Would you consider Switzerland isolationist? I like Switzerland.

I try and look at world situation in the same way I look at the choices I make in life. MOST of the time, I'm better off if I don't get involved. That certainly doesn't mean I always take my own advice, but usually, in retrospect, I would be better off to leave myself out of situations. It's an ego thing. Sure, it makes me feel better when I can pull my weight and have opinions, tell people off and puff myself up, but who does it really help?

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It is completely how it was sold. To get rid of a madman with WMD.

I wasn't suggesting that the majority of Iraqis at this point do no want us out. I was simply saying that the timing would seem to indicate that the Israeli situaiton was coming into play as well, particularly with the Iraqi PM being very vocally critical of Israel.

What Prudence said.

Also what about the water or Starbucks that I buy inside the "security zone". Can I take that on with me?

According to this morning's paper - no. Won't that make runway delays even more fun? you know, the ones where you sit on the tarmac for hours and the airline won't even distribute water and people survive on what they brought themselves?

The new/proposed restrictions wouldn't be so bad if we weren't also at a barebones service model. Not that my comfort should trump security, but if airlines won't provide any comfort, and I will no longer be able to bring my own, I may not fly any more.

I've been thinking.....

I don't think the terrorists sit and laugh over added security precautions. I really don't. What happened is their plot, which took at least several months to plan and a lot (alot, for MBC) of financial resources, was stopped. No planes exploded. No death. No carnage. No martyrdom. No success in the eyes of Allah. It was failure. It shows them that well thought out and immensely destructive plots may not be possible anymore.

If there was no financial cost to them, and if these were quick and easy o plan, I might think otherwise. But they are not cheap. They are not quick and easy to plan. They just wasted months and finances for nothing.

They aren't sitting and laughing at added security measures. I don't see this as really damaging to the airline industry - nowhere near so much as if the plot had been successful. So rather than laughing, they are cursing that they failed.

According to the report I watched on KTLA this morning, yes.

While on the subject of terrorism and Israel and all such related topics, there is a concern about Aug 22.

Augt 22 his year corresponds to a specific date on the Islamic calendar when Mohammad flew on a horse "first to the farthest mosque" and then to heaven. The "farthest mosque" is interpreted as a reference to Jerusalem.

I did a little poking around and found that the Koran describes this event as "lighting up the skies of Jerusalem."

A historian named Bernard Lewis wrote a piece in the Wall St Journal about this, and there are some experts that wonder if Iran is plotting a major attack on Aug 22, as the Iranian President has been talking extraordinarily tough lately and the ties of Iran to Hezbollah are well known. Some even theorize it could be nuclear, though I doubt that he would also nuke holy Islamic sites as well. But who knows.

I sort of figured they'd either have to or shut all those places down. Otherwise they'll have to re-screen you before boarding. Which makes no sense.

You are half-correct. WMD's and bringing democracy to Iraq is how it was sold. In other words, it was sold with a fear of terrorism from the evil conniving Saddam and as a way to establish the first real democracy in the middle east, thereby halting the spread of terrorism. Those are the reasons that I remember.

Unfortunately, 6 years later, we still have found no WMD's and we still haven't brought democracy to Iraq. Meanwhile, terrorism, the thing that made all of this worth it, is on the rise. Plots are still being hatched against the US. The borders aren't secure. Hell, a hurricane caught us with our pants down