Claymore: I can tell that you have given the subject some thought (unlike others who have posted) and I woulod not be so niave as to think that we would put all the egges in one basket. I would not even suggest that the Department of Defense be shut down in favor of the Department of Peace. The two can coexist with a goal of making the world a safer place. I understand that some folks are just so messed up that one has to defend one's self. What I would like to see is more of my tax dollars spent on promotion of peace and less spent blowing up stuff folks and things. There is no magic blueprint but if we were to get some great thinkers, teachers, ministers, Rabbis, workers of peace, advertsing men, people who handle logistics of helping people build their own economies and farms much like some Peace Corp workers but on a much larger scale. Yeah, if we get these folks together, provide them with 4 or 5% of the Defense Department budget, under the aspices of a Department with a cabinet level director, I believe this approach will pay big dividends and send an important message of hope to the areas of the world where because of poverty and other factors people are without hope and strike at the US in anger.

Bobert