Greg....

I literally couldn't get past the first half paragraph, which says...

Now that the Iraqi people have once again defied expectations by participating in yet another successful election,

1) the turnout was as expected in the elections -- it didn't defy expectations

2) to be charitable, its somewhat of an exaggeration to call the elections "successful" at this point...

now, maybe this joker has some good ideas --- but when he starts out with that kind of bullshit, how do you expect someone to read any further?

Posted by: lukasiak at January 5, 2006 04:14 AM | Permalink to this comment

Ah, the dulcet tones of what was rightly called the Reuben James contingent. I suppose that time could be wasted arguing with someone who relies on (a) Pavlovian talking points and (b) ad hominem befitting an uneducated and ill-calibrated mind but given that lukasiak has admitted that he has not even bothered to read the article (intellectual laziness becomes him), why bother?

Posted by: Pejman Yousefzadeh at January 5, 2006 04:38 PM | Permalink to this comment

Ah, the dulcet tones of what was rightly called the Reuben James contingent. I suppose that time could be wasted arguing with someone who relies on (a) Pavlovian talking points and (b) ad hominem befitting an uneducated and ill-calibrated mind but given that lukasiak has admitted that he has not even bothered to read the article (intellectual laziness becomes him), why bother?

nice try.

The reason I didn't read the piece was the the author signalled in the very first paragraph that he was an unreliable relater of factual information. His latter points may well be valid, but the reader has no way of knowing whether they are or not, because the narrator is untrustworthy.

I'd much prefer that someone like Greg -- with whom I disagree but who is intellectually honest -- summarize what he thinks is significant about the piece. I would probably disagree with it, but at least I know that any response from Greg to that disagreement will be intellectually honest.

Posted by: lukasiak at January 5, 2006 07:54 PM | Permalink to this comment