I'll state my view. IMO, America went into the Iraq war for the wrong
reasons (and not the stated ones) and may withdraw from it for the
wrong reasons (nothing at all to do with truth or a high intention).
The usual arrogance was displayed and then when *American* people
got killed they want to get out.
And yet "anyone's views" are completely irrelevant to the topic and
irrelevant to how Iraq applies to the topic. The topic was about what
is necessary for reasonable conclusions. Nobody's opinion on what is
'right' or what politics dictate was even implied. Discussed is
something completely different: how so many people 'know' when
numbers, facts, citations, etc were not provided.
Iraq is a perfect example because so many have trouble separating
the politics from historical logic. Again demonstrates how hard it is
for some to demand and dig for the 'irrefutable fact'. That same
problem is common in the topic of lightning because so many know - and
yet also do not first dig for the well researched facts.
We could also cite the Challenger as an example of why failures are
not accidents. Just another lesson from history that every lurker
should have learned from. Why do we cite major events in history?
Not for the politics attached to it. We use history to learn. In the
Challenger, every engineer said don't launch. They could not find an
engineer who said it was safe to launch. So they launched anyway. Do
you see politics in that event ... or use it to learn how people make
life destroying mistakes by violating basic logic principles? People
murdered only because irrefutable facts - especially with numbers -
were ignored.
Same applies to Iraq. The 'whys' were never provided and did not
exist - from aluminum tubes to yellow cake in Niger. Those who first
demand supporting facts accurately foresaw serious consequences and
heard numbers from responsible sources such as the weapons labs
(Sandia, Los Alamos, etc). Actions were justified when those acts
even violated fundamental principles defined by Sze Tzu from 2500
years ago.
But again, do you read this as a discussion of politics (which it
clearly is not) or as a lesson from a history that everyone is
familiar with. Demonstrated is how lies and human destructive
mistakes occur when we don't first demand supporting facts.
In the case of lightning, even ESE devices are promoted for the same
reason that so many believed presidential lies about Saddam. And that
is the point. How people make foolish decisions: they don't first
demand concepts, expert research, numbers, .... they don't demand the
many 'whys'. Once we demand those 'whys', then the scam promoted by
ESE lighting devices also becomes obvious.
But again, this is not about the murder of seven Challenger
astronauts, the millions of refugees and dead created by America, or
ESE scams. In every post, it is about lessons from history; same
mistake that causes people to believe myths even about lightning.
Some people so believe myths as to insist that grounding a TV
antenna will only attract lightning. As Sally noted elsewhere, some
actually believe a silly little gap in a 240 volt power switch will
stop lightning. Why do they assume this? For the same reason why so
many blindly believed presidental lies about Saddam. Again, there is
nothing here about politics. Obviously, its all about how people make
mistakes when 'whys' are not demanded.
We are supposed to learn from the lessons of history. Iraq is a
perfect example: death only because humans did not first ask for the
'whys'. Because the facts did not exist, so many are now dead -
uselessly. Again - why everyone is expected to learn history.
Everyone is expected to learn why this happened - to not make that
same mistake that also created Vietnam. Again, there is no politics
relevant in this example either. Just another example cited because
we all know about that mistake and should also know why that mistake
was so easily avoided. But we did not demand supporting facts. We
immediately jumped to conclusions based only on feelings rather than
on facts. We did not ask for or learn 'the whys'.
Posting 'viewpoints' on Iraq is completely irrelevant to a topic -
but demonstrates how easily a point is subverted by emotion of
politics. Demonstrated from history is how people make life
destructive mistakes only because 'whys' are not provided and not
viciously demanded.