It figures

For those such as myself, who could see the echoes of Vietnam prior to the launching of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the revelation by journalist Bob Woodward on 60 Minutes this week that Henry (Heinz) Kissinger has been a key adviser to President Bush on this conflict comes as little surprise. It figures.

According to Woodward, Kissinger has been the impetus behind Bush’s contention that we "cannot cut and run" in Iraq. For Kissinger, the midwife of Neoconservatism, saw the U.S. "failure of will" in Vietnam as the cause of its degrading rout.

"Victory is the only exit strategy for Iraq" Kissinger is said to have told Bush.

Victory in the Kissinger-Bush lexicon would mean a Shiite-dominated government. Good for the Chinese government, Chinese oil companies, and U.S. companies doing business with China–all represented by Kissinger Associates.

"Oil is much too important a commodity to be left to the Arabs" is a quote attributed to Kissinger, who decried "Arab romanticism" long before Charles Krauthammer coined the term "Islamofacism" and spoke of Arabs and Moslems as "existential enemies" to be attacked wherever they are found, especially in the "Islamic Crescent" in the Middle East.

At the same time, Kissinger views the cash-paying Chinese government in his own romantic vision saying of the Tiananmen Square massacre that no government would have tolerated a protest of the sort.

(Kissinger’s China Ventures investment partnership set up just before the massacre directed investments exclusively to projects approved by the Chinese government.)

So, if you’re wondering why the U.S. would engage in a ruinous war that costs $2-billion weekly and primarily benefits Israel and China, ask Henry Kissinger!