Comments on Under the News: War of Words: Loose Arabic sinks ships

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2006-09-06T12:48:00.000-05:00

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I think we should just start referring to Shiites ...

2006-08-16T11:54:00.000-05:00

I think we should just start referring to Shiites as Shits, just to be clear about our feelings.

Has anyone seen these two radicals in the same roo...

2006-08-10T14:32:00.000-05:00

Has anyone seen these two radicals in the same room at the same time? Could they be .... ?

MICHAEL MOORE: “Let the resounding defeat of Senator Joe Lieberman send a cold shiver down the spine of every Democrat.”

IRANIAN SUPREME NATRIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL SECRETARY ALI LARIJANI: ”Our response to sanctions will be painful to the west and will make it shiver with cold.”

The situation in the Middle East is so complex, co...

2006-08-10T06:35:00.000-05:00

The situation in the Middle East is so complex, convoluted, and long-standing, that probably the only one who truly has any earthly, or unearthly, idea of what's going on in the region is God.

I participate in 5-6 different forums, including 2 mostly clergy ones. The thing which has totally astonished me is that, almost without exception, the volume and vitriol of the discussion has increased exponentially once Israel became part of the conversation. And, sad to say, the exception wasn't one of the clergy forums.

Ron, this thread is probably a record for you, isn't it?

I wonder what our response to these complex issues has to say about us and our ability to have any impact on angers, hatreds, and issues which are millenia old. (Not saying we shouldn't try, btw.)

Yes... RB should consider prozac, or maybe thorazi...

2006-08-10T01:35:00.000-05:00

Yes... RB should consider prozac, or maybe thorazine an iced latte.
Gohuskers said it best... go away, go find some more acceptable sand box to play in and stop condeming those who don't agree with your train of thought.
As for the correct verbage, thanks for the corrections, I never want to look a terrorist in the face and call him or her a jihadist when I should call him or her a mufsid. Hopefully the day will never come when we have to use those words face-to-face on US soil. I stay within the US borders and encourage everyone to do the same. My Blog is "Get Off The Phone" if anyone cares to see MY face, I'm not afraid to show it, just not quite figured out how to get it to follow me along on my blog comments. Thanks.. Jana

No, Ron, we manage, somehow, to get by on prayer a...

2006-08-09T22:53:00.000-05:00

No, Ron, we manage, somehow, to get by on prayer and meditation as a means of managing the pain of daily living and as a stimulus to growth in the face of conflict.

You seem agitated, MG/RB. Do they have Prozac in y...

2006-08-09T22:26:00.000-05:00

You seem agitated, MG/RB. Do they have Prozac in your universe?

You're right about one thing, Ron. I do live in a...

2006-08-09T22:04:00.000-05:00

You're right about one thing, Ron. I do live in a parallel universe. Moreover, I am not alone here. There are many of us who inhabit this universe. Here are the words of just one:

"I, Tsilli Goldenberg, Israeli citizen

"Accuse you - Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister of Israel, Amir Peretz, Minister of Defense, Dan Halutz Head of Staff Chief Commander of the Israeli Army, of committing this bestial barbaric slaughter in Lebanon.

"I accuse you of committing Crimes against Humanity towards the Palestinian People. I accuse you of deserting our soldiers, when their lives could be saved by negotiations, and I accuse you of starting an unjustified war in my name.

"Haniya, Prime-minister of the Palestinian people, was willing to negotiate with us not only the return of P.O.W Gilaad Shalit, but a long term cease fire, that would enable people of Israel and Palestine SECURITY and Sanity. You refused.

"Nasrallah was willing to negotiate the return of the soldiers kidnapped in the north. You refused.

"Instead you have endangered the lives of hundreds of thousands of Israelis, you have caused the death of 27 Israelis, [till now], civilians and soldiers,

"You have caused the mass murder of more than 350 Lebanese, many of them children, you have caused 500,000 Lebanese to be refugees, and you continue to murder and starve Palestinian children, just because they are living on their land.

"The Palestinians are not my enemies, nor are the Lebanese. You, have become my enemy. And I will fight you, and so will many other sane people around the world."

Tsilli Goldenberg, Masarik 11, Jerusalem 93106 Israel

The universe I live in is one in which sane people understand that mankind cannot kill its way to peace and security. War has never, in all of human history to the present moment, put an end to war. The only hope for ending war is an increasing reliance upon voluntarily assumed restraints in accordance with the moral dictates of expanding human wisdom. These self-imposed restraints are at once the most powerful and the most tenuous of all the factors of human civilization--concepts of justice and ideals of brotherhood.

