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Author Topic:   Is the media hurting the war?
Rrhain
Member
Posts: 6351
From: San Diego, CA, USA
Joined: 05-03-2003


Message 64 of 145 (410071)
07-13-2007 4:59 AM
Reply to: Message 58 by Tal
07-10-2007 6:59 PM


Re: Money
quote:
Yes, President Bush said on many occasions that we knew Saddam Hussein possessed chemical and biological weapons. Why did he say it?
Because he was ignoring all of the intelligence information that was coming to him that clearly indicated that there were no WMDs. Why he decided to ignore it, only he can say.
quote:
He said it because it was the best judgement of the career intelligence analysts who serve our nation.
Incorrect. As the intelligence analysts themselves had said, they were saying the opposite. Let us not forget, Bush lied about the status of the weapons inspections. He claimed that Hussein was preventing the inspectors from having complete access in direct contradiction to the inspectors, themselves. In fact, on the very day that Bush said that he had to go to war because of Hussein's refusal to allow the weapons inspectors access, the inspectors were destroying missiles that exceeded the range limitations put on Iraq after the first Gulf War. If they had no access, how is it that they managed to find missiles?
So why did Bush refuse to listen to their claims that they hadn't found any WMDs?
quote:
George W. Bush said it, just as President Clinton said it
Ah, yes. Zero to Clinton is 2.3 seconds.
Hint: What happened between the end of Clinton's presidency and the invasion of Iraq?
Hint: Might it be weapons inspectors?
quote:
France in the 1990s
Excuse me...the [b][i]1990s?[/b][/i] Are you seriously claiming that we should have relied upon results that were years out of date?
quote:
I'm sure we all remember David Kay
Indeed, we do. But why are you ignoring Hans Blix?
Inspections in Iraq resumed on the 27th of November 2002. In matters relating to process, notably prompt access to sites, we have faced relatively few difficulties, and certainly much less than those that were faced by UNSCOM [U.N. Special Commission] in the period 1991 to 1998. This may well be due to the strong outside pressure.
That's from Blix's testimony to the UN Security Council. Why would Bush say that the weapons inspectors were being stymied when they were saying they weren't?
This is not to say that the operation of inspections is free from frictions, but at this juncture we are able to perform professional, no-notice inspections all over Iraq and to increase aerial surveillance.
Again, this flies directly in the face of Bush's claim that Hussein had blocked the inspectors. Why would Bush say that?
You do recall that it was Bush that had to pull the inspectors out because he was about to start bombing the country, yes?
Several inspections have taken place at declared and undeclared sites in relation to mobile production facilities. Food-testing mobile laboratories and mobile workshops have been seen as well as large containers with seed-processing equipment. No evidence of proscribed activities have so far been found.
Why did Bush ignore this?
During inspections of declared or undeclared facilities, inspection teams have examined building structures for any possible underground facilities. In addition, ground-penetrating radar equipment was used in several specific locations. No underground facilities for chemical or biological production or storage were found so far.
Why did Bush ignore this?
Now, it isn't like Hussein was rolling over. However, the inspection process was ongoing and finding nothing. Blix was asking for more time:
Neither governments nor inspectors would want disarmament inspection to go on forever. However, it must be remembered that in accordance with the governing resolutions, a sustained inspection and monitoring system is to remain in place after verified disarmament to give confidence and to strike an alarm if signs were seen of the revival of any proscribed weapons programs.
Why did Bush ignore this? Why did he pull the inspectors out so that he could start bombing Iraq when the inspectors were saying they weren't finding anything?
quote:
My assessment is that they were moved.
Why, when all evidence indicates that there weren't any to move?
And most importantly: Why weren't they used against us? We know that Hussein had no qualms about using them. He used the gas (that [b][i]WE[/b][/i] gave him in the 1980s as brokered by Donald Rumsfeld at the behest of Reagan and Bush, Sr.) against both the Kurds and Iranians.
So if he had them, why didn't he use them?

