[Wanderer]

Originally posted by Andr&eacutes Lescano:
I think that the chose of target in 9-11 was clear enough. It was not the military, not the government, not the innocent civilians (just a little collateral damage), the WTC was canter and symbol of the large neo-imperialistic corporations.

Erm, are you saying the Pentagon isn't a military or governmental centre?

Where was the fourth plane headed? The White House? We'll probably never know for sure.

Does working for Cantor Fitzgerald make you lose your status as a civilian and make you a valid target? I think not.

Of course, the same applies to all the Iraqi civilians. The difference is that they won't be being targetted deliberately, assuming that the plan of action this time round is to avoid targetting all those baby milk factories that Baghdad seems to be stuffed with.

Actually, winning hearts and minds will be much easier if the infrastructure is kept intact and civilian deaths are kept to a minimum - but will the military planners accept the increased risk to the invading troops? (Iraqi soldiers will be able to defend better if their power stations, bridges, roads etc. are all intact)

That's what they consider their enemy is, what they see as imperialistic companies ravaging their people and the country that supports them.

Saudi Sheikh: "Damn infidel Westerners buying my oil for ever more ludicrous prices. I'll have to buy my wives another 200 cars. Someone phone BMW."

Saudi Sheikh's impoverished kitchen boy: "Yes, damn those decadent infidels for ravaging our country"*

It's too easy to blame foreign companies. Not that they're spotless, a force for good or anything like that (I seem to have reason to curse Micro$oft every day - if only Word wasn't so awkward to use at times).

Imperialism means your colonies fund you, not the other way!

Erm, hang on a minute. The British ploughed a lot of money into their colonies on the basis that they'd be able to buy more British goods. I think the Americans do much the same, except they have very few actual colonies (do McDonald's restaurants count as American soil? )

Even if everything is this war goes nicely... Will there be fewer terrorists willing to attack the US?

No. There will almost certainly be more.

If the next actions after Iraq are to get North Korea to stop f***ing about (dunno what the official diplomatic term is) and to make serious attempts to get a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian situation, things may change for the better. But it will take some time.

Originally posted by SamuraiProgrammer:
What I really want is for you to realize that this country must find a way to make sure that 9/11 does not happen again.

Hmmmm. Not sure how to respond to that.

I'm glad that the US is awake to the fact that firing the odd cruise missile at Iraq isn't a decent long-term solution, but it's a pity that it took such a horrific event to do it. It's also a pity the PR war has been almost completely lost (the Axis of Evil speech, threatening Iraq before going to the UN, having George Bush as president).

Personally, I think whoever has the biggest stick should wave it rather than sit back and do nothing. Of course, it was much easier when Victoria was on the throne, our stick wasn much larger and the enemy carried nothing more dangerous than sharpened fruit...

Originally posted by Thermodyne:
While carriers allow a country to readily project force in to the far flung regions of the world, the task of protecting them can actually be greater than what they cost to deploy. England came to this conclusion before the Falklands war. Then when the miniscule Argentinean Air force was able to repeatedly strike major blows against the British fleet, it was decided that the carriers were not able to operate when relying on fleet units for air cover. The result is that the British will close the book on Fleet Air Operations.

Actually, the British government has just confirmed who's going to build our next carriers (mostly the French it seems ). They're going to substantially larger than the current V/STOL class, but not as large as the American carriers. I think they're also going to operate aircraft designed jointly by the US and UK, although I might have got my wires crossed.

And yes, it was the worst possible timing to scrap the large carriers a few years before we had to fight in the kind of conflict they were perfect for.

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* not a very good joke, sorry. For a better one, watch the 'What have the Romans ever done for us?' scene from Monty Python's Life Of Brian.