A friend of mine sent me a link to a post by John Cusack on the blog; The Huntington He railed against the Democrats and essentially called us spineless bottom-feeders because we sat back and allowed the neo-cons to drag this country into an unjustifiable war, allowed torture, allowed lies and pay-to-play go unchecked etc. And as Democrats, we must begin to demand that the US leave the Middle East, which give me pause. Here’s why:
First, I read the book, “The End of Faith”, by Sam Harris. I first learned about this book in the magazine, “The Nation.” He basically says in his book that extreme Islamic fundamentalism, if it is allowed to continue to become the norm, will spell disaster for the west. Their religion, in its extreme form has one objective; kill, destroy, and wipe the evil doers off the face of the earth, period. We are the bad guys; their mission is to annihilate us. We are corrupt; there is not hope, no compromise, and no tolerance. That is what the radicals believe and what the moderates condone with their silence. Perhaps Jordan’s protest over their extremism is a sign of hope. But if this form of religion goes unchecked, a black market that sells every weapon imaginable from the old Soviet stockpile, will leak into the hands of these extreme religious fanatics who will find a way to use these weapons against us. Like it or not, that is the truth. If you don’t believe me, see for yourself how easy it is for you to buy a dirty bomb. With a little technical know-how and some seedy friends, I guarantee you can have your own dirty bomb in less that a year. Why doesn’t 60 Minutes do a story on that?
The second reason that I disagree with Cusack: What if this war is really about oil? What if our real motive for going to war was to create a free market where capitalist can thrive and the Middle East becomes more like Turkey and Jordan?
I believe this war is really about Natural Resources, i.e., oil. The world needs the Middle East’s oil. And that, I believe is the bottom line. Corrupt? Perhaps, but who is ready to go live off the NET and not consume the electricity? Who is ready to live without the good and services that the Oil Cartel provides?
First, I read the book, “The End of Faith”, by Sam Harris. I first learned about this book in the magazine, “The Nation.” He basically says in his book that extreme Islamic fundamentalism, if it is allowed to continue to become the norm, will spell disaster for the west. Their religion, in its extreme form has one objective; kill, destroy, and wipe the evil doers off the face of the earth, period. We are the bad guys; their mission is to annihilate us. We are corrupt; there is not hope, no compromise, and no tolerance. That is what the radicals believe and what the moderates condone with their silence. Perhaps Jordan’s protest over their extremism is a sign of hope. But if this form of religion goes unchecked, a black market that sells every weapon imaginable from the old Soviet stockpile, will leak into the hands of these extreme religious fanatics who will find a way to use these weapons against us. Like it or not, that is the truth. If you don’t believe me, see for yourself how easy it is for you to buy a dirty bomb. With a little technical know-how and some seedy friends, I guarantee you can have your own dirty bomb in less that a year. Why doesn’t 60 Minutes do a story on that?
The second reason that I disagree with Cusack: What if this war is really about oil? What if our real motive for going to war was to create a free market where capitalist can thrive and the Middle East becomes more like Turkey and Jordan?
I believe this war is really about Natural Resources, i.e., oil. The world needs the Middle East’s oil. And that, I believe is the bottom line. Corrupt? Perhaps, but who is ready to go live off the NET and not consume the electricity? Who is ready to live without the good and services that the Oil Cartel provides?
I bought a hybrid vehicle and as soon as my warranty is up, I’m putting a larger battery in the vehicle so I can charge it up at night and run off or the electricity for 100 miles a day and not even use any oil. But the electricity I use to charge my vehicle will be the by-product of oil and coal. The organic food I eat is transferred via airplanes, trucks, trains etc, to the grocery store, all which consume oil, right? Even in my bohemian lifestyle, I still am a consumer of this commodity.
