Politics is a cynical business. I’m not actually a cynic. But if I were a cynic and a powerful American of some kind this would be my plan to deal with Iraq and Iran.
1. Pull completely out of Iraq. Just forget about it.
2. Give Iran the go ahead to invade Iraq.
3. Sell weapons to everyone involved.
Here’s how it works. Pulling out of Iraq creates a power vacuum. Iran rushes in to fill it. But c’mon, the American army couldn’t bring order. Do you really think the Iranian one can? Not a chance. They’ll be in the same quagmire that the states is now in. Sounds like a good place to put your enemy. It’ll keep ‘em busy at least. Drain their resources and kill off their young. That will cause civil strife in Iran. It will create a class of angry, trained vets who are pissed off at their guv and actually know how to do something about it. Sounds like a good way to get a revolution going. Just wonder where they’ll get their weapons from . . .
Some future ally perhaps?
Oil will skyrocket. You’ll make a killing. And of course you sell arms to everyone who wants to use them, including the Saudis who won’t be too happy about the Iranians walking up to their borders. Seriously, why fight a proxy war when you have proxies to do it for you?
And, in time, everyone will forget who was responsible for this mess in the first place. You’ll just have to spin things a bit so that it looks like you won or some crap. There’s money to be made. Peace is profitable. The right sort of peace –the type that’s not really peace at all — is extremely profitable. Especially for the Russians. Never forget, every time oil goes up, Putin gets a bit richer. Sounds like our sort of fellow.
