Lugar says:

"America's vital interests in the region are fourfold: preventing Iraq from becoming a terrorist safe haven; preventing sectarian violence from spreading beyond Iraq's borders; preventing Iran from dominating its neighbors; and limiting the loss of U.S. credibility."

Wrong. America's "vital interests" are better translated as: preventing a regional sectarian war that would disrupt oil supplies; preventing Iran from getting a stranglehold on our oil supplies; and pointing out to liberals that, yes, they need Gulf oil as much as conservatives.

A fifth of the world's oil supply comes via the Gulf. Now, perhaps all liberals now drive electric cars or bicycles. But they still buy products that are transported from one place to another in oil-fuelled vehicles. They still travel overseas. They still prefer motorised ambulances to take them to hospital.

Yes, Iraq was "all about oil", but the entire global economy is dependent on this resource. Don't make out that we don't need it, cos we do.

How much Iraqi oil were we using before the invasion?

How much oil could we have bought with the money we've wasted on Iraq?

How much Iraqi oil are we using now?

Are you willing to die for oil, or would you rather send other people to die so that you can have oil?

Is oil even worth dying for?

Have you thought this stuff through?

...suggests as well as hides a real question: Why do we continue to persue an ever increasing oil based fuel economy and lifestyle?

Asking the "what do liberals/conservatives run their cars on" assumes that continuing to "run our cars" as we have been doing is a lifestyle we should or must continue. I don't think that is either necessary or wise.

to buy Saddam's oil off him rather than invade the country?

And if the USA wanted to block Iran why didn't they simply do what they had done during the 80's when Iraq was supported with military aid and intelligence?

After all its not as if there are any moral issues here. The USA, and the rest of us, were happy to turn a blind eye to Saddam gassing the Kurds back in the 80's. Bush senior was also happy to turn his back on the shia's who revolted against Saddam immediately after the Gulf war, and were slaughtered in their thousands.

Funny how, following the 2003 invasion, all those butchered by Saddam were then used as a reason why he needed to be got rid off but nobody complained very loudly at the actual time when he was ording all this killing.

As for all that oil in the middle east, well the unfortuate fact is that it actually belongs to them and not us. So we can either force them to "sell" it to us at gunpoint, or we can buy it on the open market, if they chose to sell it to us.

However, wouldn't it make more sense to reduce our dependence on oil in the first place?

Or do we end up having to fight it out with China, who are currently buying up as many barrels as they can get?

What kind of mileage can you get on the blood shed so far?

I have to wonder what kind of progress we might have made on building a non-gasoline engine with the $1 trillion we've spent on Iraq.

You're calling Lugar a Liberal? Get serious. He's that rarest of creatures, a thoughtful Conservative.

Iran has no interest in disrupting the flow of oil to the US. They need for us to buy it at least as much as we do ourselves.

They do appreciate the fact that we keep the region in turmoil though, inflating the price of oil. They make so much more money that way.

In order to be factually correct, Lugar should have said, "America's vital interests in the region are fourfold: preventing sectarian violence from spreading beyond Iraq's borders; establishing a real democracy in the region to fill the power vacuum which was made by the badly timed and ill-advised invasion of Iraq, preventing Iran from dominating its neighbors while encouraging it to be a responsible country through diplomacy and the markets; and recovering some of the lost credibility of the U.S. None of these objectives are being accomplished by this incompetent administration and its useless policies."

But Iran is cutting oil deals with China and had one with Japan until we put our foot on the Japanese throats.

Very bad form for Iran to act like a soverign nation without our approval.