Within the Bush administration, the 'military option' remains as popular as ever.

What more fitting way for the Bush Administration to observe the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq than to send its principal architect, Vice President Dick Cheney, to Baghdad to rally dispirited U.S. troops for years more of futile sacrifice? "It's been a difficult, challenging but nonetheless successful endeavor," Cheney opined during a surprise visit on March 17, at the beginning of a ten-day Middle East trip. As he toured Baghdad, bragging of "phenomenal" security improvements, a bomb went off in the heavily guarded Shiite holy city of Karbala, killing fifty and wounding dozens more.

Ostensibly, Cheney's visit is intended to lend muscle to the White House claim that substantial progress is being made in Iraq because of the troop surge -- thereby burnishing the Administration's "legacy" and enhancing the election prospects of John McCain (who recently made an Iraq trip of his own with this purpose). Cheney also sought to persuade Iraqi lawmakers to pass a national hydrocarbon law, thus smoothing the way for the exploitation of Iraqi oilfields by U.S. energy firms.


But Iraq is only the first stop on Cheney's itinerary. He is also scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia, Oman, Turkey, Israel and the West Bank. At least some of the objectives of these visits have been signaled by President Bush and other top officials. In Saudi Arabia, for example, Cheney is expected to pressure King Abdullah to increase the kingdom's oil output, thereby bringing down U.S. gas prices. Cheney is also expected to pressure Israeli and Palestinian officials to resume peace negotiations.

Lurking behind all this, however, is the Administration's overriding strategic goal in the region: to contain Iran's growing influence and, if deemed necessary, use military force to destroy its capacity to manufacture nuclear weapons. The containment and eventual emasculation of Iran has always been the Administration's principal post-Iraq objective in the Persian Gulf, and now that Cheney can claim a "successful" outcome to its first war in the region, it can begin laying groundwork for the next.