Permanent headaches

The Bush administration has started talking publicly about establishing permanent military bases in Iraq.

I can understand their ambition and goal .. ie, they want to establish a Mid-East presence to counterbalance Iran and other threats to global stability.

However, I can also see their folly. This will reinforce the claim that the US is occupying Iraq (as opposed to defending it and setting up a democracy). It will fuel hatred toward the US among the Arab populace.

But, then again, Arabs have hated the US for as long as I can remember. They can't hate the US any more than they already hate the US. So, why should we bother worrying what they think? They already hate us.

BTW My first awareness of the problems in the Mid-East came in 1972, when several members of the Israeli Olympic team were killed in Munich. I was 11 years old. That's when I learned that Palestinians hate the Israelis and Arabs hate the U.S. and Israel.

Have to admit, it took me about 25 additional years to understand the true nature of the conflict and hatred. US media always reported Palestinians as terrorists. But I always wondered why they were so hateful toward Israel and the US. That information was incredibly hard to find in this country during the 70's and 80's.

I don't profess to understand everything now. But I have heard enough to know it is just a mess. A total, hopeless mess. It seems there isn't ever going to be peace in Israel.

One thing I do know is some of today's problems can be traced back to very naive decisions made by the British back in the 1920's. They partitioned up the Mid-East with almost no consideration for the history and cultures of the region. Present day Iraq and Israel would look very different had they known what they were doing.

So, here we are in 2007, with a total mess in Iraq and the Bushies talking about setting up permanent bases in Iraq. I can envision it now .. total anarchy and/or civil war in that nation while the US maintains 3 or 4 large military bases that are totally detached from the reality of the host country.

These days it really seems the country to worry about is Iran. They appear to be developing their own nuclear weapons. The big worry is NOT that they will directly attack the US or Israel, but that they'll supply nukes to terrorists who will plant these weapons in one or more US cities.
I think a lot of US citizens generally worry about this occurrence . Indeed, I worry about it.

In fact, I've always felt our military might should've been spent on Afghanistan (searching for Bin Laden) and Iran (if/when they become a nuclear threat). The Iraq war has accomplished nothing other than to exhaust our military forces, leaving little left for Iraq, should we need to attack that country.