Re: THE WAR IN IRAQ
 

Steve,

The good thing is that it seems like we both agree with the goal in the sense of terrorists, and it is the tactics that we are disagreeing with (though maybe not as much as this thread would lead one to believe). We are closer than you think. I think the only real philosophical difference we may have is that I support the right of self determination, regardless of politics or geographical placement (I could be wrong about this as well). There is at least one person you named (Zapata) that I think you are whole hardly wrong about. He was a great man who helped Mexico break from the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz who ran one of the most unequal governments of Latin America that history would ever see. I don't see any way to say he was wrong if we hold any of the values of this country true to our heart (there would be no way of saying that Saddam was bad and Diaz was not, they are true equals in what they did and how they did it... Fulgencio Batista is also in this group). But all of this would be better in another thread where we could really lay out our philosophical beliefs about what makes a good society and when one is situated in a way to justify an armed revolution.

The thing to consider is that many times conservatives and liberal will argue about how to conduct the war on terror, and like the debates about energy, we all have the same goal in mind yet different methods to get there. The truth often rests in the middle, with a little of this and a little of that. The great thing with how this country was constructed is that it forces 535 people to get together and figure this out. When one party gets absolute control, you often find hasty decisions with bad consequences. I say this (of course) knowing that I have the right answers and if I just ruled the world, everything would be perfect (sarcasm inserted here).

Re: THE WAR IN IRAQ
 

545

Know what you believe and then use your freedom as an American to defend your position. A friendly exchange is advised. Use intelligent argument. However, to be wishy-washy is dangerous to everyone. IMHO

Re: THE WAR IN IRAQ
 

Yep - overall there's little difference.

Yes, Zapata was definitely a "freedom fighter" in my book, but to the government then in power, he was a "terrorist" - that was the point I tried to make.

Am looking forward September (back in TV for 2 weeks - part of the 2 in / 10 out commuting pattern I'm on). We need to discuss this issue over a cold one...

Re: THE WAR IN IRAQ
 

:agree:

Re: THE WAR IN IRAQ
 

In a forthcoming manual on counterinsurgency strategy written by David Kilcullen, a former Australian Army officer who is now an adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has something to say about the Iraq war. Kilcullen, who helped Petraeus design his 2007 counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq, called the decision to invade Iraq "stupid" -- in fact, he said "fX$?!ing stupid" -- and suggested that if policy-makers apply the manual's lessons, similar wars can be avoided in the future.

"The biggest stupid idea," Kilcullen said, "was to invade Iraq in the first place."

Re: THE WAR IN IRAQ
 

Has anyone read the book The Three Trillion Dollar War: by Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard Economist Linda Bilmes on the true cost of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq? I can't find it on the Sumter County Library System and was wondering if anyone on TOTV has read it and can comment.
Thanks!