I believe that until we examine the real reasons we went to war the Democrats are going to continue to lose in this debate about the Iraq war. What the Democrats need to be saying is the truth, “We went to war with Iraq because we need a market that is consumer friendly; one that and will keep producing and providing the commodity we all need, oil.” Until that changes, nothing will change. We can dance around the issue, rant about the horrible politicians in Washington, but we are all a part of the story. The only plan the Democrats can propose to get us permanently out of the Middle East is to propose a “Manhattan Project” that will deliver an alternative energy source for the world. That is the only way we can permantley withdraw our troops/our presence from the Middle East.
So I think John is well meaning in his rant about the Democrats being spineless, they probably are, because they will never stand up to the Oil Cartel. The Oil Cartel has the politicians in their back pockets. Oil is the oxygen of the economy. Who will fight that? That’s why we all lose this argument…
I believe that until we examine the real reasons we went to war the Democrats are going to continue to lose in this debate about the Iraq war. What the Democrats need to be saying is the truth, “We went to war with Iraq because we need a market that is consumer friendly; one that and will keep producing and providing the commodity we all need, oil.” Until that changes, nothing will change. We can dance around the issue, rant about the horrible politicians in Washington, but we are all a part of the story. The only plan the Democrats can propose to get us permanently out of the Middle East is to propose a “Manhattan Project” that will deliver an alternative energy source for the world. That is the only way we can permantley withdraw our troops/our presence from the Middle East.
So I think John is well meaning in his rant about the Democrats being spineless, they probably are, because they will never stand up to the Oil Cartel. The Oil Cartel has the politicians in their back pockets. Oil is the oxygen of the economy. Who will fight that? That’s why we all lose this argument…
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2 comments:
If the U.S. went into Iraq for just for oil, then it has utterly failed. But there were reasons in addition to oil. Reason#2: the Junta has been able to award hundreds of billions of dollars to defense contractors, so this has been a Neo-con New Deal for the military industrial complex. Reason#3: Though I like to call him Bush the stupider, he did learn one thing from his father. His father was only popular while he had this nation at war. And this really was the most important reason for Bush to invade Iraq: sheer political gain.
The spineless Democrats, like Bush, probably thought Iraq would be an easy target. They didn't want to be painted as the ones who impeded the "progress" that a presumed glorious victory in Iraq would have brought the United States. Hence, they were spineless and utterly failed to be an opposition party.
All is not lost for the Democrats. They may still regain some power by default. This will not necessarily translate into much gain for the United States and the World, for that we need big, helpful ideas like a manhattan project for energy as you suggested.
Here is a response someone e-mailed me:
John Cusack is a very smart man. Just when the war had started, there was an AP news report about an Israeli military intelligence officer who was training our troops in the Middle East and he commented that he didn’t understand what we were doing there, and I remember reading his quote “they will be running away in their helicopters just as they did in Vietnam”. I should have kept the story. What Scott Ritter, ex weapons inspector, and many other Middle East experts said would happen is exactly what’s happening. Iraq is in a civil war, the war is spreading to neighboring countries, there is more terrorism, and it could all lead to WWIII. All this to control the world supply of oil…is it really worth it? President Carter addressed the energy problem 30 years ago, and nobody cared. Reagan actually took off the solar panels that were installed on the rooftop of the White House instead of continuing to seek alternative energy sources. Fanatical extremists only become popular if the people are angry and think they have no other alternative. Since the war has actually increased Al-Quada recruitment, it’s obviously fueled by the occupation and deep hatred for our meddling. If you’re afraid of their religion, then be afraid of the stupid policies pursued by our leaders, for this only gives them strength. The more they hate us, the more we have to fear. There is absolutely no justification for the lies that started this war, which has been very costly and made us weaker. And we haven’t seen the worst yet. The smart politicians, even Republicans like Chuck Hagel, know it. The Congress is supposed to be the ears and eyes of the Executive branch, the checks and balances branch of government. The Democrats abdicated their authority by giving the Executive branch the power to go to war to fight terrorism anywhere. The Roman Senators had also abdicated their authority by giving more power to Caesar a long time ago, which ultimately destroyed the republic. It’s only true that the Democrats did not do their jobs, and they have no excuse. The best course of action now is not to stay the disastrous course.
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