I no longer have the urge to contribute to this thread as it is rather obvious there will be no “meetings of the minds.”
Apologies to those I’ve insulted, mocked or ridiculed in any way. I’m looking at you Ryan. Apologies.
Meanwhile, xt, let it be clear that I reside on the empirical side of this – or any other – debate on the Iraq debacle. Reality is reality whether I like it or not. And by the same token, reality can’t be manufactured at will by any number of ideologues.
Don’t believe me? Try real hard to change your own reality based on a hypothesis that never tackled your own reality in the first place.
See, I might be a brain-surgeon in my own convoluted yet resolved mind. Ain’t gonna happen unless I become a brain-surgeon first.Then again, my rates are base-bargain basement. Just please don’t ever ask about the results. Although, in my defense a lot of them get good money working in all those zombie films.
To be honest with you, I’ve never felt you were one of the Usual Suspects – it’s just that you can’t seem to appear to get away from putting-up some sort of pseudo-didactic defense for them.
Hell’s bells if I can figure out why.
Peace. And I mean it!
PS-Water under the bridge, xtime. I realize Tom has a tough and delicate job here, but you’d need a concrete-piercing nailgun to get through my skin.
I know how you are…and you’d have to seriously go around the bend to offend me. Mind you, we might not AGREE (on anything, including the color blue or if its day or night 
)…but thats another matter.