Dear Arjay...

lately you seem to have been infected with some kind of "itus"...

-'I've suddenly found the truth' -itus

but you are manifesting that syndrome by bouncing between wild 911 conpsiracy theory and a trend toward gulping down every available crumb of left wing droppings mate.

I'm sure you didn't do this a few years ago.. did u ?

But you said:

"Are we just plain stupid or just too corrupt to realise our own foibles?"

Welcome to the world of Romans 1-6 Paul argues this point of yours with considable profundity and depth..

I would tend to agree with you on one thing Yes! we ARE too corrupt... or perhaps a better word is 'blind'.

Jesus disciples were whining about 'but we have no bread'...after they had already witnessed Him miraculously feeding 4000 and 5000 on separate occasions. No surprise that Mark in his Gospel places story of a 'blind' man just after Jesus reminder about those incidentds.

You seem to think that "once we 'get' it all... we will suddenly fix ourselves up and bring in social utopia"... commmmmmme ON...old son... you know better than that!

Ever since Abraham and Lot (Gen 13) argued over grazing rights, till now.. 'life and politics' has been about one thing.. RESOURCES.

Now.. don't suddenly be shocked when you find the various war lords fighting proxy wars for China, USA and UK over the newly announced massive resource finds.
Then..if CHINA happens to come out with a few good contracts ... don't be shocked if Australia suddenly becomes an economic backwater as OUR iron ore suddenly does not have the same allure to the Chinese it once had.

ARJAY.. "allied soldiers walking among poppy fields" means virtually NOTHING.. they might have been doing any of a number of things...scoping out how much.. or whatever....

I'm beginning to think ur on drugs. :)

AiR as you may well realise Prof Griffin has his major in theology.He is a person of high integrity.Let's look a one anomoly.How did Mohommad Atta's passport leave his pocket in a fireball of 911 totally unscathed and end up in the hands of the FBI?

Oh dear, there seems to be a conspiracy for everything.
I doubt that it will be possible to get a government installed that
will survive the Taliban's attack for more than a few months after
the foreign troops leave.

It seems to me, not being a military expert, that the best way to stop
the Taliban going back to their alliance with Al Quaider will be to
monitor their activity and attack any base that is set up from the air.
Even cruise missiles could be used. Sure civilians will suffer but that
will be their penalty for allowing the Taliban, their government, to
set up such bases.

It just seems to be that the people there are unable to govern
themselves with reasonable governments.
Perhaps if they gave their religious fanatics the push they might be
able to live reasonable lives, but altimately it is up to them.
If they cannot set up a government that does not cause problems for
other countries then they will have to wear the consequences.

Pakistan need to wipe em out in the north for it all to end.

Dear Arjay...

as to your question about Atta's passport..I don't have a clue, but stranger things have happened.

I might also ask you about the network which Atta was a part of...how various international law enforcement agencies..not American alone, have connected the dots.. does your conspiracy theory answer that ?

I'm sure it does, but I doubt it would be convincing.

THE WAR IS ILLEGAL ? I have a good look at the essay, and it's structure is of interest. It refers to peoples opinions and uses wild phrases such as "although it was by then widely accepted that the war in Iraq was illegal" ...er..widely accepted by...WHO ?

A bunch of left wing long haired flea bitten acid tripping hippie greens with an anti American axe to grind ? (some of whom might be skilfully disguised as 'academics' in tweed jackets with elbow patches and smoking a pipe these days) Perhaps like the bomber terrorist communist scum Bill Ayers ?

Diatribe and rant aside.. the key point in the alleged 'illegality' of the war is the concept of 'NATION'... when a NATION attacks..etc.

All this means is that the UN/Geneva concention is OUT OF DATE...and rather than waiting for it to catch up with reality.. the Americans acted in the interests of their self preservation.

Men make laws..and Conventions..based on circumstances of the day.
Those same men can change them when needed. It does not make responses to terrorism illegal...it just makes them a bit ahead of their time.