This is a story about oil. Look at what happened to oil prices when Basra violence flared up. We are the biggest customer of Iraqi oil.

Here's the timeline you and others need to understand to understand why we will be in Iraq for decades. This is what President Bush knows. This is what Hillary knows and what Obama would be told after his first security briefing. It's actually quite simple:

1991 Gulf war - US preserves Saudi oil fields and integrity of balance of power and global economic power.

1992 Saddam cuts off oil exports to the US
1992 French develop Iraqi fields and acquire Iraq oil for money & weapons.
1992 US brokers deal with Venezuela to make up loss in oil imports.
1992 Venezuelan President survives Coup attempt from Hugo Chavez.

1998 Chavez acquires power in Venezuela - US oil purchases now subject to whim of socialist dictator.

Let's pause right here.

I am going to pound home what you have just read. Iraq shut out the US after the gulf war. Remember the late 1991- early 1992 mini recession and gas hike in the US? That was Iraq's doing. Bush senior quickly and quietly negotiated with Carlos Perez, then Venezuelan leader to sell us more oil at a good price. He agreed. This triggered the Coup from socialist anti-America hater Chavez (who was backed by folks who knew if he suceeded he could destabilize the American economy.) He failed thanks to CIA intervention. So before you blast the CIA too much, you can thank them for the six years of prosperity and stability Clinton enjoyed between 1992-1998. As a matter of fact we could already have been paying $3.50 a gallon back in the mid-ninenties if Bush & the CIA hadn't acted quickly.

Bush was on top of things. Clinton was not. That's how Chavez acquired power in 1998. That's how Osama escaped early. That's why the Chinese were shooting test missiles all through the late nineties and have a space program now...based on our missile guidance technology stolen during the Clinton years.

That's the importance of a guy like Cheney or Bush. They understand this and the importance of Iraq. They cant' say it aloud because it makes America seem weak and would only destroy the economy. They have kept Chavez in line and are quietly hoping he goes by the wayside alongside his idol Fidel Castro. He has many allies in the anti-America crowd.

Let's go back to the timeline:

2001 9/11 - US realizes it's enemies are serious and dangerous.
2002 April Coup attempt to oust Chavez. Coup fails.
2003 Invasion of Iraq occurs in March.
2003 Baghdad falls in April - 21 days later. Saddam's regime falls.
2005 Volcker Report reveals MASSIVE UN corruption in Oil for Food Program

2004 Rebuilding contracts exclude France, Russia, Germany.
2004 Organized Insurgency starts.
2004 Organized Anti-American Propaganda starts in earnest.

2005 Iraqi violence continues. Propaganda victory to demoralize Americans.

2006 Shiite militant al-Sadr focuses violence and influence on southern oil port cities.

2007 Chavez threatens to cut off oil to US

2008 Most Americans ignorant of what's really going on. Feel Iraq was not worth it. Ironically, they simultaneously complain about high gas prices as if our presence in Iraq has somehow made prices higher when the reverse is true.

2008 SDAI-Tech1 makes easy synopsis on site Habitablezone.com so that even the layperson can get a handle on what's at stake and what's been going on the past 20 years.

There you have it. We'll be Iraq for as long as it takes. It's no coincidence the US just found a huge new reserve in the Dakotas. Bush/Cheney aren't sitting on their hands. Their pushing to keep the economy sound and stabilize Oil so that the US is less and less dependant upon imports. No one gives them any credit for this of course.

The propagandists have turned it into their fault when they are actually just doing what they can to keep America from falling victim to the folks who want to destroy America - via its most vulnerable point - its economy.

Any questions? Just ask.