Well said Dr. W. ! Kenneth + -------------------------------------------------------------- > Charles: Thanks for a good essay. Do you know that Tariq Aziz is a Chaldan Christian? We need toremember the brethren in the Faith in Iraq espcially in this difficult time. I continue to remain unimpressed with Bush's hysteria and his eagerness to send our sons and dtrs into harms way. I find it significant that Baghdad is held to one standard that results in the malnutrition/death of perhaps 1.3 million mostly women and children in the last decade while places like Tel Aviv (90 resolutions from the UN they flout) and Beijing(the worlds largest dictatorship) are winked at and given every possible assistance. It is about oil and about special interests and about the smokescreen that the Beltway needs to keep people's minds off real issues like hunger, poverty, unemployment, failing infrastructure, no healthcare (37% of Americans have no insurance or inadequate insurance) and an education system that socially engineers and keeps peopleoff the labour market but does not educate them in the things that matter. W.Scott Ritter (former Marine and UN arms inspector )was on CSPAN this week. I wish I could have played that interview and Q & A to everyone in North America . Ritter tells the hard truth that no one wants to hear. Like RitterI do not believe that Saddam is 'nice' but I find it interesting that he does not persecute Christians(for whatever reason) and I doubt he has weapons of mass destruction (whatever they are) because to use them would be a Pyrric victory indeed . I am glad that the authoritiesin Iraq have agreed to arms inspectors (w/o conditions) and I pray that saner heads in Europe and the rest of the world will prevail and stay Bush from adecision that could plunge the world into a real 'mother' of conflagration. Let us also remember that those who heve never served in the Forces seem the keenest to "bomb 'em now" while those of us who have worn a uniform want a more detached view of things and some hard evidence before anything is done. Finally. who (in 2002) appointed Washington DC as the guardian/arbiter of anything ; there is more than enough beams to cast from Uncle Sams eyes! Blessings and like you I pray sanity will revail. There never was a good war or a bad peace. Blessings. GDVW+ AD HOMINEM ARGUMENTS OFTEN WORK > > In an earlier piece, I tried to draw out the parallels between our > confrontation with Russia/Cuba in the 1960's and our present situation > regarding Iraq. > > This time Sadam blinked just as Kruschev blinked at the time of the > Cuban Missle Crisis. In fact, we had the whole world blinking. > > There are differences as well as similarities in the two crises. When > President Kennedy sent his emissary to the UN to win the war in the > court of public opinion, he had proof that Kruschev's finger prints were > all over the "smoking gun." Our ambassador to the UN could play the > part of prosecuting attorney, bringing forth the proof of the erection > of missle bases in Cuba and the Russian ships bearing missles to Cuba. > > Interestingly, though the press remarked President Bush acted as a > prosecuting attorney, he did not produce the smoking gun which he > claimed is in the Iraqi Arsenal. > > There is a distinction that the press does not make in the work of > attorneys arguing their cases. True, it is nice if a prosecutor can