What the US is fighting for vs. What the Iraqis are fighting for

[Sandpiper]

It astounds me that over 40% of the population still believes that our cause in Iraq is moral and just. This more than anything convinces me that we're going to be there for years. But I digress.

Since the initial justifications for attacking Iraq have all turned out to be bogus (WMD, terrorism, national security), all that's left is the ugly truth about what we're fighting for:

IMPERIALISM - the policy, practice, or advocacy of extending the power and dominion of a nation especially by direct territorial acquisitions or by gaining indirect control over the political or economic life of other areas; broadly : the extension or imposition of power, authority, or influence

This is what America's sons and daughters are now dying for; so that we can impose, by force, our view of what Iraq should be, on an unwilling populace.

Meanwhile, this new crop of "bad guys" that have risen up against the forces of US occupation are fighting for this:

PATRIOTISM - love for or devotion to one's country


According to the Neocons, good guys fight for imperialism, bad guys fight against it.