At this moment in human history, it is becoming increasingly clear to sane people that we desperately needs all our available human resources working together if we are to avoid a truly catastrophic breakdown of civilization.

And what do you have on offer here instead?, Ron?

"The only good mufsid is a dead mufsid."

". . . fascist Muslims want to kill me, my children and their children."

". . . you like cuddling with scorpions."

". . . we cannot substitute passive understanding for victory over terrorism."

". . . more of your smarmy, arrogant, rhetorical, booby-trap quizzes."

Et cetera.

We who don't rely on weapons of war have only words and our willingness and ability to speak truth to those who are blinded by fear, greed, and lust for power over their fellows.

Are you sure you are doing all you can to facilitate an increased appreciation of "concepts of justice and ideals of brotherhood"?

You and your coterie of fans here seem to be more than a little fuzzy on "concepts of justice and ideals of brotherhood", Ron. You're seem plainly to be not much interested in them. You seem to prefer to rely instead on tools that destroy human life and property.

Do you think you will not reap what you sow?

Hear, hear, Gohuskers. r.b. scott seems to have a...

2006-08-09T20:01:00.000-05:00

Hear, hear, Gohuskers. r.b. scott seems to have a lot of time on his/her hands to spend being negative. How about being positive for once? I get tired of all this partisanship, too. For goodness' sake, all Republicans are not evil (far from it) and neither are all Democrats. When Clinton was in office, Republicans called him the devil. Now it's just a Republican's turn to get the wrath of the party not in the Oval Office. Whatever.

And I do think it's interesting -- what are all these bloggers like in person? Do they actually speak as well (and as vitriolically) (if that's a word) as they write? Would they be willing to speak out these opinions face to face? Or do they hide behind their little computer screens (as I'm doing, leaving an anonymous comment). (The irony is not lost on me.)

The world will never know...

Jason, you caused me to look up the U.S. State Dep...

2006-08-09T18:46:00.000-05:00

Jason, you caused me to look up the U.S. State Department's latest list of foreign terror organizations. There's a surfeit of Islamic groups, to be sure, but certainly not exclusive of other, non-Islamic groups. For interested readers, here's the list to judge for yourself:

Current List of Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations

-- Abu Nidal Organization (ANO)
-- Abu Sayyaf Group
-- Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade
-- Ansar al-Islam
-- Armed Islamic Group (GIA)
-- Asbat al-Ansar
-- Aum Shinrikyo
-- Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA)
-- Communist Party of the Philippines/New People's Army (CPP/NPA)
-- Continuity Irish Republican Army
-- Gama’a al-Islamiyya (Islamic Group)
-- HAMAS (Islamic Resistance Movement)
-- Harakat ul-Mujahidin (HUM)
-- Hizballah (Party of God)
-- Islamic Jihad Group
-- Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)
-- Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) (Army of Mohammed)
-- Jemaah Islamiya organization (JI)
-- al-Jihad (Egyptian Islamic Jihad)
-- Kahane Chai (Kach)
-- Kongra-Gel (KGK, formerly Kurdistan Workers' Party, PKK, KADEK)
-- Lashkar-e Tayyiba (LT) (Army of the Righteous)
-- Lashkar i Jhangvi
-- Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
-- Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG)
-- Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM)
-- Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK)
-- National Liberation Army (ELN)
-- Palestine Liberation Front (PLF)
-- Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)
-- Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLF)
PFLP-General Command (PFLP-GC)
-- al-Qa’ida
-- Real IRA
-- Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
-- Revolutionary Nuclei (formerly ELA)
-- Revolutionary Organization 17 November
-- Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C)
Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC)
-- Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso, SL)
-- Tanzim Qa'idat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn (QJBR) (al-Qaida in Iraq) (formerly Jama'at al-Tawhid wa'al-Jihad, JTJ, al-Zarqawi Network)
-- United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC)

rbscott, are you suggesting that only "thoughtful ...

