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2003-02-19 
I hate having formal rules...
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Posted by Fred Pruitt 2003-02-19 09:34 pm|| E-Mail|| Front Page|| [336075 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 Yay! Rules are good. Fred is good. Rantburg is good. <3 <3 <3 Feel the love.
Posted by Scooter McGruder 2003-02-19 17:24:40||   2003-02-19 17:24:40|| Front Page Top

#2 I've always been a follower of the Golden Rule: He who has the gold makes the rules. Lead on, Fred. Onward and upward!
Posted by Ptah  2003-02-19 17:37:17||   2003-02-19 17:37:17|| Front Page Top

#3 You're the boss, FP!
Posted by Bulldog  2003-02-19 17:38:52||   2003-02-19 17:38:52|| Front Page Top

#4 President Bush's "pre-emption doctrine" speech at West Point, last May, gave an indication that the Cold War "containment" constraints were no longer operative principles, governing the national-security superstructure. Try to answer the following question, without giving an opinion: so what's next?
Posted by Anon 2003-02-19 18:43:47||   2003-02-19 18:43:47|| Front Page Top

#5 It seems that too many people think the War Against Terrorism is ONLY Afghanistan or ONLY BinLaden. I've been trying without success to tell them that this is all of a piece. Thank you from a former Marine for your work at educating the great unwashed about this.
Posted by Fleck  2003-02-19 19:16:51||   2003-02-19 19:16:51|| Front Page Top

#6 It's your site = your desires are writ very large
and that's ok with me
Posted by Frank G  2003-02-19 19:29:14||   2003-02-19 19:29:14|| Front Page Top

#7 Agreed
Posted by anon 2003-02-19 19:33:04||   2003-02-19 19:33:04|| Front Page Top

#8 does this mean we can't tell off Murat, or does this mean you will remove Murat?
Posted by anon 2003-02-19 19:39:52||   2003-02-19 19:39:52|| Front Page Top

#9 Fair 'nough. I'm in.
Posted by Rex Mundi 2003-02-19 19:44:23||   2003-02-19 19:44:23|| Front Page Top

#10 uh, ok.
Posted by Frank Martin  2003-02-19 19:59:15|| [varifrank.blogspot.com]  2003-02-19 19:59:15|| Front Page Top

#11 Try to answer the following question, without giving an opinion: so what's next?

Your opinion's welcome. All I ask is that you first give excerpts from the speech and then try to assess its implications, rather than posting a "pure" opinion piece.

Think of this is the news section of the blogosphere©, or as an unclassified 24-hour intel summary. This is where people can go both for hard information and for "between the lines" interpretation. If you look at articles I've posted and that others have posted, you'll see that we either use a paragraph-comment format (something like a Fisking), or an article-interpretation format. Either's valid, as long as the opinion you're posting is informed and either confirms the facts presented, or contradicts the facts presented with another set of facts. Even better is when you present a set of facts and tie it to another set. If you don't have an opinion, or you don't know what to make of it, just post the naked article. The reader comments might fill in what you're missing.

A news posting, with a comment of "This is bullshit" and nothing to say why it's BS would likely have the comment dumped. A "news" article from Indymedia or Weekly World News would usually be dumped - I do have a weakness for the ridiculous, but we only have so much disk space to store this stuff.
Posted by Fred  2003-02-19 20:14:35||   2003-02-19 20:14:35|| Front Page Top

#12 One answer to Anon’s question “What’s Next?”:

Iraq is not a bad base to start cleaning up Lebanon’s Beka Valley. Removal of the Ba’thists in Iraq will put the Syrians (brother Ba’thists) on notice to shape up or ship out. Al Qaeda is in the BV’s training camps and up to no good; collateral damage would simply involve the other bad guys in and around the valley’s vineyards.

If Iran does not collapse on its own within six months, we’ll have to find a way to push it over.

Jordan will cooperate with our moves in Lebanon, Iran, and Syria.

All this will shake Soddy Arabia, but it will take a couple of years to implode. Iraqi oil needs to flood the market to lower the price of crude and make supporting the Soddy princelings too expensive.