This message is a reply to:
 Message 58 by Tal, posted 07-10-2007 6:59 PM Tal has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 67 by Tal, posted 07-13-2007 6:23 PM Rrhain has replied

Rrhain
Member
Posts: 6351
From: San Diego, CA, USA
Joined: 05-03-2003


Message 69 of 145 (410403)
07-14-2007 9:27 PM
Reply to: Message 67 by Tal
07-13-2007 6:23 PM


Re: Money
Tal responds to me:
quote:
Link? Source?
I provided them. Don't you remember all that quotation from Hans Blix? Do you not remember the confessions from Tenet? What about the Downing Street memos? The Duelfer report? Do you seriously not know about these things?
quote:
One of my instructors was a weapons inspector in Iraq. They didn't have complete access.
As you said: Link? Source? Why should anybody "My father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate said so!" over the chief UN inspector giving testimony before the UN?
Question: When did your "instructor" engage in inspections? You will note that Blix's report happened right before Bush pulled the inspectors out.
Do not confuse obstruction on the part of Hussein previously to continued obstruction right up to the moment of invasion.
quote:
You'll note I cited Kerry and Gore too
Indeed, and it's precisely the same logical error: Blaming somebody else for Bush's decision.
Hint: Neither Clinton nor Kerry nor Gore were president.
Hint: Gore specifically and directly stated that Bush should not invade Iraq before we did.
What did Gore know that Bush didn't?
quote:
Mr. Blix in Feb 04.
Ahem.
We didn't invade Iraq in 2004. We invaded in 2003. The question before is whether or not there was any information or intelligence or report from BEFORE the invasion that indicated that there were no WMDs to be found.
It turns out that there were. Blix was one of them, begging for more time to complete the inspections which Hussein was cooperating with and had found nothing.
By the way, you're misquoting the article. Here is what it actually said:
During that time, the Iraqis managed to hide an advanced nuclear weapons development programme from the IAEA.
It was only discovered after the Gulf War in 1991.
Hmmm...so it would seem that what Blix was saying is that Iraq was fooling people regarding its WMD research capabilities....
[b][i]...BUT WE FOUND OUT ABOUT IT.[/b][/i] And on top of that, we found out about it [b][i]TEN YEARS BEFORE WE INVADED.[/b][/i] You seem to think that the situation in Iraq was identical in 2003 to what it was in 1993.
Oh, and here's another quote from that article you seem to have overlooked:
Now that the war has finished, he has made clear his feeling that the US and UK had exaggerated, or "over-interpreted" - as he put it - the case for war.
So where do you get this idea that Blix wasn't of the opinion that Iraq had fooled the inspectors?
quote:
That still doesn't refute David Kay.
(*blink!*)
You did not just say that, did you?
It most certainly does contradict Kay. Blix said they had not found any indication of chemcial, nuclear, or biological weapons. How is that not a contradiction of the claim that intelligence indicated Iraq had them?
quote:
Second suspected mobile weapons lab found in Iraq
What part of "suspected" do you not understand? It turns out that it wasn't real. That article you posted was from May of 2003. It's been four years since and nothing has turned up.
quote:
Again, you use phrases like "all evidence." Please post a link.
It's called "the newspaper." Are you seriously saying you haven't been reading them?
Here's a hint: Why do you think the United States called off the search for WMDs in Iraq in Januray 2005? As Scott McClellan said:
"Our friends and allies had the same intelligence that we had when it came to Saddam Hussein. Now we need to continue to move forward to find out what went wrong and to correct those flaws."
Here's what Blair said in 2006:
"I have to accept that we have not found them [Iraqi WMD], that we may not find them," Blair said before the House of Commons Liaison Committee.
Do you seriously not know about this?
quote:
Oh...there were those 500 chemical weapons with sarin and mustard agent.
You mean those [b][i]WORTHLESS[/b][/i] canisters? Those munitions were so old that the chemical agents had degraded to be of no use. They were from the 1980s. And we all know who was president at the time and giving chemical weapons to Hussein at that time, don't we?
Since you seem to like Kay so much, let's hear what he had to say:
“In terms of toxicity, sir,” Kay told Weldon at one point, “I suspect in your house, and I know in my house, I have things that are more toxic than sarin produced from 1984 to 1988.”
Not only that, but the munitions that were found had been disabled and couldn't be used directly, nor could the agents be extracted from them:
[T]wo briefers for the Defense Intelligence Agency explained that the recovered weapons were too degraded to serve their original purpose and too delicate to be used as roadside explosives. “These munitions that were found were badly corroded in most cases,” said DIA analyst Col. John Chiu. “Some were deliberately dismantled, if you will, to prevent them from being used.” To make matters worse, Terence Taylor, a former member of the U.N. Special Commission on Iraq, testified that the warheads’ designs made the nerve gas almost impossible to use outside of its original purpose. “I think it would be very difficult to extract the nerve agent from these weapons,” he said.
By the way, you know better than to trust CNS. They, like Fox, are not real news services.
quote:
Bomb said to hold deadly sarin gas explodes in Iraq
And what were the details of this? It wasn't a roadside bomb. Instead, according to the US Army, it was a botched attempt to create a high-explosive. Again, since you seem to trust Kay, why aren't you paying attention to his conclusion that they were left over from the decommissioning from the 90s? As he directly stated:
"I rather doubt [that it was creation of sarin] because it appears the insurgents didn't even know they had a chemical round."
So it would seem that this "sarin bomb" of yours was simply a leftover shell from the 80s that was overlooked in the 90s and then used in the 00s by people who didn't even know it was a chemcial bomb.
Not exactly proof that Hussein was creating WMDs, now is it?
quote:
Polish Troops Find Sarin Warheads
I see you've moved to Fox. You know better than to trust them. The Polish find wasn't real, either. As was reported just mere hours later after the Agence-France Presse report that Polish troops had found them:
Meanwhile, a dozen warheads that Polish forces said on Thursday contained mustard gas or sarin contained neither, according to US forces, who tested the 122mm munitions.
So it would seem that the AFP jumped the gun. They had to retract the story just hours after it was reported.
When did Fox ever get around to retracting it?
quote:
Chemical Munitions have been used against US Forces many times.
Not in any way connected to the reason given for invasion of Iraq. There were no WMDs in Iraq. Both the United States and the Brits have made direct statements claiming that there were no WMDs in Iraq.
If you aren't going to believe Bush when he says that there were no WMDs in Iraq, who are you going to believe?
quote:
This go around we've had several instances of chemical weapons in IEDs.
No, we haven't. What we have had, at best, is insurgents using ancient weapons from the 80s that were overlooked in the 90s trying to recycle the explosives from them into IEDs and other high-explosive devices and not realizing that they had their hands on chemical weapons.
Of course, since those weapons were 20 years old, the chemical agents in them were of no consequence.
Therefore, the short answer is that no, there haven't been any instances of chemical weapons being used against the US in our invasion of Iraq.
So if Hussein had them, why didn't he use them? We know that he had no problems using them since he gassed the Kurd and the Iranians using the chemical agents that Donald Rumsfeld gave him at the behest of Ronald Reagan.