2006-08-09T18:39:00.000-05:00

rbscott, are you suggesting that only "thoughtful and intelligent" would agree with you? Or that nobody who thinks with clarity and substance would visit here? I have a doctorate in history and I visit here often, not because I am looking for information to change my mind but because I might see how other people think. Plus Ron is occasionally funny and insightful, whether I always agree or not. Most blogs I've visited would have "flamed" you or deleted you long ago for some of the pro-terrorist, anti-Israel propaganda you spew, so I'd go easy on the "I've been gang-raped by thugs" storyline. It's more like you've gotten a wedgie from the debate team. My best advice is to blog with a more open mind than you've exhibited here and try not to be so superior and smug. Opinions are like assholes; everybody has one and luckily we don't always share.

If you are so vexed by all this, and believe it lacks any value or purpose, go away. Find a blog where everybody agrees with you and throw a Superiority Over the Unwashed Masses Party.

Hmmm. Al Qaeda and Hezbollah are noble freedom-fig...

2006-08-09T18:25:00.000-05:00

Hmmm. Al Qaeda and Hezbollah are noble freedom-fighters but bloggers are thugs?

Well, to quote a blogger you might know: "If you could only fathom the motives of your associates, how much better you would understand them. If you could only know your fellows, you would eventually fall in love with them."

Do you believe it, or do you merely say it because it sounds pseudo-poetic?

Speaking of words about terrorism, here are some f...

2006-08-09T18:20:00.000-05:00

Speaking of words about terrorism, here are some from "experts":

"We seriously suspect the agents of the Americans and Israelis in conducting such horrendous terrorist acts and cannot believe the people who kidnap Philippines nationals, for instance, or behead U.S. nationals are Muslims."
Ayatollah Khamenei

"We will not allow anyone to perform any terrorist acts inside or from Afghanistan against anyone. We are a free country where Osama is living as a guest. This is the reality and it is up to the world to accept it."
Mohammad Rabbani of Taliban

"There are many resistance movements in the world, like the IRA for instance. But it is only Islamic resistance movements that are put on the terrorist list. This is what I am saying.
Sheikh A. Yassin, ignoring that a variety of non-Islamic groups are on the list, including Basque separatists, Colombian rebels, Shining Path ... and the IRA

"Jihad against America will continue, economically and militarily. By the grace of Allah, America is in retreat and its economy is developing cracks ever-increasingly. But more attacks are required. I advise the youth to find more of America's economic hubs. The enemy can be defeated by attacking its economic centers."
Osama bin Laden

"Oh, you Muslims everywhere, sever the ties of their nation, tear them apart, ruin their economy, instigate against their corporations, destroy their embassies, attack their interests, sink their ships, and shoot down their airplanes. Kill them in land, at sea, and in the air, kill them wherever you find them."
Sheikh Abdel Rahman

"September 11 was but the opening salvo of the global war on America."
Azzam the American

"Hezbollah is defending Lebanon against an invading foreign military force that wantonly slaughters Lebanese civilians, men, women, and children."
R.B. Scott

If you were as open-minded as you wish your reader...

2006-08-09T18:12:00.000-05:00

If you were as open-minded as you wish your readers to think you are, Ron, your replies to me would not be filled with ad hominem attacks and self-serving distortions and gross misrepresentations of my positions, which I take pains to express as clearly as possible. You would, instead, address the specific arguments I offer and rebut them if you can or at least challenge them by logically by attempting to refute elements of them that you find questionable or irrelevant. But you don't do that. Instead you simply distort my arguments and resort to ad hominem attacks, name-calling, innuendo, and character assassination.

You ask that I suggest a book you should read, but why would I expect that you would actually read anything I might suggest? After all, I have provided numerous references to support my arguments and links to respected authorities whose views are published on-line, but you have yet to give any indication that you have read any--any--of the supporting documentation I typically provide. You may have read some of it, but your readers here would never know it by your responses; it never plays any kind of role in your replies. You never bother to comment in any way on the references I provide, nor do you provide alternate references that support your own perspective.

If you were certain of the basis for your so determinedly held and often angrily-stated opinions, I would think you would be delighted to provide references to authorities in the field whose analyses support and bolster your opinions, instead of resorting to name-calling and character assassination, which neither informs or impresses anyone who is worth trying to inform or impress.

I don't think you understand how to discuss the subjects in question in a way that is likely to enlighten anyone, you or your readers.

Who is MG/RB? Are you confusing me with the guy who bailed out awhile back, after you and your thuggish friends insulted and harassed him, as you have me? I'm not Mitch Gillespie, Ron. My name is R.B. Scott.

If you ever decide to discuss these matters in a rational way, without the ad hominem attacks, name-calling, and character assassination, you'll not only make more progress in understanding some of the most important political and religious issues of our time, you'll also find that the discussion here may attract rather than repel intelligent observers and knowledgeable readers.

