the outcome of the election

[kandrathe]

I didn't say anything baout your "political process". I merely agreed with things previously said.  Anyway, comparing things ode never meen they are the same. If I say a cat is just like dog (in it that it is a predator, has 4 legs, mammal etc.etc.) doesn't mean I cannot see the difference between the two. And as to you "offensive" statement, I find Bush offensive, only I'm here writing things on a forum based around a computer game, and he is in charge of the western world, I find it a bit over the top that you get offended by my mail.
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Don't minimize your statements just due to where they are posted. You're opinions matter regardless of where you choose to post them. I've read better social discourse on this board than many respected national publications.

The US administration is not a Junta, which I associate mentally with the military dictatorships of the 70's. They were punctuated by government sanctioned death squads patrolling the country eliminating any political opposition. That is what I find offensive.

...

Kandrathe, we are all against terrorism, and nobody is accusing the US from doing anything wrong about going to afghanistan, and trying to get Bin Laden. Please let's not get into that discussion again, but Iraq is something else. And what Bush did there is to "create" fundamentalists and terrorists, and I'm not grateful for that.
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We can disagree about the paths that the war on terror have taken, and the methods. Mistakes have been made on all sides, both those of action and inaction. What I'm saying is that we should try to find some common ground on what we can do moving forward. More mistakes will be made in the future, and we can choose to berate each other with them, or learn another lesson and persevere.

So I think as Nystul pointed out, "We need as much support in Iraq as possible to try to create some semblance of security before the scheduled elections in January. In the areas that are somewhat secure, basic reconstruction has to get better." We can disagree about how this came about, but I agree that this is now the only course.

We need to address the threat that all nuclear weapons, and other WMD's pose to our planets citizens no matter who has them. We are at a crossroads in history where we went to the nuclear brink with the USSR, and now we have pulled back and begun disarming. What we do not need is a bunch of small states trying to begin the arms race again. I would love to see a US free of WMD's in my lifetime.

<rant>
Armin's disection of Nystul's post was another venting of his frustration at the past, but offers one idea that we have heard before. That is that the US, and the West need to stop doing things that annoy islamicists. As evidence he again dredges up 50 years of post WWII historical crap to fling at us. Yes, it is our crap. Yes, we did that stuff. Consider our noses completely rubbed into it. And, if we dug into the actions European nations for the past 50 or 100 years we could dredge up more crap and fling at each other. Is that helpful? Is it a justification for flying planes into skyscrapers, or beheading truck drivers or aid workers? Or, God forbid, using WMD's on large population centers?

Rather, I'd wish that first the US can learn to do as Teddy Roosevelt suggested, "Walk softly and carry a big stick". That is not likely with the current administration, so let's move on and do what good we can do. When you wear the big boots, your bound to step on a few toes. That's not to excuse it, but I acknowledge it does happen.

Does anyone really believe that the islamicist movement will wither up if we appease them? I think we are damned if we act and double damned if we don't act. Does anyone think that a person who is willing to behead another is going to stop if they get their way? The stated goal of the islamicist theocratic movement is the total destruction of Isreal and the West and everything they stand for to be replaced by a pan-islamofascist state. We are at war with the people who are not guided by western concepts of reason or fairness. We call them extremists. I think it would be a big mistake to assume they think as we do; this is a jihad and if they die in its cause they are martyrs to be guaranteed heaven. I don't want to be tolerant of terrorists or murderers.
</rant>

:) Now I got that off my chest.