If Nobel invited dynamite, then our Prez can pull this off

Think about how many vehicle ignitions get cranked every morning in America.

Consider how much economic activity revolves upon the regular turning of those keys.

Go figure the immensity of prosperity that is set in motion as those millions of engines go tooling along on our roads and highways every day.

If you were the President, would you be concerned about what might happen if all those engines could not run, and those myriad producers of wealth could not commute to their GDP-generating daily destinations. Oh sure, this is not the way it should be, but hey, this is the way it is.

Like it or not, there is currently a lot of wealth riding on this fossil fuel thing.

And a large percentage of that fossil fuel, guess what, moves through the straits of Hormuz every day, destined for our American ports and gas-tanks and furnaces.

Maybe this is what President Bush was thinking about when he sent our boys to Iraq.

No, you don't think so? A President wouldn't start a war over oil supply?

You think his rationale was, maybe, the possibility of Saddam's developing weapons of mass destruction? Or perhaps concern for the human rights of oppressed minorities under his regime--the Kurds and Shias who were in his prisons? Or maybe the Al Quaida gang really were hanging out there under his protection?

History may answer some of these questions.

Now think about this: if you were the President today, and had sworn to defend the United States and act on our behalf in all circumstances, and had just inherited this present situation, and felt yourself responsible for that gargantuan GDP and all that accustomed domestic peace and tranquility that turns upon all those engines every day. . . what would you do?

Whatever your decision, realize that there is an awful lot riding on it. You probably wouldn't want to do anything very suddenly that might prevent the daily cranking of those engines and the ongoing security of that sleeping-giant GDP.

You might want to walk softly and carry a big stick. You might want to go to Stockholm and persuade the rest of the world to bear with us while we slip into something more sustainable.

And only then bring the boys home, but not too hastily. They have to have jobs to come home to.

Furthermore, there is, you know, evil in the world--evil that, for instance, blows up cars on street curbs, evil that enslaves people with opium and heroin. Somebody needs to take a stand against those perpetrators .

Blessed are those who--though they themselves be cognizant of their own imperfection--are willing to oppose the slings and arrows of outrageous evil.

Blessed are the peacemakers; they should receive their prize.