Welcome to the newest US satrapy

There was never an intention of getting all the way out of Iraq. Oil was the motive behind faking the WMD's; oil was the motive behind linking to 9/11; oil was the motive behind the invasion; oil is the motive behind the obvious intention of building massive and permanent US Army installations:

Congressional Republicans killed a provision in an Iraq war funding bill that would have put the United States on record against the permanent basing of U.S. military facilities in that country, a lawmaker and congressional aides said on Friday.

Of course they're intending permanent bases--that's the only way Big Oil can control the Iraqi fields and maintain the flow of obscene profits to their billionaire shareholders.

Let's be clear on this: Bush/Cheney and their henchmen have killed thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis to insure their oil profits. No other reason. And the Republican Congress knows it and that's why they deleted the reference to "no permanent bases."

[Update 11:10pm CST: NYT confirms:

Bush Administration Developing Plans To Keep 50,000 U.S. Troops In Iraq For Decades