It has been suggested that, if this were a post by anyone other than BD, we would be able to discuss it productively. Yes, at times he posts a thread which ostensibly looks as though it would provide a good natter. But, knowing his mind-set so well by now, of course it never does.

For a couple of years I managed completely to ignore this nuisance by never reading his posts or replying to him. But even that didn't work eventually as I would catch the name Romany in one of his posts and simply have to read it! (yeah, yeah, I'm a very weak woman).

However, perhaps if we, in concert, ignored him for a while and simply went on posting around and in spite of him, this forum would stop being The Boaz/Polycarp Daily Repetition Board and give others a chance? I know from previous posts that I'm not the only one who resents the tendency of this entire forum to revolve around one person's paranoia. Though I suspect there are people who are kinda hooked on the interactions.

BTW, although we don't get the ceaseless flow of speculation and coverage here, we do get many serious discussions with Indian representatives, politicians etc. To date, shorn of speculation and opinions from Western commentators, the messge we are getting is: No-one is ready yet to name, definitively, the perpetrators. The reason that has been given for the action is that Western interference - especially American and British - with domestic problems is resented, hence the targeting of American and British nationals. Take that with whatever grain of salt you wish, but that is the message being sent by India to the one third of the world who live here.

PS. BD - I AM a writer. Please try to keep up.

Austin, "As for invading Iraq, we all know that the WMD excuse was a fit-up but the 9/11 attacks started the ball rolling. ie they brought it on themselves"

Do we then ignore the history from both sides which preceeded 9/11? There had been previous attacks on the other by both sides. Clinton ordered a missile strike against Osama during his presidency (1998) http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2006/osama_bin_missing_whos_tried_hardest_to.html
http://www.snopes.com/rumors/clinton.asp

Some of the atrocities by terrorists are discussed in the second document.

9/11 was an escalation of a conflict which had been occuring over a much longer period. A very ugly escalation but not the starting point.

R0bert

Dear Romany,

I'm with you on this one.

I've tried many, many times to get to
the bottom of the 'why?' behind all
of Polycarp's actions. And you're
right - he conveniently forgets all the
previous posts, discussions, and
explanations, given to his threads by
so many of us in the past. All he remembers
is his single-minded one-track stance, and
it never ever varies.

It is time that we simply en masse, stopped
responding to any of his threads

That's not a bad idea, Foxy.

>>It is time that we simply en masse, stopped responding to any of his threads<<

I had a quick look back over the number of times he has backed out of a discussion when he found himself completely out of his depth, only to reappear, like a weed after a rainstorm, as if nothing had happened.

The thought of him being allowed free rein to vent his fear and loathing, together with his constant repetition of wild assertions as to the authenticity of this and the vileness of that, in an unpleasant one.

But I'll try.

Mind you, I'm going to have to take it one day at a time...

Dear Pericles,

You've persevered so patiently in the past.

I'm just finding it a bit much to stomach
at the moment.

That's all.

what i like about olo is we can all have our say freely
even if your[ok i am]not as literate as i should be
i have a lot of time for those who call me their enemy

i will try to explain why
its the yes man syndrome

it is far easier to let a 'friend' slide one past the batsman
than an enemy

we respond vigerously to our percieved enemy
enjoying [perhaps]the brutal thrust of release

it is with this in mind i post my responses
hoping that we can arrive at a concensus peacefully

this nesitates us being able to be honest with each other

to be honest i heard it first here
i straight away 'saw' a submarine[letting off commandoes in a rubber duckie

[then seeing the rubber duckie in the midday news

ok its no proof it was THE marines
doing this comando raid

[but they clesarly were schooled in comando tactic's[perhaps even being trained to get off the transporter into the boat etc]

then i saw the visualising of a muslim[i will call mahamud]
now mahamud said lets use cammels
osama said
hey lets just get a taxi[or steal a car]

then dikkk chimes in hey we got that russion sub

we can train the latest batch of young-uns to do the red flag

well a few things are clearlty speculation
but hey why didnt they use helicopter's

what palistein[sorry paskistan;
[them arabs all look the same[quiet dikkk in writing]

anyhow pakistan got NUKES
but no hell-i-cop-ters
/DUH

COME ON

this was a black swan event
so lets beef up the security industry

a cop at every corner issueing speed fines

more cameras ,more drug sniffer dogs[clearly bomb sniffing dogs wouldnt have smelled the machine gunns[and gren-aides]

it is sad when anyone dies

that fools still believe in winnable wars
is the height of absurdity

that we negotiate with terrorists is bad
but not talking to them is worse

comeon gang we are in this together

i dont have so many peers
that i can afford to lose a single one