iraq and the big picture

Whether you are for or against the war in Iraq, remember one thing. The war is and was all about oil. Everyone knew it all along but nobody wanted to come forward and say so. Those who tried were quickly silenced. Often by flag-waving, patriotic slogans, and ingenious and long-winded arguments about freedom, democracy, and what have you. Or maybe they were touched by cruelties such as "gassing his own people."

The Iraq war has been wrapped and boxed in more layers than an Egyptian mummy. Instead of cotton and cedar though, we are talking layers of political and ideological obfuscation. If nothing else, it shows how good we humans are at rationalizing our behaviors and how willing we are to listen to and even believing other people's rationalizations. Experts have analyzed and probed into the President's mindset and utterances, only to discover drives and motivations that wouldn't fool a four year old.

The war in Iraq is a logical and inevitable consequence of our over-indulgent life-style and addiction to oil. And that life-style goes across the aisle. Nobody with the tiniest bit of self respect can argue they are against the war and drive an SUV every day. What they can say is that they are against how the war was conducted. Or that they are disappointed in the tactics we had to resort to. They can be embarrassed that we had to use torture or open up concentration camps to get our way. They can be shocked at what little was achieved. And maybe that is what this is all about. We are all against the way the war in Iraq was run.

The conservatives may feel we should have gone in with more fire power. More shock and awe fireworks. However, they probably remember the Vietnam debacle and the strong aversion we all have towards casualties. In this age of high-tech we want clean wars without casualties. American casualties that is. Because for all our political correctness, the others don't count, and that is exactly why we don't count them. Wars are messy, anyone can tell you, and as long as we keep the mess away from us, things should be OK.

The liberals may feel there was too much overt damage. Too many shocking images unfit for prime time TV. Too much loss of life. They may think should be able to get our oil without blood and gore, and without all that macho testosterone posturing. Let's just be smart about it and find some way to run off with it. That is what those anti-war stickers on the big Volvo cross-over are all about. But hurry, we have to drive the kid to soccer practice and then get in the car to go to the gym. And let's not forget our weekend trip to the mall.

Perhaps we should have a little People magazine quiz to find out if we are really against the war. It could have questions like, how many cars do you own? How many boats, motorcycles, jetskis, snowmobiles, lawn-mowers, and other gas guzzling devices? How big is your house? How high is your monthly electricity bill? How much gas and oil do you use for heating? How much water do you waste each and every day? How big is your lawn? And how many frequent flyer miles do you have? How much beef do you eat? And how much do you weigh?

If you scored above 5, and who doesn't, you are a true dyed-in-the-wool supporter of the war in Iraq. So quit the charade and sing out loud with Borat, "we support your war of terror."