"Dan Luke" wrote in message
...

"Kyle Boatright" wrote:

The islamists, on the other hand, particularly the ones who have gone
over to the 99.99% extreme of their religion actually believe that dying
is a good thing if it is done in a way that kills infidels. If those
people ever get the bomb, I think they will use it if they get a chance.

That is why the situation in Pakistan is potentially far more dangerous
than either N. Korea or Iran.

Pakistan is a nuclear power *now*, and is only a quick coup away from
having radical Islamists in power. What will the U. S. do if we wake up
tomorrow to find Pervez Musharraf overthrown and the Mullahs in charge?
Certainly, our options will be restricted by the effort being wasted in
Iraq, and the re-emerging Taliban problem that that useless war has
permitted to rise in Afghanistan.

At a time when we need to be light on our feet, we are stuck in a tar-pit:

"We are not controlling events in Iraq. Events in Iraq are controlling
us. We are the puppet; the street gangs of Baghdad and Basra are the
puppet-masters, aided and abetted by an unsavory assortment of confidence
men, bazaar traders, scheming clerics, ethnic front men, and Iranian
agents. With all our wealth and power and idealism, we have submitted to
become the plaything of a rabble, and a Middle Eastern rabble at that.
[ ] The lazy-minded evangelico-romanticism of George W. Bush, the
bureaucratic will to power of Donald Rumsfeld, the avuncular condescension
of Dick Cheney, and the reflexive military deference of Colin Powell
combined to get us into a situation we never wanted to be in, a situation
no self-respecting nation ought to be in, a situation we don't know how to
get out of."

-John Derbyshire, National Review Online, June 12th, 2006

This same Derbyshire?

"Does it not occur to you liberals, not even
for a passing instant, that by purging all
sacred images, references, and words
from our public life, you are leaving us
with nothing but a cold temple presided
over by the Goddess of Reason • that
counterfeit deity who, as history has
proved time and time and time again,
inspires no affection, retains no loyalties,
soothes no grief, justifies no sacrifice,
gives no comfort, extends no charity,
displays no pity, and offers no hope,
except to the tiny cliques of fanatical
ideologues who tend her cold blue
flame." -- John Derbyshire
http://www.nationalreview.com/derbys...hire082503.asp

Looks like they left the door unlocked at the funny farm again.