WHY ARE WE STILL IN IRAQ?

I published my book Why Are We In Iraq? Letters from Mad Plato on May 8, 2007.
I guess now I will publish my next book with the title Why Are We Still In Iraq?
I have been having a discussion with a friend who is a veteran of Gulf War I.
I respect his intelligent opinions.
He believes that if the U.S. left Iraq, it would permit Syria and Iran to conquer Iraq.
But they would fight each other first.
My friend also expressed the viewpoint that if the U.S. left Iraq, a vacuum would exist for China to exploit the oil beneath the broiling sands.
Our dependence on oil will not disappear.
The West needs access to the black gold of Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
Instability in Iraq is an enemy to our thirsty gas tanks.

President Bush is now saying that the U.S. left Vietnam too early, and that we will not leave Iraq early.

I knew the Decider would have his surge, then tell us that we can't leave.

Period.

My friend also said that to leave now would mean that all of our soldiers who have died, and all of the hundreds of billions already spent (and counting...close to 1 trillion dollars!)---all would have been in vain if we left now.
My friend also called Iraq a quagmire.
Not stuck in the mud, but in the oily desert.

IT'S THE OIL STUPID!