Rrhain

Thank you for your submission to Science. Your paper was reviewed by a jury of seventh graders so that they could look for balance and to allow them to make up their own minds. We are sorry to say that they found your paper "bogus," specifically describing the section on the laboratory work "boring." We regret that we will be unable to publish your work at this time.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 67 by Tal, posted 07-13-2007 6:23 PM Tal has not replied

Rrhain
Member
Posts: 6351
From: San Diego, CA, USA
Joined: 05-03-2003


Message 76 of 145 (411163)
07-19-2007 4:34 AM


Tal? Well?
Are you still claiming that there were WMDs in Iraq when we invaded? With multiple reports including the British and American authorities directly stating that there were no WMDs in Iraq, are you still claiming that there were?

Rrhain

Thank you for your submission to Science. Your paper was reviewed by a jury of seventh graders so that they could look for balance and to allow them to make up their own minds. We are sorry to say that they found your paper "bogus," specifically describing the section on the laboratory work "boring." We regret that we will be unable to publish your work at this time.

Rrhain
Member
Posts: 6351
From: San Diego, CA, USA
Joined: 05-03-2003


Message 100 of 145 (421342)
09-12-2007 5:08 AM
Reply to: Message 80 by Tal
09-08-2007 3:01 AM


Tal responds to me...I think...he didn't use the appropriate "Reply" button when posting.
Um...those aren't evidence of WMDs. A blistering agent is not a WMD.
Unpleasant? Sure. But so are bullets and we don't call those "WMD"s.
Now, given that both the US and the UK have made official statements that there were no WMDs to be found in Iraq, are you still claiming that there were when we invaded?

