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neutrino99

Listed below are comments made by neutrino99 between Thursday, 31st July 2008 and Tuesday, 13th January 2009.

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The Bush Conundrum 9:03pm on 13 Jan 2009 OldSouth wrote:

"Only time will tell about Iraq. I suspect history may be a bit kinder than current commentary, because he did succeed in taking the fight to the enemy on their turf; which is much preferable to them bringing it to us on our own"

Yes, it's better to fight on the enemy's turf than your own. But here's the logical flaw with that argument: it presupposes that there's a finite amount of conflict in the world (or at least anti-American conflict), and that our only choice is the arena where the battle is fought. That's not true.

Many of the people who we have fought in Iraq were fighting us ONLY BECAUSE we were in Iraq. They would never have gotten on a plane or a ship to come over here. Some were fighting us because they felt humiliated to have foreigners destroy their country's army and occupy it -- and they had a point. Some were fighting us because they didn't like to see "infidels" occupying "Muslim land" -- and they had a point too, if you accept the idea of land as having a religious "owner". Some (mostly Shiites) were happy to see the last of Saddam, but were angered that we didn't just step back and let the most numerous faction (i.e., them) run the country -- and when you consider Iraqis had no experience with representative government or respect for minority rights, they had a point. A few bought in to the idea of global jihad, but found Iraq a much more welcoming battlefield than Western Europe or North America. Very few would have ever made it to the US to fight us "over here".

Saddam was a bad leader, but the US has tolerated, and even supported, many nasty leaders over the years in the name of political expediency. Iraq was a war of choice. It wasn't preemptive, or retribution against a regime that aided al-Qaida. Time will tell, but I suspect the verdict on President Bush will be harsh, regardless of what the future holds for Iraq.
Has alcohol sapped the British spirit? 4:58pm on 31 Jul 2008 The references to Spring Break in Florida miss the basic point, I believe. Certainly each country has its share of drunks and serious people. But the entertainment district of an American city is not full of people vomiting in the street, urinating everywhere, vandalizing things, and fighting. From my admittedly limited experience in Britain, all of these considered perfectly normal there, or at least expected. And it's not only at night. My wife and I had lunch in a pub in the City of London in the middle of a work day. It was full of what looked like bankers (all men, it should be noted) having a liquid lunch that seemed endless and watching football. Our Wall Streeters party hard too, but they don't do it in the middle of the trading day. They're deadly serious then.

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