KINGSTON, Jamaica - Having read Ronald Mason's blast against CARICOM, and the insipid reply by Hilbourne Watson, I must intervene. The whole thinking about CARICOM has gone off track. This business of whether Jamaica should be in or out is beside the point. Who told Trinidad and Barbados to set up shop in our backyard? After all! I say we declare war on them and colonise them well and proper. Never forget Morris Cargill's wonderful suggestion that the answer to Jamaica's economic ills is to declare war on the United States. The US might punish us a little, but afterwards would come in and spend lots of money and develop great infrastructure. The hawks fly in first, but the doves follow with liberal outpourings of coin, marvellous social programmes, and the Army Corps of Engineers. I think Mr Cargill's strategic vision was too short-term, though. Long-term, it's real estate that matters, and we can use the additional territory.