E6Hotel

Hey all, sorry for dragging this thread back. Â Just wanted to say thanks for the well-wishes and clarify that despite my attempt at humor I won't be an Air Marshal. Â Packing heat at all times is just a "fringe benefit" (?) of being a special agent. Â As some things never change, Semper Fi

Negative, Ghost Rider. I said "active-duty Marine." Super-duper Semper Fi!

De nada. Â It doesn't take two-plus years to screen a FAM, though. Â Â Semper Fi

Took off my cammies today for the last time as an active-duty Marine. Â Â The good news is that after completing a screening process that took 2.5 years, I'm waiting on an Academy class seat with a Federal law enforcement agency that will remain nameless. Â I'm sure everyone will sleep better knowing that soon I'll be authorized to carry a firearm aboard airplanes. Semper Fi

I don't think everyone wants to be like us. Â I do think, however, that the west enjoys some freedoms that are inherently "good." Â It's not a flaw, it's a difference in perspective. Â From my limited point of view I don't believe that given a choice, people will elect to be repressed, persecuted and killed due to differing religious beliefs. Â Call me wacky. It's why I was speculating about whether separation of church and state can be implemented (or even grasped) in the middle east. Â From a historical perspective, the idea is pretty radical. Who are "they?" Â The Shi'ites, who would probably like to kill the minority for decades of repression? Â The Sunnis? Â I'm sure they'd love to live under a fundamentalist Shi'ite government. Â The Kurds would probably be happy with not being massacred. It's actually an easy choice -- we provide conditions that enable the Iraqis to build a government designed to serve its citizens and not the other way around. Â We've got the easy part. Â It's going to be up to the Iraqis to step up and get the job done. Semper Fi

As sarcasm obviously > you, (heh) let me be clear: Â 9/11 was due to OBL's resentment of our presence in Saudi Arabia. Â Full stop. Â Even Yassir Arafat has told him to stop trying to connect AQ with Palestine. Â Our support of Israel as a motive for OBL is a fairly transparent attempt to widen his support base. You can use Saudi Arabia as an example of integrated church and state, but I don't think it's accurate to use it as an example of a population happy with their government. Â In any case, it's not a theocracy so the point is kinda moot. Semper Fi

Now I'm confused. Â Wasn't 9/11 due to our support of repressive middle eastern regimes like Saudi Arabia? Semper Fi

[Lumbergh] Ummm, yeahhh, wellll, I'm gonna have to go ahead and disagree with you there, Bob. [/Lumbergh] Washington Post Washington Post yet again Although you're correct in that the KIA's are not from raids, there is a heightened level of activity now to exploit intelligence being received. Semper Fi

I was thinking specifically about Iran. Â Aren't Kuwait, Saudia Arabia and the UAE plutocracies? Semper Fi

History? Examples set by neighboring countries? Semper Fi

As patrols and raids are stepped up, casualties will follow. Â Correlation coefficient = 1. Semper Fi

Exactly. Â The mere existence of a constitution isn't enough, the ground rules laid out are what matters. Â With three antagonistic ethnic factions in Iraq, I can only see two options: 1) Â A strongman who rules through terror, or 2) Â Separation of church and state. It will be interesting to see if such a Western idea as 2) can be implemented. Semper Fi

The last thing in the world Iraq needs is "democracy," at least from the standpoint of the Kurds and the Sunnis. Â What is needed is majority rule, subject to minority rights. Â This is where that "Constitution" thingie comes into play. Semper Fi

In comparison with the millions of people who died because of Saddam's regime, it's the lesser of two evils. No. Â However, war was the only way to take Saddam down. Â I suppose we could've waited for Queasy to take the reins, but given his track record I really didn't consider him an improvement. Actually, it's around .58 soldiers KIA per day as of 31 July. Â Speaking as former cannon fodder, any KIA is too many, but that's still a very low death rate. We'll stay until the job is done, I hope. I believe we've already asked Germany and India (among others) to contribute. Â What's the hold-up? Semper Fi

No plan survives first contact. Â Take Fallujah, for example. Â After the Army revamped its approach, things calmed down a bit. Â From the admittedly pro-U.S. mayor: From an admittedly not pro-U.S. taxi driver who had a foot shot off by U.S. soldiers: BTW, an aside about the demonstration that claimed said foot: Washington Post The problem is not that things aren't getting better. Â The problem is that things aren't getting better fast enough. MSNBC My opinion is that it doesn't matter whose troops occupy Iraq -- U.S. or U.N. -- the Iraqis will rightfully be suspicious of motives. Â The trick now is to prove those motives (i.e. stealing oil) wrong, which will take time. Â It's only been three months. Semper Fi