Well, Pat, Halliburton may be one of a group of powers pulling strings, not the only ones.  I am quite certain that Multinational Corporations based in this country are the major players.  (check this out: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/11/01/MNGMIM3RAG1.DTL)

During my recent annual Fall Bike Ride (the Boo ride) a Canadian friend of mine discussed some very interesting thoughts with me.  His stance is that in order for a government to have a long term plan, they must be in power much longer than the typical 4 year or 8 year terms, because little long range results from strategic planning can be achieved in such a time interval. This can only be accomplished with a Monarchy system, or a system where the reigns of power are essentially held by the same group despite the official title of the ruling party, be it Democrat and Republican.  In other words, the course of action of government would not change even if the parties change hands come election time.  I appreciate some of his cynicism, but it does make some  sense.  He thought the elections create the illusion amongst the people that they are affecting change, when in fact the game pieces have been set in motion, by whatever forces are truly running the country.  He may have a point.  I'm not sure, but I have suspected for some time that the country is headed in a "direction" which is unlikely to be changed dramatically by just electing a new President.

He believes the current strategy in Iraq was planned long ago, and despite the outcry that it is a disaster, that "everything is going according to plan".  Yep, he's still my friend depsite a heated discussion as we were pedalling along.  Great guy actually.   Loves Bush...and he's Canadian for f..ck's sake!!