SharonA —— excellent points! A little thinking goes a long way toward negating the mea culpas of the knee-jerk peaceniks would have us saying.

No, folks, wars don't work if by "work" you mean create long-term solutions. Every generation has to define and exorise its own demons. Witness the fact that now there are thousands of young people around the world who think the Nazis were right. And, if the reports of those who tract such things can be believed, their numbers are growing.

But, as Sharon so eloquently pointed out, peace doesn't work either if one person doesn't want to play by the rules. And her point about bin Laden certainly puts paid to the tired old have-have not economic analysis of the roots of war. I think even Marx would have admitted that what is going on here is not a class struggle, but a clash of religions and ideologies.

A Marxist interpretation of WWII would have run into some problems too, but that's for another discussion.

Frank —— Enlightenment would be a fine thing, but how do you enlighten someone who is already operating on the revealed word of God (or Allah, or whoever)?

Larry —— "Share the wealth for peace"? I think Sharon has pretty effectively shown the hollowness of that argument, but even if you ignore her demonstrably true analysis, yours sounds suspiciously like trying to buy peace.

Ever done any analysis of how best to handle blackmailers and extortionists? Isn't it conventional wisdom that the worst thing you can do is appease them, buy them off? They will always come back for more.

Little Hawk —— Sure peace works, but only for a little while at a time. Watch a bunch of kids at play. Or a bunch of animals. Or, if you're given to that sort of thing, read the Bible, Koran, Book of the Dead or whatever. Things always change. A perfectly peaceful group can spawn one greedy, ambitious person and — if that person has the ability to persuade people to follow him — he can wreak havoc on everyone around him, friend and foe alike. Think about Cain and Abel and take it from there.

"Peace is the normal state of affairs in the world. War is not."

WHAT?!!!

Tell me a time in recorded history when there has not be a war — or many wars — going on. Peace is no more "normal" than war among human beings. You can dislike it, rail against it, demonstrate logically that it's bad for everybody and wish all you want, but that doesn't make war "unnatural" or an anomaly in human interaction.

I just reiterate; Would that you were right.

But since I don't think you are, could you tell me who your supplier is for the stuff that gives you such a fuzzy, rosy view of the world.....????

cheers,

david