"Someone appeared to be manipulating the incident for their benefit." Thank you, FJV, thank you! That is probably the most important argument of this that any of us really need to take into account. The more information is dug up on historical occurrences, quite often we find that what we have been told was truth was in fact either a manipulation of what one side wanted us to believe, or it was only one view from several witnesses, all of whom have their own credibility issues... We can all choose to side with whichever element we wish in this occurrence, whether out of pride or personal favoritism or whatever. Or we can keep looking for more sufficient ACCURATE information to finally provide an unbiased account of what exactly happened (and we all know just how "unbiased" the media has been lately)

agreed, but until more info pops up, i'm still going with Occam's Razor

I think the Untied States should just leave the Arab world alone. If the people in the region want to live under harsh regimes then let them. Let them stick to their ideas and let them blow each other up, while the rest of the world moves ahead with civilization without them. I am not racist or anything, I dont care what you look like or what religion you are, but the Arab world is stuck in the past. Jihad is the same thing as Crusade, you mention the word Crusade to some muslims they get angry for something that happened so long ago. Come on, its time to move on if there is to be a better world.

I kind of agree, Serpent. But if we just ignore them, who knows how many madmen will surface WITH WMD's and act unopposed in their use as terror weapons. My idea: its in everyone's best interest to put mad dogs down, rather than risk letting them bite someone else's kids. And I agee: those idiots are stuck in the past too much. Also, it's medically proven that when a person is subject to a severe lack of water and resulting dehydration from (a desert...) hotter climates, there is a resulting delirium and mental euphoria because the proper brain chemistry is disrupted (just not enough fluid). I think that just might be their problem: too many of them have been living under that hot sun, not getting enough fluids and proper nutrition, and they're all out of their rational minds! Cryin' shame they aren't using that oil money for FOOD AND CLEAN WATER instead of weapons. I'd rather see farmers encouraged to grow crops and weapons lines could sit idle, as opposed to weapons in full production and farmers being paid NOT to grow crops....

I dunno serpent. This has, to a large degree, been how we have dealt with the ME for fifty years. Looked how it worked out. What is going on is horrifically similar to the "White Man's Burden' of Kipling, but what real choice have we?

"Also, it's medically proven that when a person is subject to a severe lack of water and resulting dehydration from (a desert...) hotter climates, there is a resulting delirium and mental euphoria because the proper brain chemistry is disrupted (just not enough fluid). I think that just might be their problem: too many of them have been living under that hot sun, not getting enough fluids and proper nutrition, and they're all out of their rational minds!" That's what you get for not drinking beer!

We tried that, Serpent. 9/11 was what we got out of pretending the rest of the world didn't exist.

Has anyone read the email from the Marine that's listed under "A Measure of Respect" (I think) here on SP? The "wedding" was held on a Wednesday, whereas weddings in Iraq are traditionally held on Thursdays. In any case, it's somewhat better to accidentally hit a wedding party than deliberately target one. Funny how we didn't hear much condemnation from the Red Cross or al-Jazeera over that wedding party that got blown up in Tel Aviv not that long ago.

>>>...not getting enough fluids and proper nutrition...they're all out of their rational minds!"<<< >>That's what you get for not drinking beer!--FJV<< MEAD the original MRE! Said one Viking to another: If Mother gave milk like that I'd never would have left home... Levity Lamp From a Spook: Two Arabs are sitting in the Gaza strip, chatting over a glass of goat's milk. One pulls his wallet out and starts flipping through some pictures, and they start reminiscing. "This is my oldest son. He's a martyr. And here's my second son. He's a martyr, too!" After a pause and a deep sigh, the second Arab wistfully says, "They blow up so fast, don't they?" Yes.... they..do. OW

Been busy all, sorry it's been so long - I remember my friend the Turkish Staff Sergeant inviting me to his apartment for dinner. His wife prepared a traditional meal – I think there were nearly eight courses. All of the food was absolutely amazing. I had no clue what I was eating, but I wasn’t worried about it. After dinner, she made us Turkish coffee. Oh. My. Goodness. Ok, this stuff was so strong and thick; espresso looks like weak green tea in comparison! Wow was it good! Then she brought out Raki and fruit. We didn’t have the spiced meat – though I think my friend knew from the food I used to bring to work that I love spicy stuff, his wife instead provided different types of fresh fruit all sliced up. We drank Raki,, ate fresh fruit, and watched “Moonlighting” on Turkish television, while listening to the American Base transmission of the sound in English for my benefit! An absolutely amazing evening. Turkish food is beyond a doubt some of the best on the planet that I have been privileged to taste. Also, perhaps Ilpars can give some enlightenment here, there was a beer called Efes that was pretty good. The Efes red (it had a red label, the Bandito couldn’t read it or killed too many brain cells to remember it!) was darker and really delicious. E.