Those who complain about the U.S. forces being in Iraq for 100 years appear to have forgotten that U.S. forces STILL remain in Germany and Japan 60 YEARS AFTER WWII ended. These people will do all they can to paint this as a war "for oil" while the price shoots through the roof.

This makes NO sense because were this a "war for oil," wouldn't there be MORE oil on the market, and when there is MORE of a product on the market, its price tends to drop.

Does this confuse you? Let me try to explain this with an example you MAY be able to understand better. Do you think you would be able to SELL water on your own? You would be able to use tap water from your home, bottle the stuff, and try selling it at the local supermarket. Would you be able to make some money doing this? Probably not! Can you understand why?

You are selling a product to which everyone else already has easy access - tap water. No one wants to pay a premium for a product he/she can get from a water fountain somewhere else in the supermarket for no cost at all. You, probably, would do better selling your water at construction sites where no ready access to water exists yet; selling to parched workers looking to quench their thirsts. Granted, some of them would undercut you and bring water coolers from home for themselves and their coworkers.

So, were the product of the War in Iraq, more oil, why has the price gone up so high since the invasion of Iraq in '03? Well, this is because the war hasn't done ANY such thing! If anything it has made getting oil MORE difficult because other oil-producing states in the Middle East feel threatened with nacent democracies in the neighborhood: Afghanistan and Iraq. Those opposing the war will explain that Bush did this to RAISE the price of oil so that his "friends" in the oil business would make out like fat-cats, but then it is not a "War for Oil," but a war for an increased price of oil, but THAT is too difficult to put on a bumper sticker.

Another issue is the timing of the developments of middle-classes in countries like China and India. BOTH these countries have HUGE populations, and India is the LARGEST democracy in the world. The development of the middle classes in these countries has meant that these countries need MORE oil (gasoline) to get these people where they want to go. Prior to the '90s, these middle classes didn't exist to the extent that they do now in either of these two countries with immense populations.

These countries have started demanding HUGE amounts of gasoline to power the demand their growing middle-class populations have placed on their societies for transportation and electricity.

The LAST thing the Saudi family wants to see is a neighboring nation in the Middle East embrace democracy and show the Saudi people HOW easy it is to do this and make it work for EVERYONE. The Saudi people would be more-likely to embrace a revolution like the French did in the late 18th century when they threw out the aristocracy back then were the mullahs in their mosques not telling them that the "devil" resides in western-style democracies.

So, in effect, it is the FEAR of losing to the power of the people associated with a democracy that keeps the "leaders" in other non-democratic Middle-Eastern states awake all night and fearing a new French-like revolution.

Al Qaeda is ALL too eager to help the Saudi Royal family make democracy look bad by blowing up oil pipelines (keeping the supply low) and blowing up innocent people with car bombs in markets because it too would be pushed to the curb by the flood of democracy in the Middle East. They are embracing the democratic party thought of the '90s: the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Another issue is that GWB didn't want to create ANOTHER Vietnam! How did he avoid this? He invaded an oil-funded neighbor of Afghanistan - Iraq. This gives the people who WANT a democracy in Afghanistan an oil-funded ally on whom they can call should the need arise. The people of S. Vietnam NEVER had a "friend" in the neighborhood who could help them. Most of S. Vietnam's neighbors were as poor as she was.

What lead to the U.S. invading Iraq to give it BACK to the people who live there? Well, Iraq was the lowest hanging fruit on the Terrorism Tree, too. The three major populations in Iraq led to a fractured society, and this could have helped the administration in Washington to decide that it would make Iraq the oil-funded ally Afghanistan would need in the neighborhood. Remember the old addage, "A house divided against itself cannot stand"?

Iran also resided on this list of potential allies, but its society is not fractured like Iraq's is. In Iran, if you're not Persian, you're worthless. So, to the "war mongers" in the White House, Iran would be TOO difficult of a foe to defeat militarily even though the people MAY have supported the effort more than they did in Iraq. The president of Iran, Ahmedthenutjob, may be losing more support every day among the Iranian people. Who knows? Iran is not going to air its dirty political laundry for the WHOLE world to see like the Clinton White House did with Lewinsky back in the '90s, and the media today would LOVE to do to Bush were he to give them some bait on which they could tug.

The issue with the Saudi people seeing a local democracy work is at issue with the Iranians as well. If Iranians see their neighbors in Afghanistan and Iraq living and THRIVING under their unique form of democracy, they will want it for themselves and toss out Ahmedthenutjob and his cronies.

The liberals here in the U.S. would DIE to learn that this happened! They have painted GWB as a dumb tool since his inauguration in 2001. They use their Stooge paintbrush to paint him as a tool, but then they want to claim that he was "smart" enough to pull off 9/11 sans ANY fingerprints. *laughter* Which one is it, guys and gals? Is he a tool or the SMARTEST president EVER?

Why a democracy? Well, this is the best construct humankind has developed to let the people of a nation be heard by their leaders. We, in the U.S., have developed a republic where we have elected representatives who serve us in return for our votes every two years in House and every six years in the Senate. A "true" democracy is cumbersome to say the least with the need for everyone to vote on EVERYTHING!

So a republic is a compromise. In order for that republic to work, you have to do your part and VOTE whenever the chance to do so presents itself so that you ARE heard.

Were this exercise in planting the seeds of democracy in soil that has NEVER seen it before to work, the price of oil would drop through the FLOOR! It is conflict that inflates the price! Al Qaeda demostrates this EVERY time the group destroys a pipeline and makes it more difficult to deliver the product to the world's markets.

Were the price of gas to fall through the floor, there would be REVOLUTION all over the Middle East as people shook themselves free of the shackles Islam has placed on them! The ruling families in these parts of the world would have access to the money they USED to have to keep everyone happy no longer.

Everyone would be pissed off and looking for blood! The ruling Saud family, for example, would be strung up SO quickly you wouldn't have the time to blink an eye!

One other issue your question mentioned. There is this claim that has been out there since the "defeat" of the Iraqi military that the U.S. military has murdered 1 million innocent Iraqis. Had this happened, where are the bodies buried? Were the military to TRY to bury THIS many bodies, there wouldn't be any way to do so because the grave diggers would need to dig up the bodies Saddam buried first to find the room to bury these new bodies.

This claim is pap! *shrug* The resources needed to "bury" these 1 million bodies is too great for this to have happened.

This question is not an easy one to answer quickly!