I'm not sure what you mean by "studying the histor...

2006-08-09T17:17:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure what you mean by "studying the history of terrorism." Have I taken a college course in it? Nope. Have I trained to be a terrorist? Nope. Have I read any articles or books about it? Yes. Have I read voraciously since 9/11? You bet. Your conclusion, because I disagree with you, will most certainly be that I haven't studied it and know nothing about it, and thus am not entitled to an opinion.

I would counter that you likely know very little about how to build a microchip and couldn't possibly make your own plasma screen .... but you use computers expertly to spread your opinions. So should your blogging opinions be negated because you haven't studied computers?

But here's a deal: Recommend a book I should read; I'll read it. No strings attached. (I considered asking you to read a book I recommend, but changing your mind isn't as important to me as it is to you.)

Like it or not, all Americans have opinions about terrorism. Most don't share your views that terrorists (except your seminal Semitic terrorists) are misunderstood sweeties whose pursuit of sweetness and light is twisted out of shape by Satan America and its Jewish puppet-state. But that's OK. We all arrive at our opinions in our own ways. Your dissent is accepted in America as a fundamental freedom, and like the rest of us, having your opinion doesn't require that you graduate from a college course.

My time in the Middle East -- specifically to explore many of these East-vs-West issues -- was extremely educational for me. I still correspond with some common Arab and Muslim people I met there, and I learned much about the roots of their views, which are as diverse as Americans' views. I made special note of their ability to separate Americans (whom they admire in general) from the symbolic America (which discomfits them, to put it nicely.) I was always treated with kindness and respect, which I tried very hard to repay with kindness and respect. I would like to tell you a touching story about a day I spent with a poor Bedouin in the Sahara, but I frankly believe you would demean it -- as you have other personal information of mine -- with more of your smarmy, arrogant, rhetorical, booby-trap quizzes. Nothing I could say would penetrate your partisan, already-made-up mind. I don't believe you are capable of listening, much less hearing. But I am determined to hear you better than you'll ever hear me ... and that's my definition of open-mindedness.

You should be as tolerant of fellow Americans as you are of terrorists, MG/RB. You needn't agree with everything America does, but you should try to find something worth believing about what we do.

Here's that suicide bombing link: http://www.pales...

2006-08-09T15:51:00.000-05:00

Here's that suicide bombing link: http://www.palestinechronicle.com/story-08040693009.htm

I take it that your most recent collection of faci...

2006-08-09T15:47:00.000-05:00

I take it that your most recent collection of facile and grossly innacurate restatements of my position, a transparent attempt create strawmen that you can knock down, is your way of trying to avoid answering my question: "Have you ever actually studied the history of terrorism?"

The honest answer, apparently, would be, "No, I have not." Is that correct, Ron? Nor, I take it, have you ever seriously studied the history of the Middle East, Western colonialism in the region, more recent Western interventionism in the region, etc., etc. (Didn't they teach that at the Naval Academy when you were there? No? Oops! Gee, I wonder why not?)

You would have your readers believe that what you bring to the discussion here is a warm feeling for the Arab and Muslim worlds that you gained by spending a few weeks in the region after 9/11, is that right?

LOL!

So how exactly is it that you came to be "captivated by the region and its people", but somehow the opinions you so persistently offer here bear such a truly remarkable resemblance to the standard neoconservative and Zionist talking points, including the ludicrous notion that somehow it is possible to conduct a war against and achieve a "victory over terrorism"? Has no one pointed out to you that terrorism is a tactic, not an enemy?

If your views were informed by anything like a comprehensive grasp of the available research and analysis regarding terrorism, including, for instance, suicide bombing, you would, were you are as open-minded as you say you are, ditch all the nonsense about "victory over terrorism" being achievable through air campaigns, ground invasions, and military occupations of Arab and Muslim countries. All such tactics only exacerbate the problems that give rise to terrorism in the first place.

The Israelis (who began as terrorists themselves) have been trying to kill their way out of their problems with Arab and Muslim terrorists for decades. How well is that working for them, Ron?

And you think the USA should now take over and fight the war against terrorism for the Israelis, even as we fund their various invasions and illegal occupations?

There are none so blind as those who will not see.

Columnist Mshari Al-Zaydi also wrote an excellent ...

