Gen. Abizaid: Iraq about Petroleum

Gen. John Abizaid at Stanford U.:

' While [panelists] discussed green technology, the subject of America’s operations in Iraq was also a hotly debated topic. Abizaid, who was formerly the Commander of the United States Central Command, quickly established a connection between the two topics.

“Of course it’s about oil, we can’t really deny that,” Abizaid said of the Iraq campaign early on in the talk. . .

Abizaid said the current strategy was failing because American armed forces are not adequately supported by civilian branches of government. A much more heavily involved Department of State, Agriculture, CIA and DEA are needed to help stabilize regions in the Middle East, he said.

“I’d rather have more members of the State Department on the field than soldiers on the field,” Abizaid said.

Although the general acknowledged that America is “not making the progress we need to be making” in Iraq, he argued in his final remarks against a military pullout.

“The world is too small to turn our back and we can’t walk away,” he said. “To retreat from the role that needs us would be the greatest crime of all.”

Related to the war effort abroad is the list of domestic issues of constitutional significance beginning with — but not limited to — the treatment of so-called “enemy combatants” detained at Guantanamo Bay. '