Even though the Iraqi parliament and U.S. Congress have been on vacation, there’s been plenty of politico chatter regarding Iraq.
On Sunday’s Meet the Press, Karl Rove made a telling comment (emphasis added):
It is not longer acceptable to have a 1994 mind-set after September 11th. America needs to think and act differently. We face a brutal enemy who will kill the innocent for one purpose and that is to gain control of the Middle East and to use the leverage of oil to bring down the West, and to attack us again.
I know the administration has trotted out a series of justifications to occupy Iraq, but this is one of the newer rationales. It certainly wasn’t one when Bush launched the war. Back then, the alleged threat was that Saddam Hussein would help al Qaeda attack America. Why would he arm terrorists if they were intent on taking over Iraq’s oil fields? That’s counterintuitive.
Clearly the 2003 cause for war has long been forgotten. Back then “oil” was treated like a four letter word, only said publicly by extreme-left wing anti-war wackos. It will be interesting to see if it is used more and more openly now, as oil prices continue to rise. I think it will be.
Meanwhile, Senator Carl Levin visited Iraq and all but called for a change of government:
Declaring the government of Iraq “non-functional,” the influential chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said yesterday that Iraq’s parliament should oust Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his cabinet if they are unable to forge a political compromise with rival factions in a matter of days.
“I hope the parliament will vote the Maliki government out of office and will have the wisdom to replace it with a less sectarian and more unifying prime minister and government,” Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) said after a three-day trip to Iraq and Jordan.
Senator Levin is justified in criticizing Maliki, but I think this goes one step too far. If we are still maintaining the facade of Iraqi sovereignty (last time I checked we are), then we should generally let them run their own government. And if we aren’t happy about the way they are doing it, perhaps we should rethink the $9 billion/month we are spending there.
And yes, President Bush continues to be Bush. I wonder if he has completely thought through the Iraq/Vietnam analogy. I don’t think it means what he thinks it means.