Photo: sloomis08

This item is appearing in many news sources, but I'm quoting the Iranian Press TV to make a point.

Like US President George W. Bush, Governor Palin attempted to justify her policies by claiming they were divinely-ordered during a speech at the Wasilla Assembly of God church in June.

"Pray for our military. Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right for this country - that our leaders, our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God," the Alaska governor said in her address posted on the website of the Wasilla Assembly of God.

We tend to forget that when militant, Christian fundamentalists make nutty statements like this, they tend to be more widely publicized in predominantly Muslim countries than they are here. They reinforce the perception that America is run by Christian Crusaders who are bent on destroying Islam and subjugating or killing Muslims.

There is a certain degree of accuracy to that perception.
Many opponents of the Iraq war of occupation are determined to see one main or exclusive cause of America's involvement in this seemingly permanent nightmare. However, in reality, there have been several causes of the US entry and stubborn refusal to end the Iraq War.

The Influence of Militant Christian Fundamentalists:
Although the corporate media tend to deny or downplay this, Bush is a Christian extremist of the same ilk as Sarah Palin, James Dobson, or Pat Robertson. While most of Bush's advisers don't share Bush's religious extremism, that desire to be a religious Crusader played a key role in motivating Bush to get us into Iraq in the first place. The desire of militant Christians like Palan to convert or conquer Muslims plays a huge role in forming a political base for the war.

Greed and Corruption:
Let's not forget that Bush and Cheney own oil stocks and that Cheney had strong ties to Halliburton (which then owned Iraq mercenary company KBR). Not only does Cheney own Halliburton stock, Cheney received a golden parachute from that company for the first years while he was occupying the office of Vice President. Also, war profiteers and Big Oil give a ton of money to pro-war politicians.

The Desire for More Global Power:
This is where the infamous neocons come in. It was believed that grabbing Iraq would give this country absolute control over Mideast Oil, which was, in turn, believed to keep the economies of other nations at our mercy. This hasn't turned out so well. The debt from the war has made the US largely subservient to China, and overextending our military dramatically reduced the US's influence over Latin America and Russia.

The Pro-Likud Lobby:
Mislabeled as the "pro-Isreal lobby," this is a coalition of conservative Jews who equate Likud's rightist policies with Israeli security along with Christian fundamentalists who hope that supporting Likud's provocative policies will result in a catastrophic war for Israel which will lead to the Apocalypse. It should be noted that most of these fundies are quite antisemitic when talking among themselves.

A variety of forces resulted in getting us into the war, and those same forces are working to continue it indefinitely. It hampers anti Iraq war analysis to ignore the role that the Christian Taliban, including Palin, play in perpetuating the Iraqtastrophe.