The 100 Years War

In the past 24 hours, Dick Cheney has been in Baghdad, calling the Iraq War a "successful endeavor." John McCain's there too, and actually uttered those four magic words, "the surge is working," which only differs from Cheney's analysis in the scary possibility that McCain might actually believe it. Then again, maybe Cheney's pronouncement can be chalked up to youthful exuberance -- after all, he's almost 5 years younger than McCain.

And then there's that other possibility, the one that's starting to scare me: That by a certain neocon definition, Iraq is a success.

What if the war in Iraq did go on for 100 years, as McCain suggested it might? What are we looking at? An entire century of ever-increasing military spending, necessitating deep cuts in all other government programs -- like public education and health care and all that other sissy stuff. A staging ground for ten decades of warfare with Islamist militants, for whom the place is becoming a terrorist fantasy camp ("Come to Iraq and fight real Americans in your own back yard! Get your picture taken with real al Qaeda pros! Learn the fundamentals of blowing yourself up!"). And endless, lucrative contracts for American companies that support the war effort, from Grumman to Raytheon to -- of course -- Halliburton. Companies that in the absence of a Cold War might otherwise see their prospects dwindling.

What about that is not a success, by neocon standards? I've been scoffing at it for so long that think I missed the point. It's not a question of if the surge is working -- it's about whom it's working for.

Comments

[realpolitic]

Bill Maher is so right. Neocons have a creater interest in a perpetuation of the war then any victory with a signing ceremony and subsequent withdrawal of troops. An interminable war, as Maher says, calls for ever increasing military spending, a country permanently on war footing, an easy criticism of the press as being unpatriotic, ever expanding executive powers, diminishing civil liberties, and slashed spending on social programs which they hate most of all. Neocons would argue any dollar spent in Iraq is helping democracy and any spent at home is socialism. The neocons favor forever-war. Radical Islam is a godsend to them in that it creates a permanent mysterious enemy for whom we must always be on the lookout. I am on the lookout for what what Neocons will do next. They are my main concern at the moment.

[josephjsalas]

Nnoowww I've got it! Fight'em over there so they can't dance over there!

[sufi66]

I applaud your attempts to make sense of the absurd, but sociopaths cannot be understood. These people will justify anything to get their way, no matter how many deaths stand in their way.

The American people gave these types power. We can only hope they have the sense to take the power away, for the sake of humanity.

[katdaddy]

Issues like these are too complicated for the majority of Americans to fathom. There are too many dots on the connect-a-dot picture for them to connect so they don't bother. They like things simple like "if we don't fight'em over there we'll have to fight'em over here".

I read a report published by the Cato Institute from the late 90's pointing out direct links between American actions in the middle east and attacks on Americans. We need to start saying constantly "we keep messin' with them they're gonna keep messin' with us".

I've not seen it mentioned but everyone should think about how much fuel the military is burning/wasting in Iraq and the vehicles used by the military aren't the most efficient around.

[dartagnan]

"They like things simple like "if we don't fight' em over there we'll have to fight' em over here".

And most are too ignorant to know the exact same rationale was offered for Vietnam and was as full of crap then as it is now. Seen any Viet Cong in Dallas lately?

[realpolitic]

I did go to a very good Vietnamese restaurant in Dallas, but saw no guerilla fighters.

[JimInArizona]

Vietnam and Iraq are two dots connected by the same line, oil. The USA believed that the fall of South East Asia to the communists would be the “Falling Dominos” into Indonesia and the lost of Indonesian oil and the oil transportation routes. Iraq in the end is about oil. As someone said earlier “follow the money” because all wars are rooted in the economy of the distribution and redistribution of various resources such as money, industrial potential or territory.

[Hallucinocynic]

I agree, KD. I'd like to think that those who support American hegemony in the Mideast at least recognize that if you poke at a bee hive you're bound to get stung a few times.

[Hallucinocynic]

"I've not seen it mentioned but everyone should think about how much fuel the military is burning/wasting in Iraq and the vehicles used by the military aren't the most efficient around." Speaking of wasting fuel, how much gas is used on a daily basis by NASCAR (or other racing venues) for tire testing, engine testing, suspension testing - you get the idea - not to mention the actual races on the weekends. Wouldn't that fuel be put to better use to increase the available supply so airlines don't have to apply fuel surcharges to ticket prices? Yes, I know the race teams pay for the fuel, but if we really want to make a sacrifice for the war effort, perhaps we should suspend the auto racing schedule until the surge has really worked...I'll wait to hear from the NASCAR fans on this site...

[kburlz]

If "we keep messin' with them they're gonna keep messin' with us" were the motto, I guess we'd be cut and runners, right?

[kentwill]

"it's about whom it's working for."

Yep. Once you figure that out, a lot of it makes sense.

[AurigaRa]

This was tongue in cheek, right?

Of course Iraq is a success so far for BUSH, HIS CONTRACTORS AND THE OIL COMPANIES..
If the Iraqis will just sign that durned oil agreement then things will be fine. And if the
average stupid American Joe could wake up to see that Bush and Cheney did exactly what they were supposed to, maybe we could impeach these bastards.

Which make the complicency of congress all the more horrible.

Wake up, America. Wake up, Bill.

[minnehot]

NEW RULES!

http://www.gallup.com/poll/105073/McCains-67-Favorable-Rating-Highest-Eight-Years.aspx

MAC IS BACK!

