Quite possibly, skarpi, it is. Regardless of Nostradamus. It's mostly about oil, and that oil is absolutely vital to the interests of America, Russia, China, and every other industrial nation. This is the kind of thing that major wars end up being fought over.

Of course, we could all agree to share the oil in an equal manner, couldn't we...?

But since when has there been the will among major powers to do something as sane and agreeable as that when they saw a chance to just take what they wanted by force? Since never.

The USA, at present, is just taking what it wants, and positioning itself to take more. That is what makes a major war very likely. It will not be a war about terrorism or democracy. It will be a war about who gets to control the oil. Other issues are brought forward as red herrings to fool the public into supporting national policy and volunteering their children's lives on the front lines, but it's about oil.

Here's an interesting link which proposes an "exit strategy" for the USA in Iraq. Very interesting. The Billy Jack movies were terrible, but Tom Laughlin's ideas for an exit strategy in Iraq make a great deal of sense. Read it and see...

http://www.billyjack.com/index.php?menuID=Page&pid=39