President Obama is making a serious error by identifying himself so strongly with the war in Afghanistan that Bush started and then neglected. We initially went in Afghanistan to get Osama. He fled to the mo9untains and as a bonus of our incursion into Afghanistan, the Taliban were driven from power.

That was then and now is now. Osama is still hiding out somewhere in the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan and is probably no longer much of a factor. The Taliban are stronger than at any time since 2002 and Afghanistan is a disaster area.

So what is our goal there? I have yet to hear a good reason why we are fighting in Afghanistan.

We will never be able to bring Western style Democracy to the country. If ever, the Afghans have to find there own way. And in the process we run the risk of destabilizing Pakistan with its nuclear weapons.

The smart thing for Obama would be to get out of Afghanistan. He probably has the bulk of the American people behind him. If he is not careful, Obama's plans for a better America may go the same way as Johnson's "Great Society." Vietnam derailed Johnson. It wasn't his war and he ran for election in 1964 vowing to not get involved. Goldwater was the hawk and got trounced. It would be a pity if Afghanistan derails Obama.

I heard all this once before, when I was a child in Nazi Germany. Hitler and his henchmen used the same tactics to scare the German people into supporting his path to destruction.

Looks like people everywhere can be manipulated at will by those who have an agenda and no conscience. Ignorant people are especially susceptible to be panicked - just like horses.

Those who claimed that Obama lacked the experience to be President may be right after all: Obama believed that the American voter is sufficiently mature and not fall for lies and falsehoods. Yes, Obama was naive in giving the American voters more credit for brains than they deserve.

During the primaries and prior to the November elections, many claimed that Obama is not ready to be President because he lacks the experience.

Looks as if they were correct. Obama naively expected the Republicans and conservative Democrats to cooperate in an effort to rescue the country from eight years of mismanagement by President Bush and a (mostly) Republican Congress.

How wrong he was. A master politician like FDR and Johnson might have manipulated Congress and avoided the booby traps set by their opponents. Obama appears to be not sufficiently devious to deal with the hatred and deception of those who want him to fail. To be fair, one could wish for more support for President Obama from Democratic leaders in Congress. With friends like these, who needs enemies? Author is correct: Go it alone, Mr. President! There are enough Democrats in Congress to support you.

There is strong evidence that Abdel Basset al-Megrahi had nothing to do with the bombing and US authorities knew it all along. By sending him to jail the victims' families were put at ease. Libya sacrificed him as the price to be readmitted to the ranks of respected nations. Scottish authorities were wrestling with the question whether to reopen the case when Abdel Basset al-Megrahi did them the favor to become sick. That gave them an alibi to release the man for humanitarian reasons.

This article ought to be on page one of every news paper and be read on talk radio.

How about it, Rush Limbaugh?

That guy is no Conservative. He is a Fascist if I ever saw one. Reminds me too much of Hitler's man Goebbels. Conservatives and the Republican Party would be well advised to stay clear of him.

A health reform bill without a public option is useless. But why the battle? We already have a public option in Medicare. Simply make Medicare available to everybody. Besides, 2/3rd of the people want a public option. End of debate.

I love it! But will this article prevent future end-day scenarios? Wasn't the world to end on 31 December 999? It is said that so many people gave their property to the Church that almost overnight the Catholic Church became the largest land holder in Europe. Must have worked to prevent disaster, because the 1st of January 1000 came and nothing happened.

And herein lies the key to success of doomsday predictions: If enough people make big donations, or pray, or sit on telephone poles or whatever, the end of the world can be prevented.

This is an excellent articles and puts many things in perspective. I am shocked at some of the simplistic, obnoxious comments sent in by readers. Really had expected more from people who read Salon. Keep your comments rational and constructive, and stop the name calling!

This article should be mandatory reading for our decision makers and all hawks who want to make war on Iran. I disagree with only one statement: Germany did pass Curveball and his information to the US but with a warning that he is probably unreliable. US intelligence services also were leery of his claims but those who needed an alibi to invade Iraq jumped at it.

Come to think of it, Chicago never had a chance. To be eliminated in the first round came as a surprise but Chicago never stood a chance. The USA has hosted the Olympics and Winter Olympics four times. No country in South America has ever hosted an Olympic Games, the sentiments therefore were in favor of Brasil.

Question is, was President Obama well advised to expend political capital? Or, did he even expend any? After all, he showed patriotic spirit by going to Copenhagen. Those "Patriots" who hate Obamna will gleefully note his "defeat", his supporters either agree with Obama's assessment or regret that he and the USA lost face. That's all it is, we lost face.