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It does not matter whether or not George Bush is thrown out of office in November. The fact that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction does not bother Secretary Rumsfeld or Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz. The scandal that is the invasion of Iraq does not cause Dick Cheney or Elliott Abrams to lose sleep at night. They know that they will never be tried as criminals for lying to Congress as they deserve to be and as a Democratic parallel would be. And most importantly, the loss of a secure, albeit totalitarian Iraq as a staunch opponent to radical Muslim fundamentalism does not bother them in the slightest. Why? Because the war in Iraq has already been won. Iraq was not selected as a target in the war on terror following an exhaustive weighing of the options after 9/11. The country was selected as a target by elite members of neo-conservative society years ago. The Project for a New American Century, or PNAC, is one of the most ideologically unified and powerful neo-conservative think tanks in American politics. Since PNAC’s inception in 1997, it has isolated Iraq as the first step in a broader effort to dominate the Middle East and by extension, the world. In other words, Iraq is Poland in 1939. And if Iraq is Poland, who will be France? And does that mean Britain is the new Italy? Oh wait no Italy is the new Italy. So if this were 1939, Britain would be either the U.S.S.R or Imperial Japan. I don’t know which is preferable.

From Iraq, one can build bases and launch strikes against Syria, Iran, and if the political climate in Washington changes, Saudi Arabia. This war has accomplished what it was meant to do, namely occupy Iraq long enough to build military bases and secure the country’s resources. Certainly many things have been lost, but to the neo-cons the war isn’t one of them. The loss of soldiers’ lives is not seen as a loss, but a sacrifice to the greater good of American military dominance. The downward spiral of American credibility matters little for those bent on “global leadership.