, and even American populace would not support a war for oil (no matter the consequences of our not fighting it) they used the 9/11 terrorist attack to sell the war. Remember the line from the PNAC document Rebuilding America's Defenses "Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor". The events on 9/11 proved to be the event they needed to launch their war.

Many believe that the war is being fought over oil profits, I totally disagree. Profits are just gravy, the PNAC is fighting for what they see is the American right to exist as the world's only super power. I hope to write more on this as time goes on, and will post more as I continue to find information to support my position. For now I leave with this thought, this war isn't about the Bush Administration, it isn't even about one, or two, or even a dozen political leaders, it is about an ideology that permeates a new political power in this Nation. This isn't a conspiracy theory, it is something even more frightening, reality.

Staying Put

On second thought, I won't be moving the blog to the new site. As I began to really work with the software that I am using for my main website, I realized that it probably isn't the best tool for managing my blog. So I have decided to leave the blog here and only post my longer essays on my website.

Where's The Fire?

Inspired by the words of Ann Coulter I had this to say following the news of Snow's potential departure: "The Bush Administration is hemorrhaging staffers like teenage girls fleeing an R Kelly party."

A New Home...

Hi all... I have decided to move the blog onto my webiste and incorporate it with my longer essays, photos, etc. Please visit my new blog on 2 Grooms Media.