Keith, I have 'got real', real enough to know that your view is no longer held by the majority. When Republicans start to question the Iraq situation, you can bet your bucks it's because they know that the invasion has achieved nothing except casualties Iraq and American.

When 'your own side' start to question, I reckon that's a sign that thinks are not going well; don't you?

Chris Shaw wrote 18 September 2007: "Did you ever think of working for Halliburton in Iraq?".

Not Halliburton, but I did register my company online with the interim Iraq reconstruction authority, shortly after the invasion. My thought was that I could provide consulting advice on rebuilding the government infrastructure online. This would provide a system which would make auditing easier and corruption more difficult. I guess neither the old or new regimes liked the idea, as they never took me up on the offer. Instead I got a lot of invitations to Iraq reconstruction conferences in London and special offers for flack jackets.

But the idea was not a complete loss and I have proposed it for the Australian Government's intervention in Aboriginal communities in the NT: http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2007/06/internet-to-empower-indigenous.html

The idea is to keep the governments, and their staff, honest, by allowing easy remote auditing. Also by providing remote services over the web, the local community is less disrupted if they have a computer based system they can use for running their community themselves, than if they have a whole lot of bureaucrats from the city telling them what to do.

I presented a version of this, modified to appeal to bureaucrats, to a Government web conference in Canberra on Monday: http://www.tomw.net.au/technology/it/regional_web.shtml

Gerrit and Tom.

OLO just keeps getting better. Bless you both. There is much to read, enjoy and think about in the stuff you have linked me to.

M and I will spend the next days digesting it.

If this thread goes stale, I'll meet you on another - and one could always submit an article to liven it all up again.

Good luck Tom. Thankyou Gerrit. I'm outta here ..... (pop!)

Paul

On second thoughts no article will appear from me at present.

Due to pressure on the cracking rack of Republican sentiment Greenspan has been forced to recant (Galileo like) his oil sentence, though its truth is self evident.

I need to draw together more information on major powers (other than the US) who might potentially use force to access the Middle Eastern oil market. I'll then write.

Pete