[iamthewalrus109]

In reading the replies of my intital post to Pat Buchanan's suggestions to debate topics I was immediately made aware of a few points. Regardless of why we went to war or who's dying in Iraq, we have no choice but establish a coherent plan of action for withdrawal and establishment of some sort of freindly government. Simply picking up a leaving, leaves us begging for a larger conflict.

Although it appears we are on the way to a larger conflict anyway, our attitude of the last 20-30 years had already put us in an untennable situation with much if not all of the third world, as well as many emerging countries. The IMF, the Cold war, oil, our relationship with Israel and a host of other issues stemming from the post World War II have already put us in this situation. Granted day after day of what we have seen in this last week in Iraq, killing innocent civilians to save equipment in a Bradley vehicle and so forth, only deepens the hatred, but it existed none the less, hence 9/11. The die has already been cast I'm afraid, there is no turning back. It would be nice to think that we could just call all the troops home and play nice, defend our borders, but I don't think so. The damage has already been done. The only move now is towards complete isolation and complete restructuring of our economy, including alternative energy resouces, immigration reform and beefing up local economies, but the big corporations will never let this happen, and as we know this is what drives all 1st world governments to action. The consumer society and mass comunication will continue to dilude the citizenry of this country until we are destroyed by our own dellusions. Then the question is, without a complete reformation of the US government, who can best lead us in this mess under the current system and conditions? Not in some fantasy world of what could be, but instead of what is and what is actually possible.

- Walrus