It's the Oil, Stupid

Sadly, No! has a great post up on why we're in Iraq and going to stay there, Iraqi "government" timetables be damned. We're there because powerful people believe that we will need oil for our economy for the foreseeable future. We can't allow that to be debated, in their view, because it might lose so we get secondary, once defensible reasons. But oil has always been key and the argument for it, while ultimately weak, has never been irrational. Nations and similar leaders throughout history have been willing to war for vital resources. Pretending it's not the key reason only leads to silliness and disillusionment, as seen in the recent Congressional "resolutions." We do need a real debate on how/whether we transition from oil to other energy sources, but we won't have it until reality forces it on us. In the meantime, read the whole post. You won't see better.