Someone once told me that I was full of shit for...

saying that it was an occupation; saying that we were building bases there; saying that we weren't coming home anytime within this quarter-century; saying that the Iraqi government is nothing close to autonomous, and that they don't make a move unless we tell them to.

I just laughed at them and said, "You'll see."

Well, this week, it was all laid bare.

"How's that possible, Wrench?" You say, as you stare at your screen.

Observe.

Declaration of Principles for a Long-Term Relationship of Cooperation and Friendship Between the Republic of Iraq and the United States of America

Encapsulated in this document - linked above - is the geo-political reality of what the Bush/Cheney administration and their neoconservative and Likudnik supporters had set out to achieve since the day George W. Bush became President of the US.

Far from ‘liberating’ the Iraqi people from the ‘yoke of tyranny’ for them to become a ‘free and democratic’ model to which all other Middle Eastern states could aspire, which was the propaganda and rhetoric used by the neoconservatives that convinced the Coalition of the Willing that Iraq was a ‘noble and righteous cause’, the declaration instead condemns Iraq to an endless occupation designed to enhance the power of the elite puppets of Iraq, and to ensure that Iraq’s resources remain firmly under American control and enriching American controlled oil companies. In short, the document is the instrument by which Iraq has effectively become a colony of the US.

There are several iniquitous points made in the document that betray the real intent of the administration but, in particular, point five of the second principle relating to ‘the economic sphere’ which says: “Facilitating and encouraging the flow of foreign investments to Iraq, especially American investments, to contribute to the reconstruction and rebuilding of Iraq,” and point eight which says: “Supporting the Republic of Iraq to obtain positive and preferential trading conditions for Iraq within the global marketplace including accession to the World Trade Organization and most favored nation status with the United States,” says it all.

Iraq’s puppet leaders have signed over Iraq to the US.

I don't make this shit up, people. This is the reality that your family members, neighbors, and co-workers either refuse to hear, understand, or accept.

Why do you think that Haliburton pulled all American stakes/properties and relocated to Dubai?