What to do about Iraq

This war has long since perplexed (and vexed) me on what to do. It has been proven that we as a nation were duped into false reasons for justifying the initial invasion in Iraq post 9/11. I believe that we (as citizens) were outraged by the scale of the terrorists attacks on NY and DC and that we hopped into a hornets nest without really thinking much about it.

To try to put our military into perspective - we have the most advanced capabilities ever to be known in the history of combat. Short of tossing shear numbers at us, we can solidly defeat any and all nationally backed offensives with our combined efforts in air, sea and land forces. It is truly unmatched.

What we cannot do is use this "tool" to hunt for mosquitoes. It's like the 240 lb linebacker who is trying to ward off an gnat attack. All you can do is run away.

But here we are - in the middle of it all with our pants around our ankles and nowhere to go. If we stay, we lose the hearts and minds of the people. If we go, it collapses immediately into civil war and genocidal rage that would then become the literal harbor for broods of future US haters to cultivate.

The only real reason that can logically be derived from all of this is the oil resource. Since 1971, we have exceeded our own internal capacity to produce oil for our national consumption. Shortly there after in 1973, OPEC came into full with the finalized nationalizations of private oil companies into countries such as Iraq and Saudi Arabia. With the embargoes that forced the rations in the mid 70's, OPEC learned a valuable lesson which is to keep the taps open.

What Americans really don't realize is that with that amazing flow of oil out of the mid east and the subsequent flow of cash back to those nations, we have amazing clout over what they can do. Those countries, by-in-large only have one thing to sell - oil. Carpets and pottery aren't going to make up for a $70B shortfall in revenues. OPEC has no intention of losing America as it's best customer.

And with that cash that feeds the top 1% of those nations, it goes to their royal families and their Ferrari's and palaces with most of their infrastructure (roads, schools, etc) funded directly from government subsidies. When the oil price is high, the profit margin is high so there is more money to go around (Iran is set up this way and why gasoline there is only around $0.50/gal). But, they can't make it go too high or demand drops and so does the price. So OPEC nations strive for a sweet-spot per se.

From a national security standpoint - America will never be "energy independent". To make significant strides to be oil independent would mean to cut our consumption by 2/3rd's (we roughly use around $10M barrels/day) to what we can produce internally. But since oil is a commodity, the price drops with lack of demand so if we push down a path of high fuel cars and alternative fuels, oil drops significantly and the incentive is immediately gone. Why invest in expensive alternatives when gas is $1.25/gal?

Our national infrastructure is completely dependent on automotive and semi-trucks for transport of people and goods. To make significant changes would be to completely retool cities and interstates, etc. Trillions upon trillions of dollars (which, in turn, buys a whole shit load of oil).

To keep prices artificially high, we would have to impose high tariffs on imported fuels which would only have a negative impact on our morale and economy (why is gas at $5/gal/ Well, the damn government sets the prices so high...).

So back to what going to happen in Iraq. We're going to stay and we're going to get a huge cut of the oil that is produced. We're going to justify it due to the $5-7 Trillion we spent "liberating" the nation and the only thing that the Iraqi's can do to "repay" this debt of gratitude is to share a portion of the loot that comes out of the ground. Our national security and economic security depend heavily on whether or not we can obtain the riches that are in those sands.

What is criminal about this is that our nation will have been lead down the path of belief that we were there for democracy and rightful vengeance on a nation that harbored terrorism that struck us cold. But in the end, it was a excuse to secure the rights to oil. Afghanistan - who was the root of the Al Qaida stronghold hasn't had nearly the attention as Iraq because poppy seeds do nothing for our economy (unless we become drug lords as well). Hence the lack of attention.

Our choice is to drastically change our energy consumption and use. If it is not economic, it has to be ideological and one that can be framed so that all Americans can unite and stand behind it. if not, what's stopping us from invading Venezuela? Their dictator is a prick too...