[josephjsalas]

The more we borrow from the Fed, the safer we seem to be. !00 years of debt=100 years of
safety? McCain is a European Bankers dream!

[Jaalle]

Did you mean Chinese Bankers, Joseph?

[thatvisionthing]

100 years is the fantasy. As Chalmers Johnson says, "Empires fall fast."

[Viper]

But if we are not there, they will be here! They still keep saying that crap.

I heard that from a rather popular country comediain (you should invite him on your show): " And if we leave , well this ties to our economy, it would be a disaster" as opposed to 3 trillion for the war?

McCain and others keep ignoring the fact that to be there, we borrow money from Communist China and in running up the debt devalue our currency 53 percent and ultimately the networth of Americans.

Would some one pls tell these people that one of our largest bases was in Saudi Arabia prior to 9/11 for several decades. We were there and that worked so well that 16 of the 19, 911 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia where we were!!! End of that argument! We were also in Iran for almost 30 years after assasinating their elected leader and installing the son of the colonel who assasinated the real Shah in the 1920s. Our presence in those two countries preserved dictatotships and not democracy and led to this mess..

Michael Ware says the Iragi's hate us, just not our money.. I mean the Communist Chineses ' money.. we our broke. Their loyalty is to Iran. And this is the Victory?

Regards

[falgiano]

absolutely bill. And add Blackwater to the list of profiteers. Prior to the war they had received $1m in US contracts. That figure has jumped to $600m. The war is simply big business and draining our treasury!

[anandakos]

It's interesting how quickly Empire Entropy is setting in for the US. At no time in the past has an empire attempted to exist on credit. Pillage, plunder, and theft, sure; after all Empire is a guy kind of thing. But credit? I don't think so.

Imagine going to your banker and saying, "I need a loan of 6-10% of my yearly earning capacity in order to fund my mob guy's that are shaking down the people who invest in your bank. Oh, and I'll need that line of credit for twenty to fifty years regardless of my future income stream." What would the banker say?

That's pretty much what the US is telling the world today. Lend us money so we can muck around in the world economy to our benefit and your detriment.

I can't wait until the Saudis, Kuwaitis and UAE unlink from the dollar. So far the need for dollars to fund ever increasing oil purchases in Asia has limited its slide. But inflation is eating up the middle classes in the oil sheikdoms, because those people don't get the ballooning oil revenue themselves but have to pay the lunging prices for everything they import, mostly in Euros and Yen.

Even the emirs and kings are getting pissed because they get the Incredible Shrinking BushBuck for their oil and when the princes and princesses go to Cannes or Zurich they have to spend Euros or Francs.

[Bobby]

Excellent point again Bill. The war is all about lies. Like the surge. The surge was supposed to give the Iraqi government time to get it's shit together. That hasn't happened. The reason there is less bloodshed than usual, is because we are paying some of the insurgents to not kill us, but to rather kill their natural enemies. We might as well share the war profiteering to some of the folks who were previously killing our troops. Why should Blackwater, Halliburton, the Carlyle Group, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Bechtol, Lockheed and others get ALL the profits. The only thing the Iraqi government did agree upon was giving American BIG Oil interests a LOT of the Iraqi oil.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/Paper__Blood_and_oil__0107.html

This whole war has been such a waste. A waste of precious lives. We have lost almost 4,000 lives and countless thousands are wounded severely with amputations and severe head trauma. Plus Iraq has lost over 1,000,000 lives by some estimates. For what? Oil and war profiteering. The Bu$h modus operandi. BLOOD money.

http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2006/10/05/dynasty_of_death_part_1

http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2006/10/10/dynasty_of_death_part_2

[Timma]

This far in the game anyone who still thinks Iraq is a success is a dolt. Fair and balanced as always. Thank you Bill Maher for another insightful to the point column.

[AurigaRa]

But it IS a success - for the bastards who are running it.

Geeez. What is so HARD about figuring this out?

[newsweek1945]

Bill, this quagmire and disaster for us real Americans is an unqualified success for the chimp and his minions. The cheney-types, the halliburtons, etc have fed on the carcass of the American people and are temporarily sated. The "wolf in sheep's clothing", McCain, has been all dolled up to perpetuate the legacy in case the PIGS get hungry again, and last, but not least, the military-industrial complex has been revived, and is alive and kicking, looking to tighten its grip on the World!

[AurigaRa]

of course
So that is WHY they have NO intention of leaving.

Hello? Obama and HRC? They don't WANT to get out.

[MrJoyboy]

If in March 2003 you could have seen five years ahead and learned that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, that American soldiers would stll be dying, that the war would cost a trillion dollars with no end would be in sight, that oil would be over $100 a barrel and gas would be approaching $4 a gallon, that the economy would be tanking, you would have been shocked. But you wouldl have been even more shocked to learn that Bush was still in the White House and that the mainstream media were saying that things in Iraq were going reasonably well.

[dartagnan]

Many of us did know at the time that the stories of WMDs were bullshit and the war would be a quagmire. That's why half the Democrats in the Senate voted against the war and why Hillary's claim that she was duped into voting for the war rings hollow.

[WillBFair]

How naive can you get? Obama would have voted for the war faster than a munitions supplier on meth, or he would have been out of the running. Before trying to comment, people should get some larnin'.