If Junior doesn’t find the battle of Iraq (the action there is but one in the war on terror) sobering, we’ll have to do something outrageous with NKor. Junior seems crazy enough to try to kill many SKor innocents and US troops with his artillery massed along the DMZ. Would we work with Japan on the first-use of nukes as a contingency until we can develop a plan with conventional weapons? The high-tech stuff that will disrupt much of Iraq’s command, control, and weaponry won’t work against the primitive stuff the NKors have.

And then there’s the Paki arsenal. Gotta take that baby out too. Maybe soon.
Posted by The Kid  2003-02-19 20:15:00||   2003-02-19 20:15:00|| Front Page Top

#13 does this mean we can't tell off Murat, or does this mean you will remove Murat?

If you're big enough to have an opinion, you should be big enough to defend it. I often don't agree with Murat, but that's why it's called an exchange of opinions.

Unless I'm having a bad day, of course.
Posted by Fred  2003-02-19 20:18:40||   2003-02-19 20:18:40|| Front Page Top

#14 Fleck,

Thanks. You can't read this stuff day in and day out without getting the overall picture: The Soddy money, the Learned Elders of Islam, the charities, the Pak and Algerian muscle, the Arab mercenaries in Chechnya, the weekly prayers for them in the mosques in Mecca... It's all of a piece. Sometimes they don't even bother trying to hide the connections.

It's such an ugly picture, sometimes I actually understand why so many people are scared to look at it.
Posted by Fred  2003-02-19 21:01:49||   2003-02-19 21:01:49|| Front Page Top

#15 The Kid:

"What's next?" means: what military-strategic doctrine will replace "containment?" If it is to be "roll-over," then one has to question the conduct of the Bush administration in the Afghanistan War. During the fighting, they: promoted inclusion of Taleban within a proposed broad-based government; withheld air support, unsuccessfully, to prevent a Northern Alliance capture of Kabul; forced armistice arrangements to end the conflict, leaving American soldiers vulnerable to armed jihadis. If they leave the Iraq conflict to the Generals everything will go fine. However, I do not trust George W. Bush because I believe that he is committing American soldiers to a war that he will not let them win.
Posted by Anon 2003-02-19 21:53:53||   2003-02-19 21:53:53|| Front Page Top

#16 Fred: I consider this to be one of the finest sites on the web. In my opinion, this is the worlds first 'open source' news site. Consistently, this site and those who contribute to it are ahead of the traditional news curve by as much as 48 hours, no mean feat in the modern world of 'instant information'. I think the "fisking" is done better here than anywhere else, and from the looks of things in the world, we could all use a little more "fisking".

But every news organization needs an editor. News that not edited is just graffitti in form and function. On Rantburg - You,Fred Pruitt, are the "Editor-in-Chief', and what you say, goes.

I think you are more than generous in your approach, and I will abide by any and all requirements therein. My personal opinion is that a "Murat" post is acceptable, but 'worldofpete' style post is not. Theres a difference between the loyal opposition of opinions, and a pathetic call for enforced medication.

Keep up the good work man, this stuff is great.
Posted by Frank Martin  2003-02-19 22:41:48|| [varifrank.blogspot.com]  2003-02-19 22:41:48|| Front Page Top

#17 in which case i apologise for telling off murat, and will not do so again unless there is something useful of fact and logic in it
Posted by anon 2003-02-20 06:44:45||   2003-02-20 06:44:45|| Front Page Top

12:03 martin harris
07:32 Hiryu
06:44 anon
02:01 Rodney King
01:58 Helpful Lawyer
00:57 Rex Mundi
00:57 R. McLeod
00:52 R. McLeod
00:36 Rex Mundi
23:51 Frank Martin
23:41 Frank Martin
23:29 Frank Martin
23:28 George Tenet
23:25 Dishman
23:24 Frank Martin
23:20 Dishman
23:09 Frank Martin
23:04 Frank Martin
22:41 Frank Martin
22:07 John
21:59 Drew
21:53 Anon
21:47 John
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