SC44

http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/clusterfuck_nation/

Both Ways
June 18, 2007

It seems to me you can call the situation in Iraq a lot of things, but it's not a war. Not at this point, anyway. Call it an unsuccessful nation-building project, a failed occupation, a botched policing job, a monkey-in-the-middle clusterfuck. All the US political factions, from left to right, do the public a disservice by calling it a war, because it misrepresents what we're doing there.

We're involved in Iraq because we don't want to begin thinking about modifying our behavior at home. We are desperate to preserve our access to Middle East oil because that is the only way we can keep running our society the way we're used to running it. Mostly, we don't want to face the tragic misinvestments we've made in the infrastructure of happy motoring, and we don't want to face the inconvenient truth that there really isn't any combination of alt.fuels that will permit us to keep running all the cars the way we like to run them. Either we keep getting the oil or say goodbye to the American Dream Version 2.K.

The public has now decided that this nation's primary mission is to find some magic way to keep the cars running on a fuel other than gasoline. Everyone from the greenest greenies to the most medieval-minded Kansas Republican senator has joined in this collective wish. They are certain to be disappointed. All the Priuses in the world will not avail to save the Drive-In Utopia. The public will learn painfully what Iraq is all about.

Every time somebody blames the politicians for this predicament, I'm reminded that the politicians are actually doing a fine job of representing what their constituents want. What they want is to not change their behavior. Not even the science and technology folks want to think about changing our behavior. They just want to find new ways to continue the old behavior. They're invested in the triumphal effort to come up with a happy motoring rescue remedy. Their techno-cred is on the line. They all want to be the first kid in their housing subdivision to run a car on dark matter.

So, we've gone to Iraq on the quixotic mission to stabilize-and-pacify this key territory in the greater region of the Middle East, so we can keep getting oil imports out of there in a reliable and orderly way, so we can keep on driving all our cars. And the whole thing has turned out rather badly.

Now there is another consensus forming. Across the political spectrum, from the far left to the far right, elected officials are now clamoring to "stop the war in Iraq." By this they mean get US troops out. What cracks me up is their juvenile belief that being there is somehow optional for us, that we can keep on running Wal Mart and Walt Disney World without paying any price for it in the costs of policing the Middle East.

If we don't maintain a military presence in Iraq, it is perfectly plain what will happen: Iran will instantly gain control of the southern Iraq oil fields. Iraq doesn't have an army anymore. It is incapable of preventing Iran from acquiring control of its territory. From that vantage, Iran would also effectively threaten the sovereign existence of Kuwait. Then there is the question of how much instability Iran could generate next door in the Shia-dominated Persian Gulf shoreline region of Saudi Arabia, where most of that nation's oil lies. (Meanwhile, there will be plenty more Iran-inspired mayhem in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.)

It seems to me the answer to all this is clear: the first thing the US has to do is reach a different consensus about our behavior here at home, starting with the proposition that the happy motoring era must end. If we're not willing to do that, we're eventually going to lose both at home and in our struggles abroad. You can be sure that coming disturbances in the oil markets will make suburban life untenable while exhaustion and bankruptcy breaks our military.

The air waves and internet sites are full of blather now about ending the "war" and bringing the troops home. The presidential candidates are agonizing over their various positions on the Iraq adventure. I'd like to hear one of them tell me how Atlanta is going to function without Middle Eastern oil, or how Wal Mart will move its merchandise from San Pedro to Lansing without a "warehouse on wheels," or how the thousands of yellow school bus fleets will carry on next September.

Actually, instead, I'd like to hear talk about drastically reforming our zoning laws to discourage any more suburban development or a pitch to allow some of our tax money to fund a US passenger rail revival. I'd like to see a candidate refuse to attend a Nascar race on the grounds that it's an unconscionably stupid fucking waste of energy resources. I'm waiting for one of these birds to tell the American people the truth: you can't have it both ways. you can't get our military out of the Middle East without changing the way we live................

Deceptions and lies will continue to flow from this corrupt and criminal administration, to paint a false picture of why we ( the US ) are in the middle east. We are not there to help them, we are there to plunder thier energy resources, so the Big American Party can continue for a little while longer. It isn't ethical or moral by any sensible measure. We have created an un-sustainable society, and now so many innocent people around the world are paying in very terrible ways, so that the US population won't for the moment, have to face the very hard choices that they surely will inevitably have to face anyway, in the not so distant future. Bush and his Oily Pals know whats coming, a crisis of energy supply for the world. Thats why they held thier " secretive " energy meetings 2001, facilitated that 9-11 was the Pearl Harbor event they needed to move thier plans into high gear, followed by wars based on lies of Afganistan and Iraq, with implementation of the Patriot Act and Homeland security to prepare the legal grounds and the mechanisms ( in reality ) to deal with social disruptions due to a failing economy when Peak Oil really starts to put a drag on things. Why is Haliburton currently in the process of building numerous detention facilities in the US. Why did Bush on May 9th of this year create a new presidential directive that would give him essentially " dictatorial " powers over all branches of government, as implemented by guess who, Homeland Security. Do you think the National ID Card sceduled to go into effect in May of 2008 is for your protection. This thing will contain loads of information about everything you are, and do, of course all done for your " safety ". Our " so called " election process is a joke, and ripe for fraudulent practices. There is literaly no verifiability left to it, no way to really double check if your vote, was counted correctly. Of course thats if Bush doesn't declare before the elections a National State of Emergency as outlined ( in purposeful vague fashion ) in his May 9th Presidential Directive, in which case, he could call off the 2008 elections until the Emergency is over, and the Directive is very vague on exactly how long that timeframe can be. It all adds up to one BIG, as Jim would put it, CLUSTER....., coming our way.