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Good response X. I won't go point by point because we've both had our say, and it gets old, but I do have some specific notes.
- It's a New Hampshire professor's body count: precisely. How far did one have to go to find the highest body count possible? New Hampshire. Halfway around the world. That alone should set off your bullshit detectors. How far off are the estimates? The "official" number is closer to 800, I think. How can the numbers be that far off? The prof relied on media and internet body counts because he was mad at the media not paying attention to body counts. Gee, I don't smell credibility here, do you?
Who reported his numbers and gave him credibility? The Guardian, the same rag that saw fit to proclaim Jenin was a massacre for its body count of 500 (later revised to 50).
At this point your bullshit detectors should be pinned, if they are not faulty.
- I watch CNN: yes I do, sometimes all day. I have no fantasies about what it is or isn't; I know exactly what it is. People from the right are aghast that I would watch such a leftist broadcast, which makes it funny that you guys want to fault me for paying attention to something mainstream and shallow. I should think I would earn some points just for not watching Fox?
The real reason I watch it is for the same reason some people like background music on all day. It's filler. It's a lifestyle, not a primary information source. But it does have the benefit of providing a lot of raw facts coming directly from sources in live press conferences. And the release of the Al Queda tapes this week has been priceless. That's great raw information.
- <i>The Saudis have already denied US requests to invade Iraq from their soil,</i>
You've picked up the most important word in their recent announcement: <i>soil</i>.
That new base in Qatar is well within range of Baghdad - if one takes the direct route. If one has to fly over the Persian Gulf and enter Iraq through Kuwaiti airspace, it's do-able but a little far. But fly over Saudi airspace - not on their <i>soil</i> - and the fighters can go more directly, without worrying about running out of fuel. Military planners must have been thrilled to hear that one; it's exactly what they needed. (Ground troops could be inserted through Kuwait this time, and it might even be preferable to hoofing it across the desert.)
- <i>...to some of the radical Al-Quaeda leaders, Israel's existence is just another factor, another excuse, yet another notch on the ladder of causality.</i>
The long-range goal is destruction and/or conversion of all the infidels and Islamic world domination under sharia, Islamic government. Step one was to convince all Muslims to declare Jihad on the US, which the Muslims would win by the grace of Allah. Once the US was destroyed, Israel would be a speed bump, and then Europe would be next.
I don't know why you Euros would have such patience for that kind of thing. Being lower on the food chain doesn't make you exempt. But you didn't even want to go into Afghanistan. Come on. I know war has been hard on you all but it works differently this time. Now we have night vision and laser-guided munitions and unmanned recon drones, and the bad guys blow up real good.
Wake up man. They want to kill you and they've proven to have both the will and the way.
- <i>"...without having lived there for extended periods of time during your adult life,"</i> Wow! You have a remarkable ability to remember pertinent personal facts from posts that happened long ago.
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