Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas has been reluctant to act on Iraq.

He doesn’t see any reason why the United States should declare a date for withdrawal.

He intimated that announcing a withdrawal date would send the wrong message.

Apparently the wrong message would be sent to his home State of Kansas.

Kansas is at the heart of ethanol production. They also pump a lot of oil – oil they normally could not sell unless the price of oil were high – as it is today.

Don’t you see that the big wheels in Kansas are making a lot of money because of the continued instability and war in Iraq? Of course they don’t want the United States to pull out. Of course Senator Roberts would be making these bizarre statements.

I am still amazed that a man from a state that makes up less than 1 percent of the total population of the United States is sitting at the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Do you think that is intelligent?

The reason is obviously not political. It must be economic.

If politicians are pushing democracy internationally for economic reasons isn’t it time for Americans to start thinking of domestic politics economically?

How long will young Americans sit in Iraq defending the interests of Kansas corn farmers and oil men?

How many of our good girls and boys from Missiouri, Kentucky, New Hampshire or Nebraskao or any state must be maimed and killed before the people of Kansas have enough money?