one more time, WHY are we in Iraq? [xpost from a bomb a nation]

Because Saddam had the bomb. That is a lie the Bush league wrung out of the CIA

Because Saddam had Al Qaida contacts and supported them. That was news to Al Qaida.

Because we were going to bring democracy to those poor Arabs. Then why do a higher percentage of Iraqis vote than show up at the polls in America?

Certainly not because we want the oil under our control. We can't say that on the air can we, Karl? Lindsay at Majikthise translates WaPo out loud for the hard-of-thinking conservatives.

By Peter Baker

Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 5, 2006; Page A06

GREELEY, Colo., Nov. 4 -- During the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, President Bush and his aides sternly dismissed suggestions that the war was all about oil. "Nonsense," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld declared. "This is not about that," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

...

You can imagine a world in which these extremists and radicals got control of energy resources," he said at a rally here Saturday for Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.). "And then you can imagine them saying, 'We're going to pull a bunch of oil off the market to run your price of oil up unless you do the following. And the following would be along the lines of, well, 'Retreat and let us continue to expand our dark vision.' "
Bush said extremists controlling Iraq "would use energy as economic blackmail" and try to pressure the United States to abandon its alliance with Israel. At a stop in Missouri on Friday, he suggested that such radicals would be "able to pull millions of barrels of oil off the market, driving the price up to $300 or $400 a barrel.

The man who put the most pressure and planted the most toadies among the defense intelligence analysts to get his war decision also has close ties to the defense contractor that went on to overcharge millions to provision the warriors under a no-bid contract. [that is over a million google matches, few involving refutations...well? ]

Why are we still in Iraq?