Cheap oil and inflatable democracy

George Bush, all of a sudden, has gone green. He says America should no longer depend on Mid East oil. Let me translate his words:

"Fellow Americans, the mess in Iraq.. is all your fault. You made me go after cheap gas but the Chinese got there first. The gas is no longer cheap and I can't control the region any more, so I'm quitting Iraq".

Levantine Dreamhouse reports on the openning of the first "Terror-Free" gas station in Omaha. The people behind the campaign claim that buying Middle East oil funds terrorism against the US and Israel. Who is the terrorist here?

So far, nearly 700,000 Iraqis have died and 1.6 million displaced in the pursuit of cheap oil and inflatable democracy.

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You might argue that it is the Iraqis who are killing each other. Well, what do you expect? That's what usually happens when you take the lid off a pressure cooker. Any responsible (and I do not mean moral) superpower would have used overwhelming force to invade and stabilise a country, with the minimum of casualties, but no, the "clever" Rumsfeld thought he was going on a picnic and wanted to do it on the cheap. Or was he super clever and super arrogant in trying to divide and rule?

Here is where morality comes in. As a full-scale civil war erupts in Iraq, you either bring in 20 times the number of troops and stay on for at least 7 years or pack your bags and go. Anything in between is both delusional and immoral. When the so-called insurgents and bandits scent weakness they go for everyone's jugular.

What we are witnessing now is the American administration, devoid of any morality, trying to save face and retreat gradually after blaming the Iraqi government for incompetence. The administration has not even explored the idea of a neutral multinational Islamic security force to fill the vacuum, even though some countries have expressed interest in providing troops (e.g Pakistan and Malaysia).

George will no doubt retire to his ranch with a clear conscience that he has done his best to turn Americans away from buying terror oil. The neocons and Condi have already given up on the idea of parachuting down inflatable parliaments in far away places. In any case, they are now too busy planning a war against Iran, so the "birth pangs of democracy" are upon us (again).