I know I said that I was staying out of this one, but...
Iceman, you've been watching this Pentagon conspiracy flash a little too often =P
http://www.freedomunderground.org/memoryhole/pentagon.php#PreloaderIt's a fun video and it makes a fairly good argument, but you have to consider the source of these "facts." I mean, this is the only place I've seen this conspiracy. If it had actual credibility, it would've been covered by the media. If you're going to take everything into account, you have to be able to give both sides credibility, which you (and this flash) don't express towards the Bush Administration
.
Do you really believe that "John Edwards had the plans to fix everything?" I hope you were being sarcastic when you said that because that's giving him wayyy too much credit.
And Medic, terrorism isn't religious fanaticism. Terrorism is a type of warfare, just as general, assymetric and limited warfare is. You don't have to have religion as a reason to be a terrorist. If that were the case, then the revolutionists in Ireland wouldn't be terrorists (which they are).
As far as the first invasion of Iraq goes, there wasn't much fighting going on. Iraqi soldiers surrendered by the thousands as soon as they encountered US Marines and Army. I wouldn't question your resolve to fire back if the US was being invaded, but these soldiers were in a different situation. They were forced into Saddam's army. You think they wanted to be there? Their life sucked. They weren't about to be killed defending a country that held executions during soccer games and exterminated their own villages.
I don't want to get into an argument about how bin Laden may or may not have been behind 9/11. There's overwhelming support that he was. It's common knowledge to Americans, Afghanis, Pakistanis and the entire international community that al Qaeda was. Instead, I'm going to suggest that you research the relationship between the US government and the Saudi royal family starting from the end of WWII to the present and where al Qaeda came from. It's a sobering reality in patron/client relationships. =)
In my opinion, this argument should be taking a backseat right now. There's a genocide in Sudan right now that we should be trying to stop... unless we all want another Rwanda. 800,000 dead Tutsis, anyone? Anyone?