Rrhain

Thank you for your submission to Science. Your paper was reviewed by a jury of seventh graders so that they could look for balance and to allow them to make up their own minds. We are sorry to say that they found your paper "bogus," specifically describing the section on the laboratory work "boring." We regret that we will be unable to publish your work at this time.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 80 by Tal, posted 09-08-2007 3:01 AM Tal has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 102 by Tal, posted 09-12-2007 10:16 AM Rrhain has replied

Rrhain
Member
Posts: 6351
From: San Diego, CA, USA
Joined: 05-03-2003


Message 101 of 145 (421344)
09-12-2007 5:25 AM
Reply to: Message 97 by riVeRraT
09-10-2007 11:30 AM


riVeRraT writes:
quote:
There are two points to consider:
1 That our enemies read the papers, and watch CNN.
Yeah, right. The local population of Anbar province all sit up late and watch Glen Beck.
That said, let's assume that the terrorists aren't stupid. Then that belies the claim that "We have to fight them over there so that we don't fight them over here." After all, they know where "here" is. And if they weren't stupid, they'd attack now because all of our defensive equipment is over there. If you're the weak one, the only way you'll cause any damage is if you hit the enemy in a vulnerable spot. By engaging in a foolish, endless occupation in Iraq, we have made the US weaker and much more vulnerable.
quote:
2 That we as a people need to know what is going on, since we don't trust our own government, and we need to police ourselves as a people.
Where does the happy medium lie?
Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
The problem with being the good guy is that it means you let them make the first move. Shall we give up everything it means to be an American simply because some people are scared?
I should point out that not a single terrorist plot has been countered using the new liberty-destroying legislation that has been enacted. Instead, dozens were countered before they were enacted using tried-and-true methods like policework and investigation. If those methods had been actively employed, there's a good chance that 9/11 wouldn't have happened.
So if the sacrifices of liberty that we have put into place haven't actually made us safer but instead have made us less safe, shouldn't we undo what we did? Shouldn't we stop saying those who are insisting upon exercising the liberties we used to have are "traitors" and "giving aid and comfort to the enemy"?
Shouldn't we start listening to the people who were right and stop listening to the people who were wrong?

Rrhain

Thank you for your submission to Science. Your paper was reviewed by a jury of seventh graders so that they could look for balance and to allow them to make up their own minds. We are sorry to say that they found your paper "bogus," specifically describing the section on the laboratory work "boring." We regret that we will be unable to publish your work at this time.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 97 by riVeRraT, posted 09-10-2007 11:30 AM riVeRraT has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 103 by Tal, posted 09-12-2007 10:22 AM Rrhain has replied
 Message 123 by riVeRraT, posted 09-13-2007 9:37 AM Rrhain has replied

Rrhain
Member
Posts: 6351
From: San Diego, CA, USA
Joined: 05-03-2003


Message 110 of 145 (421548)
09-13-2007 5:45 AM
Reply to: Message 102 by Tal
09-12-2007 10:16 AM


Tal responds to me:
quote:
quote:
Um...those aren't evidence of WMDs. A blistering agent is not a WMD.
Unpleasant? Sure. But so are bullets and we don't call those "WMD"s
Mustard Gas Wiki
You're missing the point: That wasn't an example of weaponized mustard gas. That was an unidentified picture. We don't even have any indication as to what caused the blisters?
quote:
quote:
Now, given that both the US and the UK have made official statements that there were no WMDs to be found in Iraq, are you still claiming that there were when we invaded?
Yes.
Then where is your evidence? So far, you haven't been able to produce a single shred of proof. All of your attempts to provide a smoking gun have been shown to be either falsehoods (the Polish claim) or wildly overblown (the sarin and mustard gas).
So the burden of proof is still on you. Every single agency that has looked into this has determined that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. There were discarded, degraded items from the 1980s that would be no worse than what you'd find under your sink:
“In terms of toxicity, sir,” Kay told Weldon at one point, “I suspect in your house, and I know in my house, I have things that are more toxic than sarin produced from 1984 to 1988.”
But where are the WMDs? Where is the evidence that anything capable of living up to the moniker of a "weapon of mass destruction"? Nobody is saying that Hussein had never been in the possession of WMDs. After all WE WERE THE ONES WHO GAVE THEM TO HIM! Donald Rumsfeld was the one who brokered the deal. But as your own source points out, they were from the 1980s. The idea that mustard gas from the 80s presents any real threat today is to be disingenuous at best.
Would I want to be attacked with 20-year-old mustard gas? No. But I wouldn't want to be shot, either.
Neither is a "weapon of mass destruction." You need to show us an example of a "weapon of mass destruction."
Be specific. An unidentified picture is not sufficient.

