Backfire: Territory loss and strategic blunder in Iraq

[gulliver]

In terms of the "War on Terror," Bush's Folly in Iraq is not yet being seen for what it is: the abyss. I think a lot of Bush supporters have a "territory" mindset. They think that by taking Iraq away from Saddam we have somehow gained territory. But they are wrong. The Islamists gained territory in Iraq, perhaps the best territory they could have hoped for. And the bitter irony is that the vital territory we lost was chosen with great care by America's own beloved war geniuses, the neocons.

Although people like Paul "Comb-Licker" Wolfowitz and John "Raging Steer" Bolton appear to be mere has-been lunatics, they chose Iraq well. If Iraq were to become a flower of democracy, that flower would be sitting right smack in the middle of the Middle East. All of the major terrorist-exporting nations have long borders with Iraq. Iraq also has oil, so a Bush supporter might imagine it becoming some kind of Republican-esque gated community.

But what happens if the plan (if the term "plan" can be used to discuss anything done by the neocons) utterly backfires? Then Iraq, specifically chosen for its geo- and petro-political significance becomes the ultimate nightmare scenario. In that scenario, the neocons chose perhaps the most strategically important target in all of the Middle East and lost it to the enemy.

Here is a map of the Middle East.

http://www.infoplease.com/atlas/middleeast.html

I'm hoping to generate a discussion of this scenario and maybe collect some links. I'm not sure the American people realize just how much Bush has cost them.

Look at Iraq. The Wahabbists (like bin Laden and the 9/11 hijackers) in Saudi Arabia no longer have to go all the way to inhospitable Afghanistan for sanctuary. They can just go right next door to Iraq.

Anti-American Islamists in Iran, Syria, Yemen? Same thing. Iraq is this big oil-soaked bazaar for terrorism. And Bushies brag about it. "I would rather have the terrorists over in Iraq training and buying weapons than over here in America," we can almost hear them saying.

Suppose Bush turned Iraqi oil over to the hapless Iraqi government. How long would it be before the various terrorist gangs acquired their oil revenue streams? ...