Alias

We have common ground there at least. I still agree with the current frame work of no women in combat. Keeping in mind that it was only after Desert Storm that women were reconized by clinton for their achievements, thus allowing them to fly fighter aircraft and helo's - and I have no problem with that. There are valid reasons that women are excluded from training such as, lets say, Ranger School. And much of it depends on strength, and of course Rangers being a close combat unit, excluding women already side note - I hear the Brass is tinkering with the idea of opening up Benning to "support" units. Yeah right I do think that what Republican Committee members are try to do is not prudent keeping in mind that women are currently excluded from "combat units" anyway. I understand that Iraq has created an environment of "no front lines" which does change the concept. That proof is the 35 women killed since the beginning of this war that has now lasted longer the our involvement in WWII. I say keep it the way it is! Carpe Diem

If you can show me where the front line is in the contemporary operating environment, I'd be real interested. "Front Line" is a term associated with the old Soviet threat style war where large formations met on a battlefield. That simply is not the case today. There is no "rear area" that is behind a "front line". All soldiers must prepare for and expect combat situations. In fact, support type units are much more vulnerable to enemy contact because the enemy chooses not to engage combat forces that severely outmatch him. Instead the enemy chooses more vulnerable targets. Point being, there is no defining line for front line or serious combat. It is a multi-dimensional battlefield. Blues, Nathan Agreed - but you would also agree that there is a difference in combat exposure for, lets say, a Stryker Force compared to a medical unit operating in a "war zone"? Carpe Diem

Maybe I should have elaborated more in regards to what I meant about front line combat. I was referring more to Infantry/armor/artie applications. Again where strength plays a major role. My opinion has nothing to do with "danger" - which is why I gave credit to the bad ass female pilots I have met. Bill, c'mon now. You really do not realize the physical strength differences between the avg male and avg female? I agree with past comments in regards to physical requirements. if I were to agree that women were needed in front line infantry/armor/artie combat- One test - same standards Carpe Diem

Interesing history...But still stupid. Just vote no and move along. How much time has been wasted just delaying the vote? I'd rather they vote and move on. Don't hold to much faith in polls, but by a 2 to 1 ratio, according to a ABC News poll, the public rejected easing Senate rules in a way that would make it harder for Democratic senators to prevent final action on Bush's nominees. Even many Republicans were reluctant to abandon current Senate confirmation procedures: Nearly half opposed any rule changes, joining eight in 10 Democrats and seven in 10 political independents, the poll found. So other then just the Dems, according to many republicans and most independents, it's a bad idea. Carpe Diem

During the 1930s, Senator Huey P. Long effectively used the filibuster against bills that he thought favored the rich over the poor. The Louisiana senator frustrated his colleagues while entertaining spectators with his recitations of Shakespeare and his reading of recipes for "pot-likkers." Long once held the Senate floor for fifteen hours. The record for the longest individual speech goes to South Carolina's J. Strom Thurmond who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957. It does have an interesting history Carpe Diem

IMHO, Front line and serious combat should be restrcted to men only - but to limit women from support roles, excluding medical applications, is ridiculous. I've been impressed by more then one woman fighter pilot. There can be roles for both sexes in defending their country - doesnt mean they have to equally deployed in a combat Carpe Diem

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-05-19-filibuster_x.htm Using the filibuster to delay or block legislative action has a long history. The term filibuster -- from a Dutch word meaning "pirate" -- became popular in the 1850s, when it was applied to efforts to hold the Senate floor in order to prevent a vote on a bill. In the early years of Congress, representatives as well as senators could filibuster. As the House of Representatives grew in numbers, however, revisions to the House rules limited debate. In the smaller Senate, unlimited debate continued on the grounds that any senator should have the right to speak as long as necessary on any issue. So, whats the feeling about the filibuster conflict. It seems even with the majority, the Repubs are pushing for quicker resolve on issues. They're issues ofcourse. Which are pretty hefty Is this a good thing to keep Govt moving? Or does it prevent the minorities the opportunity to keep the majority in check by prolonging debate? Two sides of this one for sure Carpe Diem

nice one Carpe Diem

Bingo! It's odd that Darius didn't bother to mention that little fact. Given the choice at the time, it was a good move. We were trying to help them stay independent from Soviet domination, just as we are now trying to make them independent from Muslim extremism. What will we "help" them be next? Independent from whatever we decide they deserve independence from? That is the problem with US foreign policy according to many people I speak with that live outside of the US. Level headed people Again back to "aid" We do seem to always paint a pretty picture in front of our motives don't we? Carpe Diem

Disagree - Trained Interrogaters WILL use those techniques among others - If they thought trashing a Koran would produce information. They'd do it. I have no problem with that one! CACI and Carlile Group train very very effective "interrogaters" Carpe Diem

Don't forget that the US sometimes uses aid as leverage to secure whats in the US's best interests. It is not always about providing aid to "help"the people. So I would maybe state " If I was King of America, I would cut off ALL foreign aid. Period. Unless it could be used to strengthen our position for whatever reason " But other then that - I'm with you! Most cases end up as damned if we do, damned if we don't. Carpe Diem

