Surveying the quality of today’s commenters across the board it looks like someone kicked the top off the ant hill again.

I wonder if it might have something to do with topless pictures that were posted yesterday by an author who shall remain nameless.

This is what happens, folks, when you hold things bottled up, letting your hurt feelings eat away at you for 6 months….and over what?

It took you 6 months of tossing and turning, losing sleep at night to finally return here with that brilliant bit of comeback rhetoric?

Gee….you sure put us in our place. Congratulations, genius!

Barry James Seawright: All of you stupid motherfuckers are lame…Why yall so worried about me, huh..I guess your scared right…But you are about to see who Barry James Seawright is you dumb ass lames…

Dude you are seriously messed up. For a “Ima grown man” you act like uizza moron, go grow a pair and come back and act like a man and not full of shit.

The ultimate cost of the Iraq War (including future veterans benefits) shall have been on the order of three trillion dollars.

Can you please defend the “3 trillion dollar” remark. I remember once looking up where that constant canard came from, but am too lazy now to research it.

It is difficult to see that this devotion of resources has done anything at all to protect the US from biological and nuclear attacks, while it has certainly motivated Islamic high rollers to contribute $millions to the cause of facilitating the acquisition of WMD for Jihad

From your own WaPo article:

The document cites progress in many areas of biodefense since the deadly anthrax attacks of 2001, including major investments in research, stockpiling of drugs and development of a network of sensors designed to detect airborne viruses and bacteria. The Bush administration has spent more than $20 billion on such countermeasures, far more than any of its predecessors.

And the Bush Administration has “done nothing” to keep us safe from biological/nuclear attacks? Where would we be today with Saddam and sons still in power?

You can argue the Administration hasn’t done enough in all areas. But it’s ridiculous, in my opinion, to say that he hasn’t implemented certain tools that have kept us safe for 7 years.

The Jihadists don’t need the Bush Administration as an excuse to trying to acquire wmd capabilities.

wordsmith/somewhere south of heaven

Some strange follow-up posts to this thread.

You got that right.

-wordsmith/semi-undisclosed location

@Brittonator:

Anyhow If you actually take a moment to check the
original intent of what I was posting
you wouldn’t be so quick to point your finger at my using verses to bring my point across.

Sorry. I’m mentally slow. I fail to see the relevance of what you’re comment has to do with the topic of the thread. Can you please connect the dots for me? I want to be spoon-fed the point.

@Larry Weisenthal:

Former Reagan NSA Chief Lt. General William Odom repeatedly wrote that the ultimate outcome in Iraq would be the same, whether the US withdrew in 2005 or 2015.

You know? That might be. But had we done it in 2005, it would have been irresponsible, selfish in the worst way rather than in the best way, and it’s unlikely that a better government than the current one would be forming today. Iran, al Qaeda, Syria….it would have been a real bloodbath, for all the screaming anti-war activists have made about the present death tolls and casualties.

I think I’ve seen you cite Odom before, and I mentioned then that I disagree with him on everything he’s said, that I’ve seen, on Iraq.

Thanks for the WaPo article, as it’s an important issue worth discussion (perhaps its own thread).

But in bringing it up, how does it tie in with the topic of this post? Or in your statement regarding Odom’s view that leaving in 2005 or later makes no difference in the end?

Is there implication here that entering Iraq was a mistake to begin with, and there were no dangers of biological wmds?

Would we be safer if we hadn’t removed Saddam and attempted to resolve the 100 or so unresolved disarmament issues?

More from your WaPo link:

The document cites progress in many areas of biodefense since the deadly anthrax attacks of 2001, including major investments in research, stockpiling of drugs and development of a network of sensors designed to detect airborne viruses and bacteria. The Bush administration has spent more than $20 billion on such countermeasures, far more than any of its predecessors.

But the report says the next administration must do much more to prevent dangerous pathogens from falling into the wrong hands in the first place. While politicians often warn about the dangers of nuclear terrorism, a serious biological attack would be easier to accomplish and deserves a top priority, it says.

The last part only validates the Iraq invasion, for me.

We know that Saddam worked with Islamic terrorists. We know from the findings of the Iraq Survey Group and the Duelfer Report that Iraq was illegally up to its neck in biological weapons programs. And terrorists used as proxies are a perfect delivery system.

More from your WaPo:

The biodefense research industry that sprang up after 2001 offers potential solutions to a future attack, but also numerous new opportunities for theft or diversion of deadly germs, the report says. Today, about 400 research facilities and 14,000 people are authorized to work with deadly strains in the United States alone, and several of the new labs have been embroiled in controversies because of security breaches, such as the escape of lab animals.

No single government agency has authority to oversee security at these U.S. labs, most of which are run by private companies or universities. Such facilities in the United States “are not regulated” unless they obtain government funding or acquire pathogens from the government’s list of known biowarfare agents. Because of this gap, labs can work with “dangerous but unlisted pathogens, such as the SARS virus,” which causes severe acute respiratory syndrome, without the government’s knowledge.

Internationally, the challenges are even greater. While the U.S. government continues to spend billions of dollars to secure Cold-War-era nuclear stockpiles, similar efforts to dismantle Soviet bioweapons facilities have been scaled back because of disagreements with the Russian government, the report notes. The only global treaty that outlaws the development of biological weapons has no mechanism for inspections or enforcement. Efforts to strengthen the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention were dealt a symbolic blow in 2001 when the Bush administration withdrew its support for a new accord that had been under negotiation for six years.

