[Leica] OT - another horror story about photos and the Patriot Act

[phong at doan-ltd.com (Phong)]

I do not feel any more at war after 9/11
than after the Oklahoma City bombing.
I contend that prior to the invasion of Iraq,
we were not at war.

As for religious states, while the Middle East is
a case in your point, I think the Tibetans
were not so bad when they were minding their
business themselves.  No worse than the
secular states I am familar with.  Not to say
that I advocate religious states, mind you;
I only offer it as a counterpoint.

Buzz raised an excellent point though.  We need
a healthy dose of scepticism on all sides of the issues.
I read the Ian somebody web page on BrownEqualTerrorism
or some such, and somehow, I felt a bit skeptic of the
story.  Not necessarily that it didn't happen, as I am sure
it could easily (happened to me severall times in the last 
six months alone, though much less dramatically).

- Phong



Adam Bridge wrote:
> 
> The events of 9/11 definitely lead me to form a different conclusion.
> Not the kind of war that Bush wanted in Iraq (short and victorious)
> but an asymmetrical war of ideas that the current administration is
> ill-prepared to fight since, for the most part, it represents a war of
> ideas and the fight between the concept of a secular state and those
> for whom such an entity is an anathma and who will use any lengths to
> have their way.
> 
> I have no love at all for religious states. They seem a disaster
> blending all the worst forms of fanatacism both internally and in
> their relations with those around them. The Middle East seems a prime
> case in point.
> 
> So, please, don't suggest we're not at war. I'm not naive. I recognize
> a very real threat when I see one, a threat that I don't believe is
> going away any time soon.
> 
> Adam