Totally agree! Carpe Diem

[replyFurthermore, Newsweek is one of the most credible sources in the American news media. Not in my opinion. Newsweek became half tabloid a long time ago. When they started implying personal opinion in news stories, it is not news reporting. When they run cover stories about cigar smoking during campaign scandals, they are headed towards entertainment - not news. They are owned by the Washington Post, who leans to the left on almost every new event, so again, what makes NW any different? When NW started running tabloid type articles and covers, I lost interest in their focus or lack of focus on the news. Why think they are any more "credible" then any other news rag? Carpe Diem

Websters - The observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena. Such activities restricted to a class of natural phenomena. Such activities applied to an object of inquiry or study. Knowledge, especially that gained through experience Seems pretty consistent to me Carpe Diem

Hail to the Washington Redskins!

Then it could be as easy as consuming taco's and beans, wait - then fire...it up Easily defeated Carpe Diem

Typical BS. Most likely never happened Didn't think so Carpe Diem

There is evidence this was carried out by Space Aliens who have been breeding secretly with Muslims. It is almost certain because of this video that they were involved. http://www.ufocasebook.com/wtcvideo.mov That was cool! Carpe Diem

Typical BS. Most likely never happened Carpe Diem

That liquid is non-toxic. I've had it on my skin personally. Even on my face, when my chem-light came off during climbout on a night jump, and put it in my teeth to hold it, and then bit through it in freefall. It doesn't hurt a thing, except to stain clothing. I don't think terrorist prisoners are too worried about sparkly clean clothing... Fair enough. I should have left that one in the pile with the "mean dogs, nudity, stacking etc" bullshit. I only have issue's with the extremes in this case - not what the media spews Carpe Diem

What about just following orders? Having been in the military, I don't buy that these guys just took it upon themselves to do all this without any instruction. Especially when some of the techniques were expressly condoned. Last June, Janis Karpinski, an Army reserve brigadier general, was named commander of the 800th Military Police Brigade and put in charge of military prisons in Iraq. General Karpinski, the only female commander in the war zone, was an experienced operations and intelligence officer who had served with the Special Forces and in the 1991 Gulf War, but she had never run a prison system. Now she was in charge of three large jails, eight battalions, and thirty-four hundred Army reservists, most of whom, like her, had no training in handling prisoners. The Army investigators said that Frederick and his colleagues had not been given any “training guidelines” that he was aware of. The M.P.s in the 372nd had been assigned to routine traffic and police duties upon their arrival in Iraq, in the spring of 2003. In October of 2003, the 372nd was ordered to prison-guard duty at Abu Ghraib. Last fall, General Sanchez ordered a review of the prison system in Iraq and recommend ways to improve it. Ryder’s report, filed on November 5th, concluded that there were potential human-rights, training, and manpower issues, system-wide, that needed immediate attention. It also discussed serious concerns about the tension between the missions of the military police assigned to guard the prisoners and the intelligence teams who wanted to interrogate them. Army regulations limit intelligence activity by the M.P.s to passive collection. But something had gone wrong at Abu Ghraib. I think it was a mixture - professional interrogators, abuse ordered and abuse by individuals without orders. There is eveidence that suggests a mess all around. Carpe Diem

It takes a typical sheep a while to research, debate and eventually see the facts to derive a different opinion- no offence to anyone - I feel we are all treated as sheeps by the current administration...baaaaa aaaaa aaaa And that pisses me off more then anything! Carpe Diem

The majority of the lower role players, had very limited training in this stuff. One was "in charge" only becuase he was a prison guard in the states....and we all know they are perfect Lack of training might be the major cause of some, stepping over the line due to lack of control, others. Carpe Diem

We are Americans - not a border line third world culture where our standards will never apply - we are different or should be! I feel proud of some of the standards the US has over other countries and cultures - to lower ourselves is not the answer IMHO "that train of thought leads only to derailment". Carpe Diem

But again, he was attempting to switch, a coup disrupted it, for the time being. The effect of an OPEC switch to the euro would be that oil-consuming nations would have to flush dollars out of their reserve funds and replace these with euros. The dollar would crash anywhere from 20-40% in value and the consequences would be those one could expect from any currency collapse and massive inflation (think Argentina currency crisis, for example). You'd have foreign funds stream out of the U.S. stock markets and dollar denominated assets, there'd surely be a run on the banks much like the 1930s, the current account deficit would become unserviceable, the budget deficit would go into default, and so on. Your basic 3rd world economic crisis scenario. And yes, Cuba - The Bush Admin may be concerned that Chavez’s “barter deals” with 12 Latin American countries as well as Cuba are effectively cutting the U.S. dollar out of the vital oil transaction currency cycle. Commodities are being traded among these countries in exchange for Venezuela’s oil, and thus dollars are not being used in these barter agreements. If these unique oil transactions proliferate, they will create more devaluation pressure on the dollar. Continuing attempts to remove Chavez appear likely. Carpe Diem