I think it has been established that American oil companies would have made a lot more money by sucking up to Saddam than by having him wreck his oil production like he did in Kuwait. But why wreck a good story.

Having just fought to free themselves from one of history's great empires, this nation's founding founders fiercely and repeatedly warned of the risks of imperial ambitions. Because of this, most Americans, whether liberal or conservative, grasp the fundamental truth that foreign entanglements destabilize, backfire and cost too much in lives and dollars.



Instead of exploiting our natural patriotism to fight a nonsensical war, our government should forgo the temptations of empire.



There is a certain case to be made for this viewpoint. The Founding Fathers indeed preferred this strategy. Patrick Buchanan and those of his conservative bent would certainly agree with it, as would many libertarians. This isolationist strategy does have its downside though, like being willing to lose a few thousand people every now and then to terrorism, and turning our backs when massive genocide and other atrocities are going on around the world. And I'm not saying these things sarcastically.

Maybe we shouldn't be the world's policemen, but just our own nation's. Tightening our borders, setting up missile and other defenses. It would sure be a hell of a lot easier. Of course, other sacrifices would have to be made, like doing what we had to for energy independence which is probably going to mean disturbing some wildlands and building more nukes. As the rest of the world collapses into tyranny, we would miss out on a lot of good stuff we currently get from overseas, and our markets around the world would dry up. Economy would be a little sparse for a while. Travel will be tight. And then, of course, when the refugees come flowing in, we'll REALLY have to tighten the borders. Maybe we can hope most of them are stopped trying to escape in the first place.

Israel would cease to be a problem and a drain on our finances. Their nukes will make a big impression as they go down, but numbers and time will tell, and the opposition will have nukes then too.

Sooner or later, what's left of the rest of the world when the civilized people are destroyed is going to finally look at the last refuge of Western civilization, and lick its chops. Then we'd better hope our defenses are as good as we think they are.

It would be a hell of a lot easier for the Los Angeles police department to retreat to Beverly Hills and the "good" neighborhoods, and let the rest of the city burn. Build walls, and assume that you're going to be smelling smoke out by your backyard pool for a while. As the warlords take over, things will settle down. Then hope the walls hold out.