Rrhain

Thank you for your submission to Science. Your paper was reviewed by a jury of seventh graders so that they could look for balance and to allow them to make up their own minds. We are sorry to say that they found your paper "bogus," specifically describing the section on the laboratory work "boring." We regret that we will be unable to publish your work at this time.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 102 by Tal, posted 09-12-2007 10:16 AM Tal has not replied

Rrhain
Member
Posts: 6351
From: San Diego, CA, USA
Joined: 05-03-2003


Message 112 of 145 (421550)
09-13-2007 6:00 AM
Reply to: Message 103 by Tal
09-12-2007 10:22 AM


Tal responds to me:
quote:
quote:
I should point out that not a single terrorist plot has been countered using the new liberty-destroying legislation that has been enacted.
That you know of.
(*chuckle*)
Right. Have you not been paying attention? When asked directly to provide evidence of anybody caught using these new powers, the administration did not say, "We cannot tell you for that would compromise the effectiveness of the program," as they usually do. Instead, they said they didn't have any.
Given that this administration crows about how they've landed "the #2 Al Qaeda agent" every few months and claim everybody vaguely related to a terrorist activity was about to bring about nuclear armageddon across the entire country, why is it they can't provide a single example of anybody ever caught using their new powers? In fact, everybody who gets caught they say they managed to nab using "old-fashioned policework."
quote:
The public only hears about the occassional spectacular attacks we have stopped.
Excuse me? What "spectacular attack"? There hasn't been any "spectacular attack" to stop. That's the entire point: The administration hypes the hell out of everybody they investigate as "the next 9/11" and then we find out that no, it was just a bunch of mooks trying to bring down the Brooklyn Bridge with a hair dryer.
Why on earth do you think that Padilla went from "deploying a dirty bomb" to "applied to join a terrorist camp"? He was supposed to be the pride and joy of the war on terror and it turns out he was just an angry young man.
quote:
You may think we stop a few a year, but we have stopped thousands upon thousands.
No, we haven't. That would require that every single day, multiple attacks have been stopped. Surely somebody would have noticed. Surely some of them would have succeeded. You're not seriously suggesting that our ability to stop terrorist attacks is practically perfect, are you?
quote:
No, I can't prove that last statement to you
Then why did you make it? The burden of proof is on you as you're the one making the claim.
We know that we were able to stop terrorist plots before the Patriot Act. Therefore, it is your reponsibility to show that the Patriot Act has increased that ability. If you cannot do so, if every single example of a "foiled plot" can be shown to have been foiled through older, non-Patriot Act methodologies, then there is no evidence that the Patriot Act actually accomplishes anything and given that it directly violates basic Constitutional principles, it needs to be repealed.

Rrhain

Thank you for your submission to Science. Your paper was reviewed by a jury of seventh graders so that they could look for balance and to allow them to make up their own minds. We are sorry to say that they found your paper "bogus," specifically describing the section on the laboratory work "boring." We regret that we will be unable to publish your work at this time.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 103 by Tal, posted 09-12-2007 10:22 AM Tal has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 113 by Tal, posted 09-13-2007 7:46 AM Rrhain has replied

Rrhain
Member
Posts: 6351
From: San Diego, CA, USA
Joined: 05-03-2003


Message 115 of 145 (421574)
09-13-2007 8:14 AM
Reply to: Message 113 by Tal
09-13-2007 7:46 AM


Tal responds to me:
quote:
Attack 1
That wasn't us. That was the Germans. As you may recall, the point is whether or not the new police powers granted by the US government has resulted in the foiling of any plots.
quote:
Attack 2
That wasn't us. That was the Brits. As you may recall, the point is whether or not the new police powers granted by the US government has resulted in the foiling of any plots.
quote:
The List of 10
And none of these are of any real significance. Notice that Padilla is on the list. The feds couldn't even bring any real charges against him. He was originally claimed to have been plotting to detonate a "dirty bomb," but there wasn't any evidence to suggest that at all. After years in custody as an "enemy combatant" and no trial date, the feds shuffled him around from jurisdiction to jurisdiction while they tried to build a case against him...only succeeding in showing that he applied for a terrorist training camp.
Ergo, this wasn't a foiled plot.
The first two have since been retracted. They were not actually what they were claimed to be. And all the rest involved other countries or were of such insignificance or were so early in their planning stages that to call them "foiled plots" is to strain credulity:
The Washington Post writes:
The president made it "sound like well-hatched plans," said a former CIA official involved in counterterrorism during that period. "I don't think they fall into that category."
The request was for you to show how the new police powers granted by the US government has resulted in the foiling of any plots.
You haven't done so. Just like all your other claims, they vanish under inspection.
quote:
He was found guilty of all charged and should be recieving his sentence in early December. Conspiracy to Murder, Kidnap, and Maim Persons in a Foreign Country, Conspiracy to Provide Material Support for Terrorists, and Material Support for Terrorists.
Ahem. What were the charges? He wasn't found guilty of actually doing anything. Nor was he found guilty of plotting against Americans.
Padilla was originally arrested and charged with planning to set off "dirty bombs." Those charges were dropped and were never brought up in his trial.
Ergo, no terrorist plot was foiled.
Burden of proof is still on you: What has the Patriot Act actually allowed us to do that we couldn't do before?

