It is perplexing why liberals, moderates, and even most conservatives, have failed to home in on Dick Cheney's and George W. Bush's thinking on Iraq. Perhaps everyone just can't see the forest for the trees.

Like Cheney has stated, over and over again, the Iraq War is a huge success... for himself, Bush and the neconservative cabal. And they have absolutely NO intention of EVER getting out of there.

No, it hasn't gone as cheerily as they envisioned and confidently predicted. Yes, they have stumbled and bumbled America into a real quagmire that they did not expect -- they really bought into the Ahmed Chalabi rose-colored scenario. Nevertheless, look at what they have gained:

1) Control of Iraqi Oilfields. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, oilmen all, long coveted those fields -- the second largest pool of oil on Earth. Recall that in their secret "Energy Task Force" meetings in the spring of 2001 (well before 9/11), the Bush Administration considered how Iraq oil resources might be accessed by U.S. and British petroleum companies. A televised address the day after the Iraq invasion, Bush warned the Iraqis not to "harm the oil wells", and the only building secured by General Tommy Franks' forces was the Oil Ministry building. Meanwhile, no admonition against looting was issued, and no other building or facilities (including munitions dumps) were protected. Today American and British oil corporations (Bush and Cheney cronies) control the oil fields. The day after American forces depart, that control could be jeopardized and perhaps taken over by, oh no, the Iraqis. How could the purpose of the war be more clear?

2) Drastic increase in oil prices. In 2001 oil prices slipped below $20 per barrel. Less than seven years later they have quintupled to over $100 per barrel. Almost every sector of the American economy has been adversely affected by these oil prices, except one: the oil business. To his cronies in the petroleum industry George W. Bush is Santa Claus, without a close peer as the best president ever. And, laden with oil business ties, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and an untold number of other Republican operatives have been enriched by the run-up in oil prices. Whether this increase was intentional on the administration's part is debatable, but it most certainly has been a direct and unsurprising effect of the adminstration's war in Iraq, failure to adequately protect the dollar, and utter refusal to lead the nation toward greater conservation, energy efficiency or alternative energy development.

3) Direct Transfer of Billions of Dollars from the American tax-payers directly into the pockets of hand-picked Republican corporate contributors. At least $9 billion just flat "lost". In excess of $500 billion siphoned -- nay, pipelined -- away from all the good it could do in America and into a black hole, where there has been absolutely zero oversight. It ranks as the biggest heist in world history. And the neocons have gotten away with it with nary a murmur of protest from conservatives who claim to be so committed to responsibility and accountability!

4) Expansion of Power. The neocons have used 9/11 and by extension the Iraq War as the basis of an unprecedented expansion of executive power, much of this power dubiously constitutional. Yet few have dared to stand up to the commander-in-chief because of the "war".

5) Smokescreen for Domestic Agenda. As the Iraq war has hogged headlines, behind the scenes Bush and Cheney (with the wonderful assistance of a compliant Congress) have been able to push through a ruthless, everything-for-the-corporations legislative and bureaucratic agenda that has reworked our system of government from the bottom up.

6) Starving the Beast. As hundreds of billions of dollars (actually trillions in future expenditures) are diverted into the black hole of Iraq, the resulting deficit will cripple the federal government's ability to expand or in some cases even sustain valuable programs that help millions of Americans, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and agencies and programs that watchdog the environment, public health and safety and corporate malfeasance. Exactly what the conservatives have long dreamed of.

7) Expansion of Military Industrial Complex. The last good Republican, Dwight Eisenhower, warned against the vast harm and havoc that could befall our nation under the undue influence of military contractors. Yet it has been Republicans that have made it happen. Reagan re-energized the monster. Bush has put it on steroids. The Military Industrial Complex is corporate welfare run amok, and that's music to the ears of corporatist Republicans.

8) Screwing Saddam Hussein. No doubt, Cheney, Bush and Rumsfeld despised Saddam Hussein, a bitter oilfield rival, and relished the idea of taking him out. "Mission accomplished"... at least on that score. Unfortunately, they failed to recognize some fifteen hundred years of Arab history and contemporary reality -- that this genuinely awful man held the lid on a Pandora's Cauldron of ancient sectarian and ethnic hatred that when opened would unleash a million shrieking harpies, as well as call forth demon assassins from all corners of the globe to battle the infidels and each other on top of the second largest pool of oil on Earth. Absolutely brilliant stratgegy, neocons! If, as Bush says (but does not really believe) that this is "the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century", how much wiser to have waged it where the actual 9/11 terrorists actually were... on top of Afghanistan's poppy fields?

9) Re-election of Bush and continuation of Republican Majority in 2004. Never has a sitting "war" president lost an election, a fact not lost on Karl Rove, Bush and Cheney. In 2004, Bush came the closest, but he still managed to garner just enough votes from patriotic folks unwilling to forsake the commander-in-chief" and his party during a time of "war".

There you go: Nine Reasons the Iraq War has been a smashing success for the neocons. Except for the latter (we at least hope Bush won't invoke some kind of new Imperial Executive order that will allow him to run again), all of the other wonderful benefits for the neocons continue on... in full effect!

Meanwhile, they are building the largest U.S. embassy in the world in Baghdad... costing in excess of $1 billion. They are building permanent military bases all over Iraq. Bush is now asking Congress for hundreds of billions more for the black hole... more than he has ever asked for before! Doesn't sound like anyone is planning on leaving anytime soon.

It was never about fighting terror or spreading democracy. It was always about oil, money and power. Yet, still, smart people seriously ask, "What is our exit strategy?", "What is the timeline for getting out?", "What should be the benchmarks for the Iraqi government?"

There is no exit strategy. There is no timeline. There are no benchmarks, and there never will be under this president, as he, himself, has already clearly iterated. Every day we are still in Iraq is another Christmas Day for the neocon cabal. So, it's no wonder that Republicans like John McCain float the notion that the U.S. may need to stay in Iraq for 100 years!

Meanwhile, because of this neocon fiasco in Iraq America herself is less secure, less respected around the world, and less able to rise to other challenges. The Iraq War has diverted attention and resources from the legitimate "war on terror" front (Afghanistan), worn our military dangerously thin, drained our treasury, disheartened most Americans and divided so many others, fouled relations with other nations, enraged militant Muslims and swelled the ranks of terrorist organizations, and, most importantly, squandered the lives of some 4,000 of our bravest warriors, along with tens of thousands (perhaps hundreds of thousands) of Iraqis.

There is scant doubt among neutral observers that the Iraq War will go down in history as one of the biggest blunders in American history. The nation has paid a terrible price... and still the neocons simply don't care.

Or... perhaps they really are that stupid????

Journalist Robert Parry argues many of our same points