re: #56 Nimed

This may sound hubristic to you, but I’m not very concerned with another terrorist strike, even a successful one. I’m much more worried about people going apeshit - again - with all the risks that entails: another gigantic blunder like the Iraq war, even more liberties curtailed, etc, etc.

I really wish the American people would get used to the idea that we are likely to suffer another successful terrorist attack. If we don’t make a big deal out of it, we basically take away the only weapon they have.

Why do you call the Iraq war a giant blunder?

1. A dangerous, unstable dictator has been removed from the world.
2. This dangerous, unstable dictator was in violation of numerous U.N. resolutions. Continuing to let him get away with his crap was making the U.N. an even bigger laughingstock than it already was (and is).
3. The people of Iraq are no longer being tortured, terrorized, slaughtered, and shoveled into mass graves by this dangerous, unstable dictator and his insane sons.
4. Iraq is now a democracy, and an important counterbalance to Iranian dreams of hegemony in the Middle East.
5. We killed a whole lotta Al-Q terrorists in Iraq.

I’m sorry, I just don’t see where all of this is a “giant blunder.” If you can explain to me how things would be better if we’d just let Saddam be, I’d like to hear it.