"Another problem is that by not mounting a truly independent and effective investigation of the 9-11 murders and its trail of clues, we can never be sure our own government was not involved in some way."

There's another aspect to that. No one in the government was ever accountable for the failures which led to 9-11. And since there was no accounting in this crime which took thousands of lives, and what was manifestly a failure of the government services actually redounded to their benefit, the level and method by which 9-11 was handled have become the standard operating procedure of the government.

Obama can do nothing and change nothing unless he is willing to deal with this. And it didn't take an independent investigation to determine what these failures were, they are all well-known.

As of now, the government feels it is entitled to the same level of immunity and impunity as that given to the people whose manifest failure allowed 9-11 to happen.

And of course, as you say, the truth may be even worse, actual involvement.

Yeah, I can see the recruiting ads now: "A Horde of One" and "Mongol Strong" or maybe "Join the Yak Attack"!! "Not just a job, it's rape and pillage, too!"

Yeah, I think this Mongol thing is just the way to shore up those flagging recruiting stats.

"Thomas Sowell..."

Well, there we go, I've heard enough. You are both dumb and obviously certifiable.

"So, what conservative sites do you frequent?"

Why on earth would I read a site from people who have been demonstrably wrong about everything?

Please, rather than me list everything they were wrong about, please, give us one thing they were right about?

So according to you, a site can be wrong about everything, and lie to you, but as long as they molly-coddle your preconceptions and stroke your prejudices and indulge your need for vicarious brutality and mawkish-self-righteousness it's all good, huh?

Who are we going to believe, the conservatives or our lying eyes, huh Tommy?

"The best day of my life was the day I realized that I don't have to air an opinion on every single topic."

That blessed day can't arrive soon enough.

--

"Perhaps you could enlighten me on the true and righteous path"

I can see you have a deep apreciation of Jewish traditions and Holidays. Yeah, Yom Kippur is a blast, I usually start drinking around sundown and don't stop till after Rosh-Ha-Shana.

"There is no right or wrong."

Remind me to stay the hell away from you. And never to loan you money.

Stop bragging, Tommy, we all are. I can top that, anyway: I'm not white, I'm Jewish.

"And, as citizens are particularly ill-served by it."

Oh, not around here! Almost everybody knew the "War on Terror" would be a deluge of Federal and military contracts and jobs, with the added attraction of complete lack of oversight, cause "if we tell you we would have to kill you".

And so it has been.

"Yes, but you don't go!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAc5Z89SjH8&feature=related

At about 4:40 or so.

A perfect comment on chickenhawkery, it hasn't changed in over 100 years.

"We find the wisest thing, is to slap our chests and sing: Tarantara, tarantara, taratara!"

Oh yeah, now there's a guy who is aware of history!

"but I agree with Brooks, we either need to be "all in or all out."

1-800-GO-ARMY should get you as far in as you want. Or are you to old?

Don't tell me what "we" need to do. That's bullshit, although why you should feel completely ashamed and un-manly for saying it will never occur to you, as you seem to have vicarious brutality and chickenhawkery mixed up with your identity as a man. But that's not un-usual, you've got plenty of company.

You said "we" tough guy. That includes you. Are you headed to Afghanistan with the 101st Airborne Horde? Than why should anybody else. You go first, numbnuts, or shut the hell up.

"I cannot believe how many people have blotted out the fact that the Soviets would have won that war easily if Americans had not given the mujahedin those Stinger missiles"

Sorry pal, if you are rooting for the Russian Commies, go over to some Socialist website, you pinko. Those mujahadeen were "freedom fighters" the "equivalent of out Founding Fathers"!

"I mean how long does it take after you've opened a book on Afghan history to find out the country was flattened by the Mongols in the 13th century?"

Of course! And the obvious conclusion is this: The American military should carefully study the technology and techniques of the 13th Century Mongols and adopt them completely unchanged to defeat the Afghanis! We should start by doing away with all those stupid battalions and divisions and re-organise our armed forces into "hordes". "I'm with the 101st Airborne Horde"

I think the main problem is our refusal to adopt the spear and sword, the high-tech weapons used by the Mongols. And didn't they have a really advanced anti-insurgency technique? I think it was called "slaughter" wasn't it?

As Ms. Parker said: "You can lead a whore to culture, but you can't make her think."