Alan Keyes on Iraq

I caught just a small portion of the debate between Alan Keyes and Barack Obama in the Illinois senate race. Keyes was sounding off on Iraq. In justifying the war he cited the example of countries like Sudan and Libya who have begun to cooperate with the U.S. lest they become the next target. He also said that the other benefit was that we now have a base in the Middle East which we can use to thwart the evil ambitions of other countries. What? Did I hear that right? A base? So when we went in there we had designs of territorial hegemony? If that is what we really have in mind, god save us. That will send exactly the wrong message to the Iraqi people and almost surely turn this into a disaster. Now I know that Keyes is on the fringes of the radical right in his views. But his thoughts give you a window into the neoconservative thought and it is troubling to say the least.