It's the kind of anniversary that you'd rather not have to remember, but it's important that we do. Great post, jeff!

Somebody should have impeached them.

I'm glad Saddam is gone, together with his sicko sons, and the Baathist regime. I'm glad we're not "enforcing no-fly zones" and getting shot at without taking retaliatory action.

I'm glad that Osama is hunkered down, knowing full well that he takes his life in his hands every time he climbs on a donkey or feels the sun on his face. Can you hear me now?

I'm glad the prisoners at Guatanamo are stuck there, and not sitting in a commercial flight school in Arizona or Florida. I am not at all troubled they were denied due process: they're lucky they weren't killed in the field.

I'm glad that B/O readers are provided the liberty and freedoms that are denied the people of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Pakistan. The loyal opposition tends to be forced into exile in those countries.

I'm glad we haven't seen a follow-on attack after 9/11, and I give the Bush Administration and Homeland Security full credit for our domestic tranquility.

I look forward to the day when President Obama has to worry about something bigger than running for office, and I pray that he doesn't screw it up.

I do think he gave the speech of his life yesterday (about race relations and his pastor), and I know several Republicans who were similarly impressed.

//Still voting for McCain, even though he can't win Oregon.

[i]"I'm glad the prisoners at Guatanamo are stuck there, and not sitting in a commercial flight school in Arizona or Florida. I am not at all troubled they were denied due process: they're lucky they weren't killed in the field."[/i]

Today it's their civil liberties, tomorrow it might be yours. And if they are so 'guilty', if there is so much evidence against them, why haven't they been tried?

It was not worth America being a criminal violator of International Law.

It was not worth the loss of credibility of our leaders, Republicans and Democrats, who allowed a pretextual war.

It was not worth one American life. (Rest in Peace, Travis).

Colin Powell is responsible. He allowed his credibilty to be the lever that launched the War. He must have known, it was false.

The Emperor has no clothes.

Another one of my 'favorites': "It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months." - Donald Rumsfeld, speaking at the American air base in Aviano, Italy in February 2003.

"I'm glad we haven't seen a follow-on attack after 9/11"

Anthrax anyone?

The anthrax attack certainly came on the heels of 9/11, but appeared to be directed against the mainstream media and Democratic Congressional leaders. Not exactly a copy cat crime, more like copy cat timing.

While it certainly disrupted the postal service and the U.S. Capitol, I don't think the 5 who died from anthrax poisoning can be compared to the thousands who died on 9/11.

I hold the opinion that the culprit was likely a right-winger -- probably formerly employed by the Army at Fort Detrick, MD -- who simply used the pro-islamacist anti-american rhetoric as a smokescreen to hide his true identity.

Technically, it was an act of terrorism: domestic terrorism. But we haven't seen a follow-on attack which Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for, not on U.S. soil.

Actually you're wrong about that Jeff. You just don't associate with people who don't think like you so in your little world Iced Tee is an outlier.

No doubt about it, the Iraq conflict has been a big mess. Hard to say that the alternatives wouldn't have been messier. And of course, I love the idiot liberals who are so concerned with minor losses of liberty here at home but ignore major violations abroad. How about women not being able to go to school under the Taliban? Homosexuals executed? Saddam using chemical weapons against the Kurds?

The world is a messy place full of some really bad folks. The basic liberal pose of hiding under the bed like a scared little girl isn't going to cut it. Even Bill Clinton finally had to do something in Bosnia although he did do liberals proud by running and hiding from most other threats.

Domestic Tranquility?! Really? If you mean that no one has flown airplanes into buildings, then I guess yeah, it's been "tranquil". However, many Americans are dying a slow death due to lack of adequate, affordable health care. Many Americans can no longer envision being able to even approach the "American Dream". Many Americans are losing their jobs overseas, their pensions are being raided and they are being treated like total idiots and with contempt by the very government that is supposed to represent them and govern in a responsible manner so that our own country doesn't go down the toilet while some chickenhawks go get their war on by invading a country that didn't deal with Al-Queda, didn't have WMD, didn't train any of the 9-11 attackers, didn't harbor Osama Bin Laden, and didn't pose a direct threat to our country. We invaded a country without invitation of it's people or the support of the world community. Was Saddam a bad guy? Hell, yes. But the US is not responsible for wiping out all the bad guys on the face of the earth and we couldn't even if we wanted to. Do I like the oppression in other countries? Hell, no! But we don't gain the support and admiration of other countries by judging them, invading them, trying to impose our "democratic ideals" upon them and completely ignoring their religious and secular histories. You make enemies that way. You gain no friends that way. If we want the world to change, we should withdraw our troops and work on making THIS country the greatest that ever was---so great that all the peoples around the world want to emulate us and say "hey, maybe that democracy thing can work here"---THEN they can enact that change from within their own countries. Change imposed from the outside NEVER lasts.

