I guess it comes down to whether or not you believe the Bush administration really is that stupid... to think that the American public & the rest of the world would tolerate such a naked grab for resources in the form of an unending occupation of Iraqi territory.

They are that stoopid, but that's not an example. In fact, on this count, they were right. The maladministration has gotten by with this travesty so far, and no one has stopped them, despite a very strong public sentiment against them currently.

FWIW, one of Paul Bremer's big mistakes was to bring in Republican ideologues (and the nepotistic but incompetent spawn of Republican operatives and donors) to "privatise" Iraq and make it "safe for capitalism" (in the words of Billy Bragg). This is continuing, as recent stories show of Marriott talking about setting up hotels in the Green Zone and some morons that want to build an amusement park there (DisneyDad™ or some such thing), as if what's lacking in Iraq is prper amusement parks.....

But look on the bright side; if the Rethuglicans have their way, you can bring your kids on a vacation to Baghdad. Buy your tickets now before the price goes up. It's such a great vacation, it'll near kill ya. ;-)

Cheers,

I'm not sure that anyone -- except for some hippie kid building papier-mache Bush-head puppets on the road to Bonnaroo -- believes Iraq was "about oil" in the sense of, like, pumping the stuff out of the ground and bringing it back to the U.S.

The fact that the invasion of Iraq was about setting up a base for U.S. power in an oil-rich region seems fairly obvious, and non-controversial. As Professor Chomsky famously noted, we wouldn't have invaded Iraq if its primary exports were pickles and jelly...

PDA -- thanks for the citation; it sounds similar to what I'd read elsewhere about their status. Country cousins, but not despised.

Radio controlled model planes are basically small cruise missiles without the guidance system..

Guidance systems are a fairly mature technology and there are multiple means of implementing such .. The Aerosonde I linked to uses GPS but radio direction finding, terrain following radar and inertial navigation are among some of the available technologies.

About fifteen years ago I got involved with a contest (sponsored by DARPA) to build the smallest camera carrying radio controlled plane possible.. Even back then it was quite possible to put a surveillance camera on board a plane not a lot bigger than a laptop (ours was an octagonal biplane) and the technology has come a long way since then (although I have other interests now and quit paying attention shortly after the contest I wrote of).

Just about all the necessary components to build a surprisingly sophisticated cruise missile are available on the open marketplace.. Guidance systems, small turbojets, servos, stabilization gyros, all of this is readily obtainable for costs that are well within the reach of even a moderately successful salaryman. It doesn't take cubic megadollars to do this stuff any more and hasn't for at least a decade.

History classes bore kids because the curriculum is full of lies--boring lies. History is, in fact, very interesting and exciting. That's because it directly relates to what's happening right now. And that is controversial. It's controversial to teach high school kids the truth--like the fact that the CIA helped overthrow Mossadegh, Iran's first democratically elected leader. In order to teach history in a way that is accurate, and therefore interesting, America would have to come to terms with its own history. And that would entail some serious soul-searching. And that would threaten the American Exceptionalism that allows the masses to believe that America invading other countries and dominating the world is a good thing.

Read "Lies My Teacher Told Me" by James Loewen. He's a history professor; he examines a number of widely used high school history texts and details a staggering number of omissions and blatant lies in them.

p.s. Let's please promise to remember that the Iranians are not Arabs. They are Persians.

p.p.s. I want to plug Marjane Satrapi's new autobiographical animated film, Persepolis. (Greek for "city of the Persians.") It's based on her childhood in Tehran, she was 10 during the Islamic revolution. It's a wonderful window into life inside Iran, and into the minds of folks who don't agree with the current regime. The black and white animation is gorgeous, as is her art in the graphic novels on which the movie is based. She now lives in France, so the movie is in French--Catherine Deneuve does the voice of her grandmother. It's awesome!

--I see Holly and others are all over the Iranian ethnicity thing. Thanks guys!

Who do you think the Ku Klux Klan will be endorsing? And if the Grand Dragons plump for McCain, does that tell us anything about McCain except that he is pasty faced? You can't logically read off anything at all from an unsolicited endorsement.

As we can see from Salon's blurbage, stupid white people are "endorsing" Hillary. Surely that carries some weight? ;>

One o the major fears most Israelis hold is the fear that in time the increase in the number of Palestinians will result in them being a minority. However, very little thougt is given to their most dire threat and that is the changing demographics in the U.S. Many believe that in fifty yearshe white race will be minority here and is doubtful if non-white would support Washington's present policies in the Mideast wen that happens.

Bring the torches it's dark outside. Look out!!!!

far right who support Israel. The Iraq war was driven by Israel and its staunchest supporters in the U.S. government and in think tanks--Feith (who has written speeches in the past for either Sharon or Netanyahu (I forget which--does it matter?), Wolfowitz, Pearle (sleezebag) and many others, who had been beating the drums for many years trying to persaude U.S. presidents to get rid of Saddam. And the pro-Israel crowd is doing the same thing with Iran--has been for years. They want the U.S. to tobble the regimes in Iraq, Iran and Syria--that's common knowledge, and they do not let facts or truth get in the way of their mission. The mission is what matters, which is why they lie and exaggerate about Iran and its intentions just as the they and the Bushies did about Iraq--the idea that Saddam was a threat to America, was building a bomb, had WMD--it was all an OBVIOUS pack of lies designed to frighten the U.S. govt. and Americans into thinking Saddam had to be tobbled. It's more of the same now--propaganda, and Israel is very good at that. (This is why we only hear in America of Palestinian terrorism and not the land that Israel has systematically stolen from Palestine for 30 or more years.) It's one thing to have a position or a policy, but quite another to countenance lies and misinformation in pursuit of policy, especially when war is the result and tens of thousands of people lose lives because of a war started under false pretenses. Why do you think Israel spies on America? It's the mission--protect Israel and get rid of its enemies.

We've spent a $1 trillion in Iraq largely to help Israel, though it's far from clear that we have. To say that the creation of Israel has created 60 years of mess and madness would be an understatement. I do strongly support the idea of reform in the Arab world and Middle East, and I like what Israel represents, but I detest the way that that country and its staunchest supporters scheme.