March 14, 2008 - Wow, the traffic getting home from work today was horrible. Combined with a planned intersection closing of 66th St and Ulmerton Rd, it was raining on the drive home. Just one of those factors would have been bad enough to influence my drive, but both of them combined into a horrendous traffic jam that got me home after 6 PM, when I am normally home before 5:30. Ellie and I were looking to go to Olive Garden for some salad and breadsticks, but the wait was an hour when we got there, so instead we went out to Cristino's in Clearwater. We had time to go home, take care of the dogs, and then drive to Tampa for my gig at Kelly's Pub. The rain kept the crowd low again tonight, just like our last Kelly's gig. Ellie and her mom were the door people, but they didn't have much to do since only about 20 people showed up. I ended up getting home after 1:30 AM. Today I'm going to touch on Iraq as part of my series on Presidential Issues. I'm not sure if I'll be able to fit everything in or not, since it is such a big debacle. This will probably flow into international diplomacy as a whole. Currently, there are about 138,000 US troops in Iraq, plus about 21,000 US contractors. We're helping secure Iraqi government offices, protecting the oil drilling and transportation efforts, and raiding suspected homes and bases of "terrorists". If we were to leave, Iraq's military would be on its own protecting these things, something which they do not have sufficient numbers to do. The build up to our presence in Iraq goes back prior to the September 11 suicide plane attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. This is at the very least about George Bush and his failed attempt at killing Saddam Hussein, and his sons desire to do what his dad was unable to do. September 11 provided a need for an enemy, and since the enemy was not in the form of a military or government that we could attack, we found an enemy that our country could rally against. What perfect timing for George W Bush to go into Iraq with our military in the name of weapons of mass destruction (i.e. nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons), to stave off the perceived threat to the US by taking out Saddam and his military force, finding the nuclear weapons, and saving our country from attack. As we all know by now, there is no evidence of WMD, and there is no clear path for the US to escort in diplomacy to a country that was led by tyrannical rule and is now in a power struggle between religious sects over who will retain control over the people, the land, the resources (oil), and the money. Ah, yes, it all comes down to money. There are three coincidental ties between the US and our position on attacking Iraq. First, there is the desire by George W Bush to avenge his dad's attempt at killing Saddam. This is accomplished. Then there is the fact that George W Bush is from Texas, and has amassed a great fortune from oil companies. He is grossly underestimated on his understanding of the value of oil and securing a source from Iraq for years to come. Then there is the connection between Dick Cheney, the vice president, and Halliburton, the major contractor for Iraq. More on this tomorrow.