-=> DAN CEPPA wrote to WAYNE CHIRNSIDE <=-


 WC> Once upon a time I believed the U.S. Constitution really mattered.

 DC> See tagline...

Did you hear what a friend of W's was said to have reported he'd said prior to
being 
elected?

The story goes he'd said no Commander in Chief could be considered a successful
president unless they were in a war.

 WC> Now I've seen civil liberties first slowly eroded by the so called
 WC> "war on drugs", and now
 WC> much more quickly by the "war on terrorism."

 DC> Those "wars" never succeed.

It seems to me it's not their intention to succeed.


 WC> Sad to say, I don't think it is any longer possible to
"win" the war
 WC> in Afganistan .

 DC> That possibility ended as soon as the focus shifted to Iraq.


that's how I called it too.

Actually, initially I opposed the war on the Taliban and thought more time
should have been 
given to treat it as a criminal matter in the hopes the Taliban could be
persuaded to
give up Osama and Al Qaeda operatives.

After all Clinton did this and we GOT the first set of WTC bombers.

I even remember the rather odd sight of Iranian cadlelight vigils for us 
for our losses immediately after 9-11.
We lost all that support in the Muslim world pretty much precisely 
when we needed it. 

But I too, somewhat, got sucked up into the revenge thing and let the mob,
majority.
persuade me it was the right course. A bit ashamed of that.

We should have been able to handle it differently as these were people we were
formerly in bed
with to expell the Russians from Afganistan.

But PNAC needed their "Pearl Harbor like event", to pursue their course
and 9-11 fit the bill pretty well.


I read a rather extensive and interesting piece about the economic basis of the
war.
Suggested that Iraq switching to the Euro in 2000 was the real cause.
I'm no economist but it was persuasive.
I should fact check it and other details about Iran, Saudi Arabia and
Venesuala.

Truth be told, I no longer really care so much, it exacts too much of an
emotional
cost and extreme frustration with our _leadership_.

The gist of the article was that because the world oil markets work by trading
in dollars
that gives substance to the value of the dollar similar to that before Nixon
took us off
the gold standard.

Should oil begin to be traded in Euros, the argument was it would thus now be
the currency backed by an actual tradable commodity and thus the dollar would
decline
and the Euro gain value.

Seems a logical argument.

What do I know.



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