How things might be connected.

I read a report this morning in the Wall Street Journal about Obama. His party line has been that he would be withdrawing troops within a 16 month time frame. Apparently, he's been dropping that part and has been sort of giving himself an "out".

Now his line is "I've always said that the pace of withdrawal would be dictated by the safety and security of our troops and the need to maintain security". That could mean any length of time. That would allow a new line such as "36 months" in order to "provide optimimum safety and security while maintaining security".

Then, later in the article, "When asked why he has omitted the phrase [withdrawal in 16 months] recently, Sen. Obama said he has been 'focused on the economy because people are paying $30 to $40 for a gallon of gas.'"

Interesting that our gas prices are climbing so high during an election year. To a certain degree oil companies and the middle men are to blame but mostly, it's the cost originates from the primary source of the petrol. The Middle East, perhaps? I wonder, [uh oh, the conspiracy theorist in me is showing] if the oil companies are giving the U.S. a little taste of what it could potentially be like if our presence is weak in the Middle East.

So, what exactly is Obama discovering that has caused him to cool his 16 month pledge? Is it that he understands that the Middle East holds our economy over a barrel (no pun intended) should they decide to really put the screws to us on the price of oil? If that is true, is he discovering we need a strong military presence in Iraq? If Arab countries were not resolute enough to prevent Al Quaeda operitives from seizing a good chunk of the Oil Supply in the Middle East, how would that affect the U.S.?

Truthfully, as much as I want to see us out of Iraq, I have a sneaking suspicion we can't leave as easily as we could have left Vietnam. Vietnam had no economic connection with the U.S. We didn't import or export much to Vietnam and they really had very little clout among the Asian community. I take that back, we were exporting a lot of weaponry to Vietnam; however, we were shipping to ourselves, for the most part. Real or not, the U.S. worried about China getting involved. It was all part of the Red Scare.

Iraq, however, is a different story. One could say they are Arabs first and Iraqi's second. Unlike Asian cultures where they are very xenophobic towards their neighbors, the Arab culture bands together. China would have come to the aid of Vietnam only if it proved to be an economic benefit to do so. But as far as China is concerned, Vietnam is more towards the bottom of the food chain. Korea is somewhat in the same situation.

There are so many challenges facing alternative fuel sources. I'm not referring just to the distribution and the altering of engines to accept the new fuel. There are many many products we use on a daily basis that come from petrol. When petrol is refined there are bi-products that are used to create more products. Our reliance on petrol goes beyond our automobiles. But that is where we feel it the most.

I'm very very curious. Why is Obama cooling his 16 month pledge? Is there a connection between High Oil Prices and the War in Iraq?