I'm reading Walter Karp's The Politics of War. It's about the lies and maneuverings carried on by McKinley and Wilson to get us into, repectively, the Spanish-American war and World War I. His tale has so many similarities to our current situation.

The Agonist has a comment this morning:

Little noticed in the west as yet, the Bush administration's latest Middle East adventure has been making furious waves in the Arab world. Dubbed the Greater Middle East initiative, the plan aims to press democracy on one of the world's least democratic regions.

Let's deconstruct. Bush/Carlyle has stated for years that their goal is for the US military to take over control of the planet, and more specifically the oil fields of the middle east and the -stans. The last thing they want is democracy in those regions because that would mean cohesive nation states would emerge that would control their own resources. So they put forward a noble initiative that plays well to our national jingoism yet  is an initiative that they not only do not support, but one that they know will fail. And in the failure of this noble initiative is their justification for increased military aggression.

To take it a step further, the Bush/Carlyle anti-terrorism strategy is not designed to make America safer. If it were, then we would be seeing money poured in to support our first-defense efforts, biological counter measures and the physical security of chemical plants. If they cared to secure America, they would take steps to defuse the boiling-point issues. Instead, they do the opposite. Their stategy is to fan the flames of discontent, destablize regional order and support the worst of tinpot dictators. By making the situation worse, they further justify their aggression.

As I've said before, the security of America is not through a war on terrorism. The security of America will come when we declare war on oil. If we were to declare a mission of energy-independence, similar to the mission of reaching the moon years ago, we would invigorate our economy, create new industries and real jobs, reduce environmental impact and build a future of hope and prosperity for our children. In the process, by taking oil out of the equation, then we no longer have a vested interest in middle east or the -stans and the terrorism issue begins to abate.