Let The People Have Their Oil

The typical American soldier in Iraq, when asked by television crews why he is there, will say that he is in Iraq to spread freedom and democracy.

An insurgent would say that he is fighting to keep his country's oil from being stolen by the foreigners. The various militias and the powers that they represent are trying to make sure that they get their share of the wealth and that we don't. The terrorists hope the same.

There is a difference of perceptions about our reasons for being in Iraq.

Children of alcoholics manage to live an amazingly normal life while surrounded by the madness of their parents' disorder. Americans have learned to do the same.

This country, the USA, has sent an expeditionary force to the Mideast in an attempt to capture a hold on the spigot of one of the world's richest pools of oil. Here in the USA, American citizens focus intently on how we are "spreading Democracy" as they watch their children slowly be destroyed.

While a failing administration pouts at the press for not showing its successes on the ground in Iraq - at a time when even the Voice of America reporters no longer go outside the Green Zone - word from the ground is that our position there is becoming increasingly untenable.

Although the elected government of Iraq has finally after months of negotiations found leaders for all its ministries, they could not hold another election there today. It has been months since that was possible. Chaos rules.

Native translators and other Iraqi Iraqi assistants at the US Embassy work in increasing fear of death. What would we do without them? What to do, what to do?

Well, we could give up our wish to "manage" their oil. And so, it appears, we have.

Upon completion - selection and approval of all the ministers - of the Iraqi government and the successful killing of Iraq's number one public enemy Abdul-Musab al-Zarqawi, our United States president flew secretly last week to the Green Zone, a protected area in Baghdad that is the center in Iraq for US operations, and he met there with the new Iraqi president.

The next morning, back in Washington, the president held a press conference.

Among other things, he said,

"I reminded the government that that oil belongs to the Iraqi people, and the government has the responsibility to be good stewards of that valuable asset and valuable resource."

"... that oil belongs to the Iraqi people". Shout it from the hills, Hosannah!.

Maybe if someone shouts it loud enough, it will split the insurgents away from the terrorists.

Non-citizens can go home. And so can we.