2006-08-09T13:07:00.000-05:00

Columnist Mshari Al-Zaydi also wrote an excellent column in today's Asharq al-Awsat. Mshari is a Saudi journalist and expert on Islamic movements and Islamic fundamentalism.

"The world is not always against us, as much as we are against ourselves. The popular artists lamenting the state of the Arab world should transform their calls for revolution and unity into a working plan and responsible actions. We await the UN Security Council to make a decision and in turn, it awaits the Arab viewpoints, which is why the Foreign Minister of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and the Arab League’s Secretary General left Beirut directly to New York and are expected to meet with the US and French representatives, in order to take Lebanon’s “corrections” into consideration. Their central aim is to withdraw Lebanon from the proxy war between Iran and Syria, on the one hand, and the United States and Israel on the other. Hezbollah itself, a few years ago, announced that all occupied Lebanese lands have been liberated. It is futile to keep the Lebanese front active, unless it is a prologue to something else, internal or foreign!"

I'm confused. Is the United States the cause of al...

2006-08-09T13:00:00.000-05:00

I'm confused. Is the United States the cause of all the problems or the solution to all the problems? Reading these posts, there's clearly some who believe we're the cause, but today's Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper agreed that President Bush is right when he says this conflict is a chance to "resolve the root causes of the problem."

The daily said "a bigger and more complicated peace can be reached between the Palestinians and Israelis," adding that Bush is the only one who can push for such a plan because he is "strong and the first president who called for a Palestinian and Israeli state to co-exist side by side."

So it seems like the Middle East acknowledges U.S. leadership and needs American involvement to solve its problems, not to be merely "left alone" as rbscott suggests.

Remember when the Far Left ridiculed the Far Right...

2006-08-09T11:51:00.000-05:00

Remember when the Far Left ridiculed the Far Right as shallow for voting on the basis of one issues (abortion)? Now the Far Left, as evidenced by rbscott and Connecticut Democrats, has become a one-issue bloc, just as shallow as the Far Right. That's why this country's future rests completely in the ands of Moderates who can see the interconnectedness of many issues.

Carl B

You think Hezbollah and Hamas are defending themse...

2006-08-09T11:35:00.000-05:00

You think Hezbollah and Hamas are defending themselves, and I think Israel is defending itself.

Your summary of the conflict seems to be: A woman who is repeatedly beaten by her boyfriend without fighting back must never fight back. You suggest that the boyfriend is entitled to expect the same passive behavior every time he beats her, and that she is somehow wrong to fight back if she's never fought back before.

This time, Israel didn't do what Hezbollah expected after killing and kidnapping Israeli soldiers inside Israel. You've already agreed that Israel has a right to defend itself, so we agree the result is defensible. As is our self-defense in Afghanistan and Iraq.

I also agree that it's clear who the aggressor is in this conflict. It's Hezbollah, according to Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, among others. You want to go back to some point in history where Israel did something that provoked Hezbollah or Muslims in general, and it would be simple to go back one more step to find a provocation against Israel or Jews. It's an unending debate in a region where conflict is cultural. The fact remains: This latest crisis is likely to have never happened if Hezbollah hadn't crossed into Israel to kill and capture Israeli soldiers.

But we disagree on much more. One problem is that you state it's a fact that Israel's response was "grossly disproportionate." That's not a fact, but your opinion.

I admire your passion to defend Arabs and Muslims against the West's misunderstanding -- which I have acknowledged many times. I spent some time in the Middle East right after Sept. 11 and was captivated by the region and its people. But we are at war with a smaller segment of the Arab/Muslim world that embodies an unusual and bloodthirsty radicalism. If understanding them helps us defeat them, we must understand them. But we cannot substitute passive understanding for victory over terrorism any more than we could have tried to "understand" Nazism and allowed it to flourish.

That's Dr. Robert Pape at http://www.amconmag.com/...

2006-08-09T10:52:00.000-05:00

That's Dr. Robert Pape at http://www.amconmag.com/2005_07_18/article.html

By the way, Ron, I don't need an invitation from y...

2006-08-09T10:47:00.000-05:00

By the way, Ron, I don't need an invitation from you to decry "the Hezbollah bombing of Israeli civilians (or past suicide attacks and IEDs, for that matter.)" Implicit in my unequivocal and unambiguous statements regarding the legitimacy of self-defense--and the illigitimacy of all other violence--is recognition that any attack on innocent (non-combatant) civilians, any civilians, is a criminal act.

