DEMOCRAT BASTARDS!
Despite Antiwar Rhetoric, Clinton-Obama Plans Would
Keep US Mercenaries, Troops in Iraq for Years to Come

From Democracy Now:

What Russert should have said to them is, over 80 percent of Iraqis, conservatively, say they want the United States out now; will you respect the will of the Iraqi people? Of course, that question is not going to be asked by Tim Russert or Brian Williams on one of these debates. But the reality is, listening to Obama and Clinton, they’re giving the impression that what they’re going to do is immediately begin a total withdrawal of US forces.

Now, I’ve looked very carefully at both of their Iraq plans, and both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have lifted much of their Iraq plans from two sources. One is the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group, and then the other is the 2007 Iraq supplemental, which was portrayed as the Democrats’ withdrawal plan. And both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have a three-pronged approach to what they see as a longer-term presence in Iraq. They say that US personnel are going to remain in the country to protect diplomats and other US officials in the country. And we’ve already talked a bit about that with Obama. Hillary Clinton appears to be taking the same approach on that. Number two is that they want to keep trainers in place that will train the Iraqi military. At present, there’s 10,000 to 20,000 US trainers, all of whom will require security, so that’s a substantial force. And then the third is that they’re saying that they want to keep a force in place to, quote, “strike at al-Qaeda,” in the words of Barack Obama’s Iraq plan.

When the Institute for Policy Studies did an analysis of what this would mean, they said it’s 20,000 to 60,000 troops, not including contractors. And right now we have a one-to-one ratio with contractors and troops in the country. 20,000 to 60,000 troops indefinitely in Iraq, this is something that over the course of ten years the Congressional Budget Office says could cost half-a-trillion dollars. This doesn’t include the fact that you have to have troops bringing supplies in and out of Iraq. It doesn’t include the troops that Obama and Clinton are going to keep in Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and elsewhere. I mean, this is actually a pretty sustained indefinite occupation that’s going to be on the table if either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama are in office and take power.

(Emphasis mine.)

Click here to watch, read, or listen to the rest.

I've been saying this for two or three years now: we'll be in Iraq for twenty years or more. My take was, and still is, that US ownership of a nation right smack dab in the middle of the Middle East is too tempting a prize for any member of the American establishment, Republican or Democrat, to pass up. That is, as they say, it's all about the oil. Not about making gas cheaper, which would hurt the oil companies. Not about getting it all for ourselves because we barely even use Middle Eastern oil anymore. Rather, it's about controlling the oil. And controlling oil means controlling the global economy.

The US occupation of Iraq is ultimately an exercise in transmuting American military power, a realm in which it reigns supreme for the foreseeable future, into American economic influence, which is decreasing relative to rising economic forces such as China and the European Union, and for various other reasons. More situation-specific, and perhaps worse in a less abstract fashion, there is a very real chance that oil may soon be traded in euros, or other currencies, rather than in relatively weak dollars, and the US will be squeezed out of a big chunk of what major world leverage it has left. One way or another, there seems to be a perception among the American power elite that abandoning its perch on top of Iraq's oil reserves is very bad for business.

This is what the indefinite occupation of Iraq is really about.

Clinton and Obama most likely do not understand or accept this in the way I'm explaining it--the biggest lies a politician makes are to himself. But, for whatever reasons, they really do believe we should stay, despite all their lofty anti-war rhetoric to the contrary. Fuck 'em both. The only moral course of action is to withdraw, safely of course, as soon as possible, and beg, beg, beg the UN to take over. Anything short of that, anything leaving the US in control of Iraq, is straight up imperialism.

No fucking way I'm blessing this horrid shit with my vote. Fuck 'em both. They're lying bastards. Goddamned warmongering Democrats.

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