hey! keep us out of it! you're taking the abraham story totally out of context. 4000 years ago blood sacrifice of the firstborn was normal and expected throughout the region. the shocking aspect of the story isn't that abraham was going to chop up his son - that would have been *normal* for the time - the shock is that he heard G-d say - stop! wait a minute, boy! what do you think you're doing?! and then replaced outright killing with a little below-the-waist snip-snip. rest of post, no quarrel with.
those 4 where not contractors in the usual sense, they were mercenaries. soldiers of fortune. live by the sword, die by the sword...
damir, Meatloaf said that phrase if I recall, in "Wasted Yourth" and it went: "My father woke up, screaming "Stop!" "Wait a minute! Stop it boy! What do ya think you're doin'? That's no way to treat an expensive musical instrument!" And I said: "God Dammit Daddy! You know I love you, But you got a hell of a lot to learn about Rock 'n Roll"" DS
I have been hearing this all along, and all along I have doubted it. I really hope you are right, but it seems pretty obvious to me that the authorities have let things get out of control. They should have arrested this guy al-Sadr right off the bat and not let him build his power. Now they have to deal with him, one way or another. Most of the posts on this thread don't address the real issue, which is what to do now? We have two unappealing choices. One, we can withdraw either quickly or gradually, with the knowledge that some sort of radical shiite regime aligned closely with Iran will take power eventually. Or we can suppress al-Sadr and the sunnis in Falujah, which will require largescale use of military force and result in tens of thousands of casualties. Those appear to me to be the two options now. I fault Bush and his strategists for getting in this position. By their poor planning and ineffectual action, they have backed themselves into a corner where a return of Saddam is beginning to look like an attractive choice. I'm sure part of the reason for their relatively passive occupation was to placate domestic and international critics and not run up a big body count of Muslims. Unfortunately that policy left our troops as the fall guys. That is the part of it I find very troubling. Wasn't that the real lesson of Vietnam? Of Somalia? Don't send our troops into a situation unless you are prepared to do what is necessary to protect them and to prevail in the conflict.
no it is not: "god" wasn't just telling abraham to do that, "he" was telling *everyone* in those days to do that. what abraham heard that was different was the "stop!" part of it. it's the NOT going through with it that makes abraham's story different from all the other sacrificial stories of the era.
Ok, let's cut the crap, I'm tired of people posting pages of waffle to justify their political position. As in the markets, anyone can have an opinion. So, let's starting making markets. I want bids and/or offers on the following spreadbets: 1) total Iraq bodycount (coalition + Iraqi violent deaths) before handover 2) number of days late the handover is 3) number of weeks before Al-sadr gets arrested or killed 4) number of months true democracy lasts in Iraq after handover 5) post-handover bodycount (total deaths from non-natural causes in Iraq) Make the market as wide as you like. We can't enforce payment, so it's "sportsman's honour" on these bets. Here's my opening call: 1) 100 - 3000 2) 1 - 300 3) 3 - 52 4) 6 - 60 5) 3000 - 1 million
My Markets -- 1) 350-1400 (I'm assuming the bodycount is for Coalition forces) 2) 30-150 3) at 2 -- Not even 1 bid, this will end in the next few days 4) 12-48 5) 800-2000 (I'm assuming the bodycount is for Coalition forces) Vega