Meanwhile, the growth in biodefense research seen in the United States has spread to dozens of countries, including developing nations such as Malaysia and Cuba that are investing heavily to develop world-class biotech industries. One of the fastest-growing technologies is DNA synthesis, which offers new capabilities to alter the genes of existing pathogens or synthesize them artificially. While governments, trade groups and professional organizations are experimenting with various voluntary controls over such new capabilities, the United States should lead a global effort to strengthen oversight and clamp down on the unregulated export of deadly microbes, the panel said.

“Rapid scientific advances and the global spread of biotechnology equipment and know-how are currently outpacing the modest international attempts to promote biosecurity,” the report says.

So maybe we should cut back on other government programs (the converse of “more books, not bombs” mentality) and divert more to the area of defense against the next biological wmd attack? Bush Administration did what it could. Now let’s see the Obama Administration take the ball and carry it further down the field if it wants to be serious about national security.

wordsmith/from parts relatively unknown

The following may or may not be another, depending on one’s point of view.

The idea that the US military “will have a presence there for many years,” is unlikely, given that the Iraqis want us out immediately and the negotiated settlement, agreed to by the Bush administration, calls for a full withdrawal by the end of 2011. The acid test of what has been achieved in Iraq won’t be evident until 2016, or thereabouts. Former Reagan NSA Chief Lt. General William Odom repeatedly wrote that the ultimate outcome in Iraq would be the same, whether the US withdrew in 2005 or 2015.

Also in the news was the “six-month study by the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Terrorism, which Congress created last spring in keeping with one of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. ”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/29/AR2008112901921.html?hpid=moreheadlines

The bipartisan report faults the Bush administration for devoting insufficient resources to prevent an attack and says U.S. policies have at times impeded international biodefense efforts while promoting the rapid growth of a network of domestic laboratories possessing the world’s most dangerous pathogens.

The real threats to the USA are not the odd car bomb, Mumbai-style commando attack, or even jetliner attacks on buildings, but rather true WMD, namely biological and nuclear weapons. The ultimate cost of the Iraq War (including future veterans benefits) shall have been on the order of three trillion dollars. It is difficult to see that this devotion of resources has done anything at all to protect the US from biological and nuclear attacks, while it has certainly motivated Islamic high rollers to contribute $millions to the cause of facilitating the acquisition of WMD for Jihad.

- Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach, CA

2 Timothy 3:15-17( if you want to look it up)

Just on a simple level if things where as you assume them to be
then the bible is just a ( Fairy-Tale)
Then why such reguard for the 10 Commandments?
Why such reguard for ( even the laws of the USA) ?
why would we even need structure in our society?

Anyhow If you actually take a moment to check the
original intent of what I was posting
you wouldn’t be so quick to point your finger at my using verses to bring my point across. (Which is) as long as people use their freedom
to license their own desires,
while never taking into account the wrongs and pain
and sufferings that others have to deal with at their dealings.
Yet if anyone challenges their right to make them suffer
they place before them all the laws they ( bended) or appealed
concerning their own situations.

IN other words…
It’s highly known that people can offend others and break the law in the name of their own agenda or freedom
to do what they want without complete reguard
for how this effects others or puts them into pain and suffering,
that perhaps no man can compensate for what was taken.
Except the man Jesus Christ.

You should send a copy to Obama. He sure would need to read that… lol
And maybe one to Osama Bin Laden, also… lol

its aimed at anyone who
wants to be self righteous
and be on top by them self
Anyone who is willing to examine their own
life for that matter, Not everyone is perfect.
I realize everyone is human and makes mistakes.
Yet when we acknowledge our mistakes
and humble our self…
Then we will make progress.

And Properly even though I spaced it into two parts ( both these go together as one)

How can you win the war without, when you haven’t won the war with in your self?
Your self defeated until you learn that the source of alot of problems starts with your own mindset of how to get things done.
You can target anyone you want,
and pass the blame to them
But until you put your self in check
and look at your own heart,
you’ll never make ends meet like they ought to.

How can you win the war without, when you haven’t won the war with in your self?
Your self defeated until you learn that the source of alot of problems starts with your own mindset of how to get things done.

This is aimed at anti-war liberals and jihadists, right?

You can target anyone you want,
and pass the blame to them
But until you put your self in check
and look at your own heart,
you’ll never make ends meet like they ought to.

The human race is infected with a disease that techology can’t cure
science can’t create a solution for
A disease everyone knows about but ( man in all of his power and glory) and abilities can’t win against until he surrenders himself to the one whom he was created For.
The disease is ( SIN)
Its what cuts you off from your purpose for which you were created!
designed ability of which you were born for.
One can not serve them self and claim they got it right; they will serve sin… when its all said and done.
The one who your created for is the Lord God Almighty.

Jude 1:10
But these men revile (scoff and sneer at) anything they do not happen to be acquainted with and do not understand; and whatever they do understand physically [that which they know by mere instinct], like irrational beasts–by these they corrupt themselves and are destroyed (perish).
1 John 5:17
All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin which does not [involve] death [that may be repented of and forgiven].
1 John 1:7-9 (Amplified Bible)
7But if we [really] are living and walking in the Light, as He [Himself] is in the Light, we have [true, unbroken] fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses (removes) us from all sin and guilt [keeps us cleansed from sin in all its forms and manifestations].

8If we say we have no sin [refusing to admit that we are sinners], we delude and lead ourselves astray, and the Truth [which the Gospel presents] is not in us [does not dwell in our hearts].

9If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action].