I'm stealing this graphic from The Economist because it shows the importance of a stable, extremist-free Middle East.
In the minds of those who cry, "No blood for oil!" this war we fight in Iraq against terrorists and tyrants and for democratic reforms is really a war for oil. Well, they're right. And I'm right. It's a war for both of those things. Why shouldn't it be?
Whatever we are as a civilization and an economy, it is dependent upon our access to oil. And lots of it. All the time. Without the energy derived from the oil we pump here and import from abroad, our economy would not be the great phenomenon it is. Nor would any other country's economy survive. America would not be wealthy or mobile or capable of doing the great things we do every day as a free nation. Why should we apologize for that? Why should we not utterly reject the Leftist conceit that we do not have to fight for unfettered access to the energy sources that make us a great superpower?
The anti-war Left comforts itself with its false moral superiority, claiming that the War for Iraq was an elective ---and not a necessary--- war. Thus, these tools can heap abuse upon this Administration for pursuing its pre-emptive actions in Iraq and say that it's all for oil profits. But it's the wise man (like Keith Richards) who knows that you'd better walk before they make you run. That is, we are doing the right thing to demonstrate our power in the Middle East now when we have some (considerable) hope to obtain the kind of governments we want there, rather than having to later be at the mercy of governments that mean us ill.
It is a huge task that President Bush is undertaking, and the "payoff" is years away. He is being pilloried as an undiplomatic bully who has prosecuted this war for the benefit of some constantly-growing cabal of oil and armaments companies. But the diplomatic efforts he made were with countries that had other interests at heart and who lied to us and obstructed us at every turn. There was never going to be some magical, legitimizing alliance with assholes like Chiraq and Villepin. Only someone as craven as Kerry could pretend otherwise.
We have a moral and self-interested obligation to see whether we can begin a fundamental cultural transformation in Iraq and all across that region. We are the greatest power on Earth. We cannot allow the regressive and oppressive influence of Islam to continue to grow unchecked. Islam must be brought to heel. That is a fact and it supersedes any liberal, namby-pamby bullshit about racism or bigotry. Western Civilization won't have any liberal ideas and rights if we delude ourselves about what Islam does to the people it dominates.
Therefore, we must pre-empt. We must destroy. We must sacrifice what is necessary to guarantee that Lincoln's "last, best hope of Earth" survives. Because, if America is brought down in the face of Muslim tyranny, the whole world will go back into a dark age from which it may not return.