[Glenn]

Originally Posted by dreadgeek

osition (always bad, we're always up to no good when we're involved in a war) and the Conservative position (kill 'em all, let God sort 'em out--as long as I don't have to do the fighting).

On the other hand, there is a *legitimate* national and transnational interest in maintaining a naval presence in the Persian Gulf. Why? Because huge amounts of the oil used by EVERY country flows through that area and everyone--from you and I to every person who could lay their hands on a boat and some explosives--knows it. In order to keep oil prices somewhere in a region that could be called stable world markets have to have a reasonable surety that the oil will get from A to B without being blown up. To do that, you need a deep water navy. We have the best blue water navy on the planet--in fact, we have the only navy that is probably capable of making certain that the oil tankers get from point A to B. It is in the global interest for oil prices to be stable and it is in the US national interest for this to be so as well.

Now, we could wish that our civilization was not dependent upon fossil fuels and I think we should not be dependent upon them. We might wish that it didn't take a deep water navy to secure the shipping lanes. But wishing doesn't make it so. The job has to be done, the US Navy can control any large body of water and the air space above it for a few hundred miles at the time and place of their choosing. Therefore the US Navy is best positioned for the job. (As an aside, this is a legacy of both WW II where sea power was decisive and the US/NATO war plan for WW III which would be fought in Europe against the Soviets. The war plan called for the army in Europe to fight the world's greatest holding action while the navy owned the Atlantic ocean and then a huge resupply mission would be undertaken. The Russians could resupply by train, the Americans had to resupply by ship.)

s MsD pointed out, national leaders--not ours, not anyone's--spends blood and treasure to fight a war because they are in the mood. They do it because they *want* something.

We're sitting on that oil there and we're not going anywhere. Why? Because of the power of fear at what could happen if we did'nt have it. A shortage of fuel eventually stopped the Germans and Japanese. Everyone needs oil to defend their countries, until Science can develop new innovative technologies we need. If oil were gone, our American spirit of pride in innovation leadership would be gone and we would need to devolve into relying upon more primitive techniques once again to get what we want. Until then ,we need our brains are so battered in by war and world devastation that every country in the world will fall upon an aggressor.