Cowboy Politics

I've yet to see or hear anything -- and trust me, I've been looking -- that compells me to believe that we have to attack Iraq right now. They have all the same capabilities as they've had for the past few years. Saddam Hussein has made no new overt actions against its neighbors.

But the magic lightbulb went on at the end of the story. NPR revealed that the expectation is that the U.S. oil trade is going to surge in the wake of an attack on Iraq because any new Iraqi regime is not going to want to deal oil with any country that did not support the attack on Saddam.
-Prozac Conniption

Good point, LM. This could explain the sudden international support Bush is getting, even though nothing new has come to light. Bush still has no evidence. He still hasn't produced a reason besides "He's a bad man." But, the UN won't fight against the US and Bush has stated that he'll do it no matter what, so they better fall in line.

Also while talking about why it's suddenly become such an important issue, let's not forget that elections are coming up. This proposed Irag invasion also takes the media focus further way from the corporate scandals and health care problems that are both issues that Republicans, for good reasons, poll badly on. The Republican party is highly supportive of big business (even more than the Democrats who aren't so clean themselves) and there is no chance in hell a Republican congress would ever pass a socialized health care system. (There's a slim chance of the Democrats getting it done but at least a few of them would be willing to try.) These are issues important to Americans.

I heard on NPR this morning that Bush is speaking out about fiscal responsibility. He is urging congress to keep the budget down. At the same time, he is arguing for an invasion of Iraq that qould cost us billions as well as risking the lives of American soldiers. The United States has plenty of money for everything (including socialized health care), if we didn't have such an inflated military budget.