Rrhain

Thank you for your submission to Science. Your paper was reviewed by a jury of seventh graders so that they could look for balance and to allow them to make up their own minds. We are sorry to say that they found your paper "bogus," specifically describing the section on the laboratory work "boring." We regret that we will be unable to publish your work at this time.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 113 by Tal, posted 09-13-2007 7:46 AM Tal has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 118 by Tal, posted 09-13-2007 8:32 AM Rrhain has replied
 Message 130 by Hyroglyphx, posted 09-15-2007 3:31 PM Rrhain has replied

Rrhain
Member
Posts: 6351
From: San Diego, CA, USA
Joined: 05-03-2003


Message 116 of 145 (421575)
09-13-2007 8:18 AM
Reply to: Message 114 by Tal
09-13-2007 8:11 AM


Tal writes:
quote:
We all remember the "Bush was AWOL" crap from C...BS.
Ahem. It has yet to be shown that the document were forgeries. The worst that can be said is that the document came from someone who had a personal stake in the matter and he won't say where he got them from. That certainly makes them questionable, but that doesn't make them fakes.
Besides, you seem to think that the entire report rested upon that single piece of paper. You are ignoring all the other evidence showing that Bush failed to report for duty such as his medical records.
quote:
noone ever contacted my office (via Ft Knox PAO) to check the facts.
Could be that you weren't the one to call.

Rrhain

Thank you for your submission to Science. Your paper was reviewed by a jury of seventh graders so that they could look for balance and to allow them to make up their own minds. We are sorry to say that they found your paper "bogus," specifically describing the section on the laboratory work "boring." We regret that we will be unable to publish your work at this time.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 114 by Tal, posted 09-13-2007 8:11 AM Tal has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 117 by Tal, posted 09-13-2007 8:23 AM Rrhain has replied

Rrhain
Member
Posts: 6351
From: San Diego, CA, USA
Joined: 05-03-2003


Message 119 of 145 (421584)
09-13-2007 8:32 AM
Reply to: Message 117 by Tal
09-13-2007 8:23 AM


Tal responds to me:
quote:
Start another thread with your evidence and I'll be happy to annihilate it.
Nice try, but shifting the burden of proof is a logical error. You're the one making the claim, therefore you are the one who needs to justify it.
Where is your evidence that anything the Bush Administration has said regarding this war from the reasons we went to the justifications for changes to our laws has any connection to reality?

Rrhain

Thank you for your submission to Science. Your paper was reviewed by a jury of seventh graders so that they could look for balance and to allow them to make up their own minds. We are sorry to say that they found your paper "bogus," specifically describing the section on the laboratory work "boring." We regret that we will be unable to publish your work at this time.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 117 by Tal, posted 09-13-2007 8:23 AM Tal has not replied

Rrhain
Member
Posts: 6351
From: San Diego, CA, USA
Joined: 05-03-2003


Message 120 of 145 (421585)
09-13-2007 8:36 AM
Reply to: Message 118 by Tal
09-13-2007 8:32 AM


Tal responds to me:
quote:
Are you really that dumb?
Strange. That's what I was going to ask you.
quote:
The charges are listed in the text YOU quoted.
I know. You apparently didn't read them. What was Padilla originally claimed to have been involved in? He was supposed to have been on the way to detonating dirty bombs here in the US.
But there wasn't any evidence of such. Instead, they had to get him on a bunch of conspiracy charges, none of which had any evidence that he was actually doing anything. They had his name on an application and some phone calls that the feds claimed were in code.
That isn't a plot.
Now prove your claim: What has the Patriot Act actually accomplished? What has been done using its authority?

