As a new diarist, I feel rather overawed that my insipid writings are to be posted alongside those of writers much more skilled and better informed than I.  I wonder how I can make a contribution that will be worth while.

One thing I can do is to point out some obvious facts that are being mentioned only obliquely, if at all in the blogs.  One fact that few writers point out is that the war in Iraq is all about oil.  It was all about oil from the beginning.  Bush I invaded Iraq to prevent Saddam Hussein from gaining control over any more of the region's oil reserves than he already had.  Previously he had been an important and favored ally in the contest with the Islamic Republic of Iran.  Now he was the bully and thief who had just seized Kuwait, another important and previously independent source of the black gold that our economy depends on.