Iraq, now it's a "a struggle of ideologies"

No WMD, No problem!; No connection to 9-11, No Problem!; An Iraqi theocracy, No Problem! We have "a struggle of ideologies".
Administration's Tone Signals a Longer, Broader Iraq Conflict
None of the original reasons for the invasion of Iraq have exactly worked out but one fact remains. We have to have control of that oil. But with one "milestone" after another passing and things just get worse the peasants are getting restless. Even those in the administration realize very little is going to change because of this new constitution.
It's going to be a long war.

Mr. Bush's own way of talking about the future, in Iraq and beyond, has undergone a subtle but significant change in recent weeks. In several speeches, he has begun warning that the insurgency is already metastasizing into a far broader struggle to "establish a radical Islamic empire that spans from Spain to Indonesia." While he still predicts victory, he appears to be preparing the country for a struggle of cold war proportions.

It is a very different tone than administration officials sounded in the heady days after Saddam Hussein's fall, and then his capture.

A new cold war. But cold wars can be very profitable to the Republicans in the military industrial complex, and oh yes, there's all that oil. Will the new bogeyman work as well as the old one. Maybe not. The Salesman in Chief is having trouble selling things these days. And the administration realizes it's about out of "milestones".

The real test may come after parliamentary elections, which, if the constitution is found to have passed this weekend, are scheduled for Dec. 15. After that date, a senior administration official noted with some dread in his voice, "there are no more democratic landmarks for us to point to - that's when we learn whether the Iraqi state can stay together."