Who else is going to protect our property - that is, the petroleum - against the 15th century savages of the Middle East?
American politicians and the average American citizen both live in a comical circle of unreality.
It's our oil, and we'll be here for the next 30 years, minimum.
I'm not joking.
If we wanted that country .. we would have made it a USA State way back in the 1st Gulf War
That wasn't our intent then .. it isn't our intent now
We don't have a problem paying for our Oil
We do have a problem with a bunch of nuts that want to kill us
Whatever it takes! We, and a couple of other western nations, located the oil, developed the fields and have been the running the entire process since day one. And yes, the plan has been to carve out a buffer zone in the middle of that very unstable area from which we can protect and if necessary launch protective strikes against any 'nut group' that want's to stir up the status quo. It is going to take a long, long time. Bush's only mistake has been in the area of information - although he told us that it was going to take a long time he has failed to follow through with aggressive statements and explanations. I would imagine that many Americans still don't get it.