What irks me is just how short-sighted the vision of our "Leaders" is. Devoting all those lives and so much money to maintain a controlling presence in a region that contains only enough oil to keep us going for - at our current and projected consumption rates - a few more decades. Not only is it selfish like a toddler who hasn't learned better (they have what we want, so we will use simple brute ***** to take it; although imagine the self-righteous moral rhetoric if another country that was capable actually invaded us to take something on/under our soil), it's also delusional and boneheaded beyond belief. Instead of emptying our coffers for those last few drops, why not devote that money to the development of some truly alternative energies/fuels?? We would also be tackling the global warming issue head on, instead of continuing to suck up a resource that the burning/consumption of which is endangering the future of the place we live. I think Dick Cheney & Co. just get such a hard-on when they think of their garages filled with SUVs, and the mighty gas-powered and oil-lubed engines that they love to rev up on their way to the golf course, that they just refuse to consider that such a lifestyle might EVER have to come to an end. As it is, we are driving ourselves, literally and figuratively, right into a corner. Some of us want to put the brakes on and turn around, but those in power just want to hit the gas and see what happens. Reckless, shameless.
