As for “feeling safer,” who cares? Are we actually safer is the relevant question. I think not. The NIE confirms that.

This whole meme of ‘we haven’t been attacked so it’s working’ is so dangerously complacent, but typical of the right’s obsession with image over substance. Only a trivial fraction of our imports are screened, chemical factories and nuclear facilities are woefully insecure and even our capitals are not safe, witness the gunman drawing a gun in the office of the Governor of Colorado.

As you seem to love to trot out any poll that reflects negatively on Bush, then let’s bring up the latest Zogby poll that show 82% of the public feels safe.

Do polls you don’t agree with not count, or are polls simply not relevant on subjects if they don’t match up to your pre-conceived ideas?

ktmnyny – I think the Iraqis following us home is a bunch of BS. The Afgan mujahideen (Bin Ladin and the core of today’s Al Qaeda) did not follow the Soviets home after they kicked them out of Afganistan(with out considerable help). The Vietnamese did not follow us home and neither did the Serbians, or the Russians. In fact, I cannot think of a single instance where the winners or losers of wars the US fought, followed us home.

We have made out the muslim world as absolutely unique. For the most part, what we consider radical Islamic groups are nothing more than nationalistic movements. Hamas cares only about Palesinte and Israel. Hezballah cares only about Lebanon and Israel. The Taliban care about Afganistan. The Sunni and Shite radicals in Iraq care only about their country. In fact, if the US left I think the Iraqis would very quickly slaughter Al Qaeda in Iraq. Neither the sunni or shia in Iraq are interested in an Islamic Caliphate.

Frankly, the only ones that spout out the nonsense about establishing a world wide Islamic Caliphate are Bin Ladin and his core Al Qeada group. First of all, it’s an impossible objective amd second of all that “dream” in the muslim world will start to die with the death of Bin Ladin and his core group. That is where our efforts should be concentrated.

As to other countries coming into Iraq after we leave, I thinks the risks are minimal. The Shites in Iraq do not need any direct help from Iran to consolidate their gains in Southern Iraq and Baghdad. The Badr and Sadr mililtias along with the 80% Shia Iraq army and police are sufficient to put down the Sunnis without Iranian help. Iraqi’s are fiercely nationalistic ( witness the shia fighting against Iran 1980-1988) and would not allow Iran to consolidate Iraqi territory. The Turks and Kurds will continue to skirmish for decades but I don’t see that becoming a full scale war. The Kurds are not stupid, they know they cannot win a full scale war against Turkey. We cannot stop these skirmishes now and we should not bother in the future.

The Sunni will be confined to Al Anbar and portions of some other provinces. Without oil resources, neither the Shia or Kurds will worry about them and it won’t be in the Saudis interest or ability to do much about the truncated Sunni state.

That’s my view.

1) The locals will try to get rid of AQ Mesopotamia

2) The Iranians will try to reinforce their bretheren and will be dragged into a decades long fight for influence in the South and perhaps Bhagdad

3) The Saudis will try to push in and influence

4) The Turks will also get involved

5) and so on

Maybe this will make us safer in the short term by having all our “enemies” fighting each other. But, I fear for the future after the dust settles…..

I write letters, as well.

A few times I’ve received feed back on e-mail to the effect that, yes, they had received many messages like mine.

It mostly all ends up in the garbage, I’m sure, but it is something we can do, and once in a while, it may count for something.

Emailing is, in my opinion, a total waste of time.

Contact your ow representatives, not those of other states/congressional districts. And do it via snail mail.

They may well still ignore it, but you’ve got a better chance via USPS.

I become enraged when I see fear used as a political tool It picks at a sore without offering a cure or felief. It’s a cowardly way to talk about important topics. It’s snake oil in a pretty bottle.
My TV set has heard more swearing than a boat load of sailors.

Chemical plants came to my attention some months ago, after a series of fires and a documenatry about a lone journalist trying to bring their vulnerability to the public’s attention.

Where did this notion come from, that businesses (in this case, the owners of chemical facilities) bear no responsibility for securing their plants? I have a small swimming pool, and I am responsible for proper security precautions. We hear so much about personal responsibility. Why is there no concept of business responsibility?

There are letter writing, e-mail and phone call campaigns. There are demosntrations and the like.

I bombard my representatives in Washington with e-mail messages, but few of the people I know who agree with me about issues do likewise. I m not sure what frustrates me more, our broken government in Washington or the lawn chair critics
who won’t lift a finger except to point it at someone who is to blame. I have to wonder what difference it would make if, instead of 5 e-mails
a senator received 500 or 5000, all expressing the same opinion.

To clarify, I fully support blaming. It’s part of identfying a problem Let’s just remember that it doesn’t solve the problem.

Posters on blogs, at least, contribute to awareness.
What do the rest of us do?

but we don’t see Gore driven around in a Prius.

He drives a hybrid Lexus. Good enough for you?

Fairly slim pickings on the Karen Hughes front.

She does make a cameo in a Lebanese newspaper article about the U.S. stepping up effort to educate the Arab Street about the omnipotent America, and she recently delivered an address to the Youth Orchestra of the Americas in suburban Washington.

Shaun or anyone else – Has anybody seen Karen Hughes lately? Have their been any trips or anything else coming out of her office? Is she even in DC anymore or is she “working” from Texas? My guess is her high paying job with the State Dept. is another reward for a Bush croney.

And despite the hagiographies of Gore now, he was a right of center DLC guy w a bad environmental record from the Clinton days.

Of course, the best choice- Bill Bradley, didn’t get the nod, just as the best the D’s had in 04- Gen. Clark, did not.

Until both parties start nomonating good candidates, the same old same old continues. The solution. DO NOT VOTE!

I know that goes against the Rock The Vote BS about participation, but if only 5% of the electorate turne dout, I think there wd be some notice.

Simply electing a Clinton or Giuliani will make relatively little difference in and of itself.

Although I did not say so in my post, the intelligence agencies that Bush inherited and promised to reform are arguably as big a mess today as they were on 9/10/01.

The half-hearted effort to train and hire Arabic speakers is unconscionable.

It is not difficult to imagine a scenario whereby terrorists gain access to Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.

Efforts to win over the so-called Arab Street have been puh-fricking-thetic.

But in the end we do, as Cosmoetica notes, get the government we deserve and there won’t be any kind of a turnaround until people put down their i-Pods and get involved.

I for one am not holding my breath.

The other two are simplifications of those two. W can’t be an idiot, look where he’s at now. I would compare him to Billy ford and his inept run as CEO of Ford. Corporation are like parliamentary systems, at least both have a no confidence vote. When Billy turned Ford back into an Edsel, the family put the horse head in his bed.

Condo is overrated by her fans on the Right, would you want her for POTUS, or is a better place as provost at a school smaller than Stanford, maybe Faber College. Does she deserve the praise or scorn of Marshall or Kissinger? While the “bunch” does have impressive resumes, the CEO assembled a bad team and won’t admit his mistakes. Selling off assets and treasure to prop up the bottom line doesn’t make the CEO an Iaccoca, just a Ken Lay.

Bushco is not particularly good at manipulation nor agitprop. The blame is with the people.

Sure, people bought into it, and they share some responsibility, but the greater blame goes to the people who lied and manipulated the rest of us. They have the money and the power to beam propaganda into our living rooms, onto our papers and at our ears every single moment of the day.