Dear Jardine,

About the claim that Muhammad was illiterate, see: http://radicaltruth.net/index.php/learn/muhammad/32-was-muhammad-illiterate

The "Islamic State" is not going to "dry up an wither" any more than the Taliban in poverty stricken Afghanistan is going to "dry up an wither."

The "Islamic State" now exists because there are a lot of gun toting Islamic crazies with their boots on the ground that say it exists. That just happens to be the defining definition of any "state". It exists because men with guns say it exists.

Unlike poverty stricken Afghanistan which despite it's poverty still managed to bring down the twin towers, launch an attack on the Pentagon, and nearly kill the President of the USA in his White House, these characters have a renewable money supply in a couple of oilfields. Don't give me any crap about they can not sell the oil, all of the UN sanctions could not stop Saddam Hussein from selling oil on the sly, and one reason was because UN secretary Koffee Annan's son was one of the main oil bootleggers.

The thing which strikes me most about Dave Smith's mindset, is the absolute glee he exhibits at the idea that here is something that the USA can not fix. People like Dave seem to hate the USA so much that they just love the idea of terrorists getting the better of the yanks.

Planet Earth to Dave Smith. There exists in this world a new state who's inhabitants really do want to kill you unless you bow down to their idiotic religion. And their supporters have immigrated to western countries where their populations keep growing through birth rate differentials, immigration and "refugees." You may laugh but a lot of European Jews in 1932 laughed at the idea that Hitler and his bunch of street fighting thugs were any threat to them also.

Actually in Rotherhan UK we see what their co-coreligionists actually do, and who helps them. And that's in the middle of a major Western country with districts maybe not unlike some parts of western Sydney.

Read it at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11059138/Rotherham-In-the-face-of-such-evil-who-is-the-racist-now.html

What you won't see is who is importing the mongrels - a topic that would reward some in-depth investigative journalism.

Dave you apparently did miss something. A lot of those fighting with the Islamic State hold passports that allow them should they survive there adventure to return to countries such as the UK and Australia.

I don't think anybody has definative numbers but some estimates of numbers of western fighters at http://abcnews.go.com/International/western-governments-step-efforts-block-isis-recruits/story?id=25204441 should provide some food for thought on what happens if ISIS goes broke and some if them go back to their day jobs (or whatever they do at home).

Estimates of 150 Australians over there learning some new skills on how to interact with people who don't share a belief in a particular brand of Islam.

Thats the self interst bit, now the bit about being human beings with some compassion for those suffering even when we don't feel that we have the answers.

I don't live in Syria or Iraq so the immediate threat of ISIS is not an issue for me, I also accept that often political complexities mean that intervention is somewhat of a hit and miss affair. I also accept sometimes attempts to intervene may make things worse so I'm not a fan of military intervention. This article reeked of "not my problem" in regard to ISIS, even when I and others don't know what western countries could or should do I seriously hope most of us are not so dismissive of the plight of those caught up in the sort of nightmare facing many in the Middle East at the moment as this article seems to be.

R0bert

A simple solution to end the IS threat, tell the Gulf States and Turkey to stop funding them.

Jardine, others have given you the answers where you need correction.
However one point you made is incorrect.
Saddam Hussein was definitely working on nuclear weapons.
I saw him on a TV broadcast skiting that his scientists had been able
to bypass bans on supply of components needed for a nuclear weapon.
He held up something that seemed to be red in colour as part of the triggering system for a weapon.
There was also a report that he obtained a prototype centrifuge from
a German company. From memory I think the companies name was mentioned
in the article.
Of course there is no doubt that his other WMD sarin gas was used on the Kurds.

Now you will probably argue that he was just waffling on, but it is
a bit like someone pointing a fake gun at you, it makes not the
slightest difference.