Reply #112: You are right, really, we don't have any moral ground to stand on.

[Meldread]

But you see, the problem is greater than the Iraqi's themselves. This is the sad truth. In the long run, to most of the nations of the world, and especially to the United States, the Iraqi's and their fate is irrelevant. It is what lays beneath their country, the oil, that is ultimately what we are after. This is what Iran wants by helping Iraq. This is what we want by "helping" Iraq. It is what everyone is after. It is why Iraq is so important and why the nations of the world care about it so much. It is the reason we went to war.

Securing Iraq's oil is in our nations best interests and the United States - Democrat and Republican alike - are not going to give up on it. Even if they have to slaughter every single Iraqi.

The problem is those who propose that we leave immediately are overlooking the realities of the situation. We are stuck there. If we leave, Iran has shown that it has every intention of moving in on the country. It does not have to send in a military, the current government already supports them.

As you said the Saudis, Israelis, Turks, Jordanians, would all have something to say about that. We would be forced to intervene and be right back where we started. The problem is, of course, we've then engaged ourselves in war with Iran. This causes conflict with both China and Russia. It may cause problems with India as well (although I'm not completely sure). We catch ourselves between the two nations that quite literally have us by the balls - Saudi Arabia and China. Either one of them could cripple our economy.

You see, the problem is much bigger than Iraq itself. It is why we cannot leave - we are the only thing keeping Iran out and keeping the chaos from spreading into the surrounding region. If we leave and Iran managed to seize control of Iraq then there is a very real possibility that nukes could come into play. There are so many insanely bad scenarios, making our current situation look like the best possible of all the bad worlds.