Rrhain

Thank you for your submission to Science. Your paper was reviewed by a jury of seventh graders so that they could look for balance and to allow them to make up their own minds. We are sorry to say that they found your paper "bogus," specifically describing the section on the laboratory work "boring." We regret that we will be unable to publish your work at this time.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 118 by Tal, posted 09-13-2007 8:32 AM Tal has not replied

Rrhain
Member
Posts: 6351
From: San Diego, CA, USA
Joined: 05-03-2003


Message 125 of 145 (421944)
09-15-2007 3:22 AM
Reply to: Message 113 by Tal
09-13-2007 7:46 AM


Ooh! More information about that German plot that was foiled:
The Director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell, apparently lied to Congress about the role of the the Americans. When asked by Joe Lieberman if the revamped FISA law helped in the German action, McConnell said, “Yes, sir, it did.”
But there's a little problem with that statement: It wasn't true. The assistance the Americans provided was done BEFORE the FISA process was screwed around with. Instead, it was carried out with all that pesky oversight the Bush Administration claims stands in the way of another terrorist attack.
Once again, we're left wondering just what all this destruction of our Constitutional rights has accomplished. Our old system seems to have been working just fine. What's the problem with oversight?

Rrhain

Thank you for your submission to Science. Your paper was reviewed by a jury of seventh graders so that they could look for balance and to allow them to make up their own minds. We are sorry to say that they found your paper "bogus," specifically describing the section on the laboratory work "boring." We regret that we will be unable to publish your work at this time.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 113 by Tal, posted 09-13-2007 7:46 AM Tal has not replied

Rrhain
Member
Posts: 6351
From: San Diego, CA, USA
Joined: 05-03-2003


Message 126 of 145 (421945)
09-15-2007 3:33 AM
Reply to: Message 122 by riVeRraT
09-13-2007 9:32 AM


riVeRraT writes:
quote:
I know a few people that actually fought over there, and their reports contradict what we see on the news.
So the two guys who were just killed and the one who was shot in the head who wrote the op-ed in the New York Times weren't really killed/wounded?
I know a lot of people that have fought over there. They say the news isn't reporting the half of it. Shall we play a game of "my anecdote is better than yours"?
quote:
We should have our act together before the fact.
Agreed. But since it is quite clear that in this case, we didn't, what do we do now? Lie about it so that we don't dare "show weakness"? How many people have to die in order to save face?
quote:
I am not saying we should not know what is going on, I am saying there is a time and place for everything.
Why not here and now? We've been at this longer than WWII and we haven't gotten anywhere. How many people have to die before it becomes the time and place?
Give us a number.

Rrhain

Thank you for your submission to Science. Your paper was reviewed by a jury of seventh graders so that they could look for balance and to allow them to make up their own minds. We are sorry to say that they found your paper "bogus," specifically describing the section on the laboratory work "boring." We regret that we will be unable to publish your work at this time.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 122 by riVeRraT, posted 09-13-2007 9:32 AM riVeRraT has not replied

Rrhain
Member
Posts: 6351
From: San Diego, CA, USA
Joined: 05-03-2003


Message 127 of 145 (421948)
09-15-2007 3:43 AM
Reply to: Message 123 by riVeRraT
09-13-2007 9:37 AM


riVeRraT responds to me:
quote:
Are you saying the local population of Anbar are our enemies?
Every last one of them? Of course not. But the ones who are attacking us are locals. The attempts by the Bush Administration to claim that it's a bunch of outsiders from Iran are false. Don't forget, electricity in Iraq is spotty at best. You get a couple of hours a day, tops.
So since the people attacking us aren't being flown in from countries that have a dedicated satellite feed, it stands to reason that they don't spend much of their time watching our television. Especially since most of them don't speak English.
quote:
So you think a blow by blow description of what is going on, during an attack on Bagdad is not useful at all to the enemies?
And do you have a single example of that happening ever? The closest we've come so far is Geraldo Rivera, war cheerleader for Fox News, one of the biggest cheerleaders for the war and for the Bush Administration, drawing the plans on the sand for the camera.
Be specific. What information that has been reported has been "of use to the enemy"?
quote:
quote:
Shouldn't we start listening to the people who were right and stop listening to the people who were wrong?
I am not talking about sacrificing liberty. I am talking about timing.
People are dying while you're waiting for the right moment. How many people have to die before you decide that it's OK to point out just how wrong this administration has been about everything? How many people have to die before we can mount the campaign that will be required to convince the American people to get rid of the people who are driving those deaths?
quote:
I am all for listening to the people who are right.
But you won't let them talk for fear that what they'll say will "embolden the enemy."

