Indirectly he is correct. If the US did not invade then the shrine probably would not have been blown up. But the idea that somehow the US has an interest in a civil war in Iraq and blew the shrine up to this end is absurd. I post this because after the Counterpunch article I have received email from lots of paranoids and cranks who are willing to believe any far flung story without a shred of evidence in their outrage over US misdeeds around the world. Many are also very convinced that US imperialism is motivated by religion, namely Christian fundamentalism and Judaism. The "Zionist entity" usually comes up with this crowd.
The Republican and Democratic parties are allies of Israel. They do it for strategic and domestic political reasons. Israel is seen as an asset by some of the strategic planner elite and a liability by others. The "Israel as an asset" crowd think the Israelis are reliable, do dirty work for the US-weapons and support to Guatemala or other unsavory regimes, intelligence gathering, voting in international organizations, etc... They also get support because Jewish voters live in strategic states, vote in high numbers (overwhelmingly for Democrats), and contribute to candidates at a high rate and have lots of lobby groups that are very well organized at many levels of US society. There is nothing sinister about any of this. It is out in the open and perfectly legitimate. If the Arab and Muslim community in the US would organize a little more, they have around the same population as Jewish-Americans, they would have more pull.
Right wing Christians, some of whom would like to see a theocratic state but most of whom want more Bible everywhere, are a major ally of the Republicans. They like the anti-abortion, anti-Darwin, anti-gay, anti-women (do you see a pattern here) stance of the Republican party domestically. They also tend to be strong nationalists. A small group want the apocalypes to occur in Israel so that they can be with Yahweh quicker but they are a nutty minority. Does this mean that religion is a cause of imperialism. No. Bush and the Republicans (and many Democrats) may talk about god a lot but the churches aren't the beneficiaries of invasions of Iraq, Bechtel, Haliburton and arms manufacturers are, so is the overall position of the US advanced, if they don't lose, if the US is well placed across the planet. The fundis may like the ass kickin but so do many other jingo's who are non-religious.
In a nutshell; the US invades plunders and keeps the war machine moving for strategic, domestic political, and military/industry reasons not religious ones.
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