In the meantime, we are losing so much in the country...ideals, beliefs, infrastructure, hope, and more. Domestic Tranquility? Please.

Nothing is more frightening to me than people who think like Iced Tea. How can anyone with an active brain cell possibly feel the way he/she does? The fear machine certainly took hold in his/her head. Try turning off the FOX network, run down to Borders and buy one of the hundreds of books that will teach you the truth. Then, go home, lock yourself in your bunker, and wait for nothing to happen.

"I'm glad we haven't seen a follow-on attack after 9/11"

How about the attacks in Spain and England? Or do they not count because they weren't in the US?

Also, eight years elapsed between the first WTC attack by Al Qaeda in 1993 and the big one in 2001. Based on that precedent, Osama bin Laden (who is still alive and at large, thanks to George "Dead or Alive" Bush's spectacular ineptitude) might be gearing up for another one in 2009.

Of course if that happens the Republiscums will blame it on the Democratic president, whoever he or she is. "Disgusting" is the mildest term I can think of for them.

"Nothing is more frightening to me than people who think like Iced Tea."

"Think" is not the right term for it. "Regurgitate right-wing talking points learned from Limbaugh and O'Reilly" is more accurate.

"You just don't associate with people who don't think like you so in your little world Iced Tee is an outlier."

Ahem.

CBS News Poll, 3/18-20: "Looking back, do you think the United States did the right thing in taking military action against Iraq, or should the U.S. have stayed out?"

Did the right thing: 36%

Should have stayed out: 59%

In the same poll, 65% of Republicans said they approve of the way Dumbya is handling Iraq, while 91% of Democrats disapproved and, more significantly, 64% of independents disapproved. In other words, just the reverse of Republican opinion.

"Outlier" is hardly the word for where the Republicans are on Iraq. They are so far out that they aren't even on the board.

It's important to recognize that there is a small, but not miniscule set of people of the same opinion as Iced Tea. They're not crazy or evil; they just have a different opinion.

It is clear from his comments that Iced Tea is thoughful and aware. And he actually has something worthwhile to contribute to the conversation about terrorism, war, the role and limits of government, etc.

Personally, I think we can combat terrorism and mantain our constitutional freedoms, but that's just my opinion.

"I know that human being and fish can coexist peacefully" -Bush

Please James, no Bush quotes....I just ate lunch and you're making me quesy. Now, where is that Pepto-Bismol?

Even if you accept the assertion that our efforts have thwarted/prevented any more terror attacks (a very large stretch, given the attacks in Europe, Indonesia, etc.) it does not logically follow that it was the war in Iraq that stopped new attacks. The publicly-supported war against the Taliban in Afganistan, and the efforts of the CIA and other agencies and partners around the world probably have disrupted OBL and al Queda.

However, the war in Iraq has been entirely couterproductive in the greater war on terror. Al Queda in Iraq did not exist under Saddam. Saddam had no WMD, no relationship with (Shia!) terrorists. There has never been a better terrorist creation initiative than the war on Iraq, unsupported by allies around the world, or around the Muslim world.

The Iraq effort has sapped the effort and effectiveness of the Afgan intervention, and been detrimental to the Palestinian /Israeli conflict, the good will toward America in the developed and underdeveloped world, the federal budget, and the ranks of the army and reserves.

It's nice, especially for the Shia and Kurds, that Saddam is gone, but it's hard to imagine how regime change could have been managed much worse. It certainly hasn't been worth the cost in lives, dollars, respect, and civil liberties.

" And of course, I love the idiot liberals who are so concerned with minor losses of liberty here at home but ignore major violations abroad. How about women not being able to go to school under the Taliban? Homosexuals executed? Saddam using chemical weapons against the Kurds?"

Idiot liberals? Andy, you do not seem have much historical perspective on political matters. If any issue can be considered a bedrock conservative cause, it is the protection of individual rights of speech, privacy, association, etc. against government limitation. That is, unless by "conservative" you mean bluenoses and fear-mongers who want to enforce moral and political homogeneity on Americans.

Also, it is traditionally liberals who seek US action to support human and political rights around the world. The NeoCons adopted the stance, hypocritically in my opinion, to justify military power projection aimed at very different ends than publicly stated.

Of course, you can define terms any way you see fit. Just don't expect to do any real communication beyond reinforcing confused perceptions of the world.