The War in Iraq _ When is Enough Enough?

Look, I'm a conservative. Friends have described me in the past as being somewhere to the right of Attila the Hun. But this war in Iraq, please! We all know that Bush took us into this war under false pretences ( Arms of mass destruction, where? ). So be it, we went to war. My question is; when do we declare victory and come home? We destroyed Saddam's military in short order. Saddam was captured, tried and hung. We helped Iraq create a new constitution based on democratic principles and to hold their first free elections. So what are we still doing there? Let's get the ground forces out of there. If they need American advisers, provide advisers; but no ground troops. The tribes and religious sects in Iraq have been fighting for thousands of years ( Except under Saddam's iron fist; now there is food for thought. ). Maybe they're not ready for democracy. Maybe they never will be. So maybe we should pull out our troops but maintain satellite surveillance and other intelligence gathering and if necessary we lob in a few smart bombs to help in keeping a level fighting field for the Iraqis; but no more.

Or maybe there's another reason for our presence in Iraq, you think? Is it possible that the real reason for our presence in Iraq is that Iraqi oil is of vital national interest? Maybe it is. But, if that is the case, let us admit it. Admit it to the American people and to the world. Then, if there is enough support for this "vital national interest", there is only one thing to do and that is to take the damn oil fields. Establish a sufficiently large buffer zone around the fields and throw all Iraqis out and if anyone tries to inter this zone without an explicit invitation from the U.S. government or its representative in the area they die. Import whom ever is needed to operate the oil fields in a professional manner, sell the oil production at OPEC prices or a slightly lower if you please, cover all of our operating and security costs and give what is left over to the Iraq government. That should take care of our vital national interest.

Told you that I was a conservative.