7 Myths About Islam

Vinsan, I saw The Crusades on the Discovery Channel last Sunday. The narrator, about halfway through, said, "People think the Crusades were about religion, but all wars are about money." The Europeans, he said, wanted what the people in the Middle East, who were much better off, had. Europe was in misery but I forget the word the narrator used.

All wars are about money and resources. Religion is personal, and private. GWB never should have mixed religion into his campaigns. Maybe right-wing religious nuts went ape-shite over that introduction but real Republicans definitely did not.

And pray tell, how much presence did the US have in the Middle East 15 years ago...prior to Saddam's invasion of Kuwait? Answer: very little. We survived quite nicely for a long, long time "while they were sitting on the oil and gas we need".

We obviously have a critical economical interest in protecting the flow of oil and gas to the US, but we've never touted (or even desired) occupation of Middle Eastern countries as our means of keeping that pipeline flowing. Our current presence there is borne of necessity and at the pleasure of those countries we are in. When the country asks us to leave, we will leave, just look at Uzbekistan where, at their request, we are packing our bags, even as I post this.