"Anti-Americanism"...what is this critter?

Which is to say, those who don't agree with you?

Setanta

My post was neither addressed to you nor suggested what you imply----how do you know what I meant? You stated the other day you did not have a crystal ball---so obviously you have mistakenly jumped to conclusions yet again.

My crystal ball tells me that GWBush's state of the union will not change any minds on the matter of the economy or Iraq. c.i.

No conclusion was arrived at by me Perception, neither by leaps nor strolls. That was a question, please refer to the punctuation which ended the sentence. It was also meant in good humor, and not as an attack. But take it how you will.

There are those on this forum who constantly remind us of the merit of reasoning and logic----how can those same people totally ignore the reasoning and logic exhibited by both Georgeob1 and Asherman in their obove posts?

Could it be that these same people are so engrossed in and fascinated by their own opinions and their overinflated value that they don't even both to read the posts of others

"Reasoning and logic" is in the eye of the thinker. c.i.

there is very little on this forum that does not comprise reasoning and logic, that does not mean every reasoning person will reach the same conclusion.

Did I hear an echo? c.i.

If the premise and the supporting evidence is correct then somebody is using faulting reasoning. We'll see how long it takes for the pack to smell blood.

how can we judge whether the supporting evidence is correct? Not one single person on earth knows all the details at hand....

littlek, Right you are! Supporting evidence is not necessarily correct. c.i.

Perception, Thanks for the kind remarks. I don't believe it is possible to prove conclusively that my - or any other - analysis of these events is true or not. The best any of us can do is to examine the objective factors as well as we can and imagine what a rational actor would or should do in the various situations we are considering. We cannot know the inner motives of the various players in this drama, and any claim on the part of an observer that he has such knowledge should be a warning for us to disregard all that follows.

While there may be little (or even no) hard evidence in the public domain to support a nexus between al quaeda and Iraq, one should hesitate in accepting that as proof there is none. Firstly it isn't the sort of thing that would be intentionally divulged by the participants, and secondly as long as "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" remains true, we must recognize they both have a strong self-interest in doing so. Indeed in light of history it would be most unusual if they were not actively cooperating. Finally, our government claims it has intelligence which confirms this cooperation. It seems to me that the weight of the evidence is very strongly on one side of this question. However I concede we cannot know with certainty.

This will likely be the only time i write something like this: however, i apologize to Perception for having posted something so easily interpreted as an attack. That was not my intention. I would add that i believe we are all becoming too polarized, and, therefore sensitive in these discussions.

Georgeob, i haven't time to go look it up at the moment, but, bin Laden and many of his Al Qaeda lieutenants and operatives are members of a sect of Islam which Saddam has ruthlessly suppressed. I understand quite well your comment about the "enemy of my enemy"--but in this case, i do believe that antipathy is too deep. And, of course, you are correct in that none of us has sufficient information for anything more than an informed guess.

Setanta

Thank you for your gracious apology----may I graciously accept without provoking any other feelings?

For what it is worth----it has been reported by a columnist of theNYTimes that there is an enclave of al Queda in Kurdistan (a portion of northern Iraq that is supported by Saddam. I don't know this to be true but I suspect that if it is true it is the basis for the administration contention that there is a link between Saddam and al Queda. It has also been reported that the CIA has denied having any knowledge of this group of enemy because they cannot divulge their intell source.

Has anyone else seen this information?

Hell Setanta, it is even conceivable that I, on rare occasions, have been a bit strident.

Also for what it may be worth----I believe Setanta's comment that we are all becoming polarized and more entrenched in our positions is a fact. However I think the real cause is anxiety which has been created by the constant media analysis and the swell of opinion against the US position globally. It is then manifested in our comments to one another.

Heartwarming. Thanks, guys. I knew you could do it.

Of course, I know no one will forget where their own hatchets are buried ...



timber

Certainly . . . [bowing and scraping in return]