Letters to the Editor
virtue001
Published Letters: 363 Editor's Choice: 1
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@ paulpsd7
[Read the article: The NIE changed everything. Yeah, right]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You said: "Virtue, your point seems to be that because the NIE on Iraq was wrong, therefore all NIEs must be presumed wrong."
No, actually, I said that they MAY or May NOT be wrong. Intelligence is speculative and subject to error, as was the NIE report on WMDs. Which is why we shouldn't accept findings from the intelligence community at face value as we did before. We certainly don't need another grand mistake.
You said: "I'm betting that in your case, this only applies to NIEs that that you find disappointing, such as the very unwelcome news that you MAY NOT get to put a yellow ribbon on your car for the troops fighting in Iran."
How you've leap to the incredible conclusion that I'm somehow itching to invade Iran, I really find baffling.
You said: "First, you refer to "the NIE" as if it were some single source of information that lacks credibility."
Actually, I refer to the NIE as "the folks in the intelligence community who put this report together" in my seventh paragraph. I understand it's a consensus.
You said: "And the confidence level is high"
So was the NIE report on WMDs.
You said: "Bush Admin partisans (Cheney, Wolfawitz, Rumsfeld and other PNAC conspirators) actively worked on this intel and cooked the books." (BTW, it’s spelt Wolfowitz.)
That's speculative, unless you can source some documentation. And you can't because it doesn't exist. The NIE report on WMDs was part of a worldwide intelligence failure. If the Bush Administration "cooked the books” then so did France, Germany and a host of other countries. And that's rather unlikely.
You said: "However, because you value War Against Country X more than you value national security and sane foreign policy..."
Again, a stupendous leap to yet another fantastic conclusion -- that I am pro-war.
You said: "Right. I mean, it's not like this has ever happened before, has it?"
I agree. It HAS happened before. Which is why I said, "Democrats SHOULD be doing is scrutinizing the living hell out of this new report."
Bye.
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@ paulpsd7
[Read the article: The NIE changed everything. Yeah, right]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Congratulations, you've reduced your sophomoric argument to ridiculous leaps of faith, childish innuendo and pure fantasy.
But all the best to you and yours this holiday season.
May we all find common ground in 2008.
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@ paulpsd7
[Read the article: The NIE changed everything. Yeah, right]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As Ferris Bueller came back to say after the closing titles, "Are you still here? It's over. Go home." Or in your case, back to to your mother's basement. Happy holidays, my friend.
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@ Garry
[Read the article: The NIE changed everything. Yeah, right]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Actually, if you go back and read the exchange between Paul whatisname and myself, you'll see that things went south when he kept trying to label me -- insisting that I simply MUST be someone who wants to go to war with Iran. And I'm not. He also kept insisting that was "saying that the NIE (report) must not be true." When I never said that. I simply said the NIE had a lousy track record based on their report that Iraq had WMDs -- and that intelligence reports shouldn't be taken at face value because they may or may not be true. I think he got pissed off that I took his original reponse to my post apart point by point (without any rancor whatsoever, you'll be pleased to note). Such crap. I got tired of him.
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Moderated by Nurse Ratched
[Read the article: Last Iowa debate helps Huckabee]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I agree, Joan, the debate was a waste of 90 minutes. Fred Barnes said The Des Moines Register’s Carolyn Washburn ran it like Nurse Ratched. And Charles Krauthammer said “It’s the worst debate in Western history.” What a non-event. Z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z.
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Where's the balance, Joan?
[Read the article: Changes at Salon]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Why don't you hire someone -- just ONE person -- even slightly right of center? Like a Byron York-type or a Michael Barone-type. You know, just to give the APPEARANCE of balance, at least.
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The Bhutto Test, Joan?
[Read the article: The Bhutto test]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]One might have thought the press would have shown a little respect for the fallen before rushing to our presidential candidates for a chance to politicize this tragedy. But no. And then, to make matters worse, Joan has risen to an even higher level of bad taste by rating the candidates on their responses like it's some kind of pop quiz. Benazir Bhutto was the first woman ever elected head of a Muslim state. She had a passion for what is good and righteous. She had a passion for her country and her people. Benazir Bhutto is to be mourned now. Not to be used as a pawn in one of your slapdash presidential checklists, Joan. Have you no shame?