Iraq: spreading democracy & fighting terrorism vs. puppet gov't & oil theft
The frame that even most democrats won't let go of is that we are in Iraq to spread democracy, create stability (although they admit the instability in the first place), and the weakest lie of all, that we are somehow fighting terrorism by being there.
The reality is that Bush went into Iraq with a radical neoliberal, free market agenda, and the parts of it that he knew NO Iraqi government would accept were forced on them by decree by Bush appointed governor, L Paul Bremer. When Bush didn't like the Iraqis choice of prime minister, he told them to get rid of him and appoint one more to his liking. Likewise, he has been leaning on the Iraqis heavily to pass an oil law that will give 88% of the oil income from new fields to the major oil companies, Bush's cronies.
If we were trying to teach Iraqis democracy, every candidate would acknowledge that every poll of Iraqis shows that the blame the occupation for the ongoing violence and they want us to pull our troops out.
When even Democrats ignore this, they look complicit in the economic rape of Iraq.
When we look at the history of other countries, we clearly see the grab for land and resources as the motives for wars of aggression. When we talk about our own expansion across the continent of North America, we don't even attempt to hide the motive, but state it proudly.
