Metaphors and politics (was: Prime number algo...)

[Max Khesin]

> Khesin (err, Max) claimed, this use of first name is meant, in the USA,

Dig is, err, not appreciated. But that's my silly warmongering talking.

> to infantilize that foreign sovereign[2], and thereby claim a parental
> obligation to "chastise" him (by dropping bombs on thousands of Iraqi
> civilians, and killing tens of thousands of Iraqi conscripts).

This may be true for some of the general public. It does not imply that the
war is not justified. You have yet not given one rational argument other
than  claiming that the other side of the argument is psychologically
motivated.

> As a rule, the anti-war folks--as well as being generally better
> educated on geography, history, and the like[3]--also eschew pretending
> personal acquaintance with Hussein.
>
> Yours, Lulu...

This may be due to the fact that peaceful resolution to a given conflict is
more complicated than an agressive one. Intellectual people also tend to be
less physically agressive. That again does not imply that every conflict is
resolvable peacfully. Maybe US should have not 'chastised' Hitler in WW2 by
dropping bombs on Germany?

> [3] Not my opinion, but rather what all the polls overwhelmingly
> indicate; most pro-war USAians cannot find Iraq on a map, know nothing
> of its history, and think Iraqis were amoung the WTC attackers.

Rubbish - this is one stupid statistic. Out of people who know where Iraq
(if this is your criteria) is what percentage supports the war?

> of its history, and think Iraqis were amoung the WTC attackers.

I agree that in this instance they are victims of USGov trying too hard to
justify the war. The connection to 9/11 is quite weak. On the other hand it
is a very well known fact that your "foreign sovereign" f*k pays 25K to the
family of every Palestinian suicide bomber. If that is not in itself enough
to classify this man as a terrorist, (you have to be out of your mind to
think that) do you think he would miss a chance to hurt innocents here, if
he could get eway with it?

============
A practical suggestion: If you are interested in continuing this thread, I
cross-posted to alt.security.terrorism, which I periodically visit. We can
continue there and spare the Python folks the OT stuff.