Juan Cole has a must read post up today about "The Strategic Ellipse". He builds a strong case for petroleum as the basis for the entire Bush administration's policy towards Muslims.

The idea that Bush went into Iraq over oil is not a new one. In the past, Cole has been much more moderate in his view of the oil issue as motivation to attack Iraq. But given the recent rhetoric by Bush, and the recent actions in U.S. foreign policy, Cole has concluded that the Bush administration's main focus is entirely strategic having to do with preserving access and control of oil and natural gas.

Bush's recent speeches, which have attempted to create a boogeyman the likes of the U.S.S.R. during the cold war, or Hitler's Germany, seem on the surface to be midterm election hyperbole. But as time goes by, the idea that neocons have influenced the maleable Bush because of business interests and insuring permanent access to the world oil reserves gets more and more plausible. I don't think Bush is quite that malevolent ... he's too stupid and concerned about when his next brush clearing vacation rolls around. But that kind of strategic thinking is certainly within the realm of Cheney and his oil buddies.

What a shame that greed replaces optimism about our ability to solve the energy problem without world war. As Americans, we've tended to think of ourselves as quite evolved. In truth, at any given time we're only a short step away from jungle. It's this fundamental fact about human beings that makes it ever more important for our government of checks and balances to work. Without those checks, power indeed corrupts.