This is specifically directed at SFG75.... (Sorry, but I had to share it)

This is a white paper written about the Skull and Bones society - they're influence on international politics, and most importantly - their influence on the ORIGINAL Gulf war...

Skul and Bones White Paper

And the reason I include this is because of the idea of a "conspiracy" in the federal government to cause certain "conditions" (such as World War II, the Vietnam War and the Gulf War). Maybe it's true, maybe it's not true. Certainly, the article published that Scott quoted in this thread may or may not be what actually happened. It is certainly someone's opinion based upon their reading of memos they received (which may or may not be accurate). Just as much as the author of this White Paper believes he sees connections in what he reads. I especially like the last paragraph concerning the Gulf War:

Regardless of the fact that the United States has not thrown the full weight of its military presence behind the overthrow of the Saddam Hussein regime, the shortsightedness of the present Bush policy may very well lead to a Lebanon-type protracted civil war in Iraq. Such a war could potentially spread throughout the region.
Which leads me to wonder of George Jr. didn't attack Iraq as a means of preventing an all out protracted civil war in Iraq, preventing it from spreading throughout the region. And by doing so, this would have preserved our economic dependence on oil!!! Can you imagine what oil prices would be like if the middle east was in some type of protracted civil war involving a number of countries? And how would it affect us if a regime like Iran or Syria took control of a big chunk of the middle east oil fields? I shutter to think... They would have the potential to financially destroy or severely cripple us based upon the dependence we have on foreign oil...

I think this proves what I originally said - we may or may not ever know what our leaders were thinking when they committed us to the war in Iraq (and Afghanastan - and the "war on terror" in general). Maybe our leaders "baited" Osama bin Laden into his taking action against the US so we could declare the war on the radical Muslims.. Who knows? I don't think we'll be reading in history books about the roots of all of this for at least 50 or more years.