Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have presented plans to lower troop levels in Iraq if they are elected president. However, I think it is important for voters to understand that lowering troop levels over several years is very different from actually leaving Iraq. The United States has no intention of leaving Iraq entirely in the foreseeable future regardless of the president or the people (especially the Iraqi people).

I wish that one candidate from either side of the aisle would start talking about our position in Iraq as one of military strategy instead of dressing it with partisan fluff. Putin has developed in Russia what the New York Times has called “new autocracy” reminiscent of Germany as it spiraled into totalitarianism in the 1930’s. China is as oppressive as ever while gaining economic power with frightening speed. Both of these superpowers could become military enemies of the United States with very little provocation. There is no doubt in my mind that therein lies our true reason for staying in the Middle East.

One major military event, whether it be in Iran or Syria or Saudi Arabia or Turkey, could bring us to the brink of conflict with Russia and China. The superpowers depend on their stakes in Middle Eastern oil and will not stand by while one of the three polices the entire region. The US is building at least 14 permanent military bases in Iraq since the beginning of the war and continues to leave troops stationed in Afghanistan and Pakistan so that American influence is tangible on China’s doorstep.

I suppose what is most frustrating about the rhetoric that has surrounded the war is that no one in government seems willing to acknowledge that when we went into Iraq in the first place we already had all of this planned out. We did not book a round-trip ticket to Iraq thinking that we would be out in a month. That was a lie.

If we did, however, then I must wonder how we could possibly be so inept. There are videos all over the web of interviews that Dick Cheney, Rumsfeld and company gave before they were part of the Bush administration. The videos show them clearly stating that removing Saddam Hussein would be counterproductive because, to quote Cheney, “What do you put in his place?”It is absolutely foolhardy to believe that our intelligence agencies didn’t know that we would be faced with an insurgency. It was all a matter of strategy; a calculated risk.

Also, I hope that as a nation we have moved past the ridiculous notion that we are trying to help Iraq get back on its feet. Anyone who is reading this that still believes we have altruistic intentions in Iraq, please open your eyes. According to The New England Journal of Medicine and estimated 151,000 Iraqis have been killed. The only construction that is going on Iraq is of US military bases.

The initial invasion of Baghdad and the “Mission Accomplished” farce was part of a carefully woven costume to disguise the real goal: Gain control of the oil pipeline to Afghanistan from the Caspian Sea while setting up military bases so that we can keep an eye on China and Russia. There is a method in our military madness that foreshadows a much bigger war than anything we’ve seen in Iraq so far.

What strategy do you think should be taken in Iraq? E-mail [email protected]