Rrhain

Thank you for your submission to Science. Your paper was reviewed by a jury of seventh graders so that they could look for balance and to allow them to make up their own minds. We are sorry to say that they found your paper "bogus," specifically describing the section on the laboratory work "boring." We regret that we will be unable to publish your work at this time.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 123 by riVeRraT, posted 09-13-2007 9:37 AM riVeRraT has not replied

Rrhain
Member
Posts: 6351
From: San Diego, CA, USA
Joined: 05-03-2003


Message 131 of 145 (422040)
09-15-2007 3:57 PM
Reply to: Message 130 by Hyroglyphx
09-15-2007 3:31 PM


Re: What does the Patriot Act do
nemesis_juggernaut responds to me:
quote:
I'll give you a brief synopsis. The NSA and the FBI, along with many allied nations, have set up electronic surveillance through both the Raptor program (FBI), and the Echelon program (NSA). These are major aspects of SIGINT for the US and its allies. The US have been intercepting these transmissions for years and years now.
Ahem. I was asking about anything that the recent legislation has been able to accomplish. Please keep up. We got attacked six years ago and then people started screaming that we needed to change our laws in order to prevent terrorist attacks and then those laws were changed.
What is it we have gained?
quote:
Most notably, was that it dismantled the barrier between intelligence officials and law-enforcement officials from sharing information and working together on investigations for the suppression or prevention of terrorist acts.
As if that were the only thing it did. "Most notably"? Please. Have you seen the Patriot Act? It's hundreds of pages long.
Oh, and by the way...the supposed "information sharing" that the Patriot Act was suppsed to usher in hasn't happened. Remember, while the Department of Homeland Security was recommended by Congress BEFORE the attacks as well as after by the 9/11 Commission, the Bush Administration never wanted to implement it. They flip-flopped on it and then did precisely what the Bush Administration does: Put cronies in charge rather than anybody with any actual competence and drive.
Just how effective do you think it's going to be?
quote:
And as we all know, the intel community was criticized to no end about how 9/11 could have been prevented if only the agencies involved were communicating with one another.
Indeed, but the problem with 9/11 wasn't that they were being prevented from talking to each other, per se. It's that they weren't even trying. And even more problematic, the ground agents who were squawking that something strange was going on weren't being paid attention to by the higher ups. It really doesn't matter how open the channels are among the various intel groups if the information isn't being utilized by the group who gathered it.
quote:
Before the (PA) was passed, when a plot was uncovered to commit acts of terrorism, the Intel community was said to have obtained the information. So some people were saying, fine, I understand that you are concerned about civil liberties, but at least allow us to use the intercepted information to stop the act itself and we won't seek prosecution. The Clinton Administration still said no.
Incorrect. This is a common myth among the right wing echo machine.
In fact, the exact opposite is true. The Clinton administration was one of the most active administrations regarding the prevention of terror. Clinton never said no.
quote:
The PA removes those barriers so that we can both stop the action and prosecute.
Huh? Do you not know how the FISA law works? You don't need a warrant right now. You can stop the action now and get the warrant later. The FISA court has only said no about half a dozen times total.
Look, I'm not saying that what happened six years ago was just something that inevitably slips through the cracks, the system is as perfect as it can be, or some such.
I'm simply asking what it is the "fixes" to the problems have actually accomplished. We know that the various intelligence agencies have been spying on Americans. And they've been doing so illegally.
Where are the stopped terrorist attacks? The argument is that the ends justifies the means (which is never, ever true), but we don't have any ends that could possibly justify the illegal, unconstitutional, unamerican intrusions that have been perpetrated.

Rrhain

Thank you for your submission to Science. Your paper was reviewed by a jury of seventh graders so that they could look for balance and to allow them to make up their own minds. We are sorry to say that they found your paper "bogus," specifically describing the section on the laboratory work "boring." We regret that we will be unable to publish your work at this time.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 130 by Hyroglyphx, posted 09-15-2007 3:31 PM Hyroglyphx has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 132 by Hyroglyphx, posted 09-15-2007 6:02 PM Rrhain has replied

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