You seem to be incensed because I have not explicity condemned Hezbollah's attacks on Israeli civilians. Indeed, those attacks violate international law.

As in any conflict, determining who is at fault, or more at fault, is largely a matter of looking at motivation and determining who the aggressor is. Israel has a long and ignoble history of violating the territorial sovereignty of Lebanon and has illegally occupied Lebanese territory for many years in the Sheba Farms area, not to mention the illegal occupation of the Golan Heights, which is Syrian territory, or the illegal occupation of Palestinian territory since the 1967 war. In the years since 2000, when Israel withdrew from most of southern Lebanon, Israeli forces have nonetheless continued to violate Lebanese territory repeatedly and with impunity. Only occasionally, about 1/10th as often, has Hezbollah dared to respond in kind. The specific incident that sparked Israel's current massive bombing campaign against Lebanese civilians and infrastructure was a Hezbollah attack on an Israeli military target, in which Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers, for the stated purpose of trading them for Lebanese prisoners held by Israel (held in some cases for decades). Such trades have occurred in the past. The initial Hezbollah attack, on whichever side of the border it occurred, was against an Israeli military target and involved no civilian casualties. Hezbollah's use of rockets against Israeli civilians came only after Israel's grossly disproportionate attacks killed innocent Lebanese civilians. These are well documented facts.

It is clear who the aggressor is in the current conflict, and it is clear who first targeted innocent civilians. It is also quite clear which side has killed a vastly larger number of innocent civilians, though it is using "precision-guided" bombs. By the way, similar circumstances obtain in Gaza, where Israel's most recent slaughter of Palestinian civilians began after Hamas attacked an Isreali military outpost and captured an Israeli soldier. Israel's violations of international humanitarial law in illegally-occupied Palestinian territory are legion and well documented.

Resistance against occupying military forces is legal under international law. Wouldn't Americans reserve the right to resist the occupying military forces of an invading foreign country on American soil? How can they expect others to pretend they have no such right? Israel in Lebanon and Palestine, and the U.S. in Iraq and Afghanistan, are invading occupying forces, yet they wish to paint resistance to the invading and occupying forces with the broad brush of terrorism. Can you spell hypocrisy, Ron? States can and do engage in terrorism, too. When they do, it's called "state terrorism." Have you ever actually studied terrorism, Ron? Ever read, in The American Conservative magazine, about the work of Dr. Robert Pape?

The editor doth protest too much--way too much--me...

2006-08-09T00:30:00.000-05:00

The editor doth protest too much--way too much--methinks.

As I pointed out earlier point out, Ron, you insist on trying to read unintended meaning to the story I used to illustrate the legitimacy of self-defense.

As for my supposed inability to see the world from a Republican point of view, which apparently drives you to distraction: Sorry, that old dog just won't hunt. I decide who to cast my vote for based on the views, principles, and integrity of candidates as evidenced by the candidates' public statements and actions, not on the basis of party affiliation. I've voted for Republican candidates on more than one occasion, and if I lived in, for instance, Nebraska, I'd have no problem whatsoever voting for Senator Chuck Hagel. I've heard Senator Hagel speak in Washington, and I have followed his statements on the crisis in the Middle East for years. He's earned my respect. So have several other Republican members of Congress and former members of Congress, not least among them the Republicans at the Council for the National Interest all of whom are experts on U.S. Middle East foreign policy and with decades of practical first-hand experience in government and in the region. These men, all of whom are staunch, seasoned Republican movers and shakers, and most of whom are veterans of WWII and/or the Korean War, hold and express views that differ markedly from yours.

Look, for instance, at the views of former Chief of Mission to Iraq and fomer Deputy Director of the White House Task Force on Terrorism (under Ronald Reagan), former Ambassador Edward Peck.

What you and some others fail to see, Ron, is that the crisis in the Middle East is simply not about issues that legitimately lend themselves to partisan politics. The issues at the heart of the crisis in the Holy Land and in the Middle East are essentially matters of fair-dealing, human rights, and U.S. and international law. What is at stake here is our traditional American values, the values upon which our republic was founded, and nothing less.

Yeah, Pen, I really don't think c* and f**t re...

2006-08-08T23:46:00.000-05:00

Yeah, Pen, I really don't think c*** and f****t really contribute to a friendly debate.

Not that it appears to be terribly friendly at times, but you get my drift....