As Craig B Hulet accurately explained (and predicted) in his book The Hydra of Carnage (2002), Iran and Syria would certainly follow Afghanistan an Iraq. Our place in the Middle East is about Western capitalist interests' quest for control of the world's remaining hydrocarbon resources, and specifically those in the greater Caspian Sea basin. (see "United States - Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce, specifically the Membership List)

This is part of a decades-long plan to harvest those resources, with a major problem always being; how to get the oil and natural gas to market. A quick look at a map reveals that the only practical route is via pipelines to seaports in either the Persian Gulf (through Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan), and/or the Mediterranean (Iran, Iraq, Syria). In short, it's about pipelines and the territory these lines must cross to get their most lucrative commodities out of the landlocked Caspian basin, to port.

It's really not rocket science. After they pump it out of the ground, they have to move it to market. Pipelines through the above named countries are the only practical choice. And obviously, current regimes weren't/aren't about to allow the U.S. to come in and build those pipelines without a major piece of the action, if at all. Thus, these countries must be conquered. And the only way to get the American people and others to go along with it is to cover it with that now tried and tested "Mushroom Cloud" threat from these countries.

Of course, we all know that's a lie, but it's worked great and continues to do so.

This is the only logical reason for any of these wars. Not ideology or nuclear threat, but seizing control of the world's most lucrative commodities on the planet, the largest reserves of which just happen to be stockpiled in the Caspian Basin. It's about future wealth.

Again, just look at the "Member List" of the USACC above and you'll see very familiar faces heavily invested in capitalizing on those resources. Even Dick Cheney famously said to a group of oil industry execs, that the Caspian Basin reserves are the most significant on the planet and can't be ignored.

All the pieces of this puzzle fit very nicely. More than any other theory of "why" we're there. Not to mention what we've done so far and what we're quite vocally aiming for next with Iran and Syria. We need that ground for pipelines. That's it.

Iraq's and Iran's oil are merely icing on the cake, not to mention their economies ripe for the pickings of rapacious Western capitalists, as is already seen in Iraq in a very big way. Not to mention the very lucrative business of war itself, and all those billions being funneled to crony capitalist interests.

Back in 2002, Hulet predicted that after Iraq (we hadn't even gone in there yet) Iran and Syria would be next. Guess what!

Cufford

Fresno, CA

Why can't the real news and tragedy of the Iraq war actually be broadcast to the people of this country. So our mostly brain-dead people can learn what's really going on, and the human cost of rapacious Western capitalism in foreign lands.

I'm sickened by that photo of the two-year-old, knowing his death (and likely millions of others) are for nothing more than a small group of Western capitalists looking to get wealthier.

Truly sickening.

Just my own report to say that I only experience this script problem on my cell phone, a Motorola running Windows Mobile, and it's a major headache. The browser locks up for long periods, occasionally issuing a warning message to the effect that a script running on the page is causing the system to run slow and may entirely lockup the process...and offers a button to cancel the running script. Even that message barely works during that time.

On my two other computers, running Firefox and a script blocking add-on (No-script), I have no problems at all with this site.

Thanks

...is the quest for greater wealth and power, which are mutually inclusive - if you have one, you certainly have the other.

We must not forget that at the root of all of this, is greed. People who want more than everyone else, and will stop at nothing to get it, and who have no conscience about doing so even when it results in widespread death and destruction of the innocent, including the very environment our future generations will have to cope with.

Three words sum up the very definition of our current U.S. Government, including both sides of the isle.

Conflict of interest.

The big players are all acting in self-serving manners - to gain more personal wealth, power, prestige, whatever. Congress votes to help itself, not the country they are ostensibly there to represent.

Ideology really plays much less of a role than I think most people want to believe, because if you "follow the money" in all decisions, you find this unsurprising conflict of interest at every turn.

The fact that the so-called right-wing ideologs just happen to be making millions, billions, by the actions of this government, can't be ignored. The right-wing pundits are getting quite wealthy by simply blathering away an "ideology", so it only makes sense to do do.

Conflict of interest.

The highest level members of our government are all personally invested in the Energy, Defense (ironic) and Health Care industries. They make more money doing just what they are doing, voting in their own self-interests, while others die.

The Middle East is a gold mine for most of them, if not all of them. Those who belong to the Republicans club, and the Democrats club.

Conflict of interest is the root of our problems, and until we exorcise that very pillar of our government workings, nothing will change.

Until the ability - no, the incentive - to get more wealthy and powerful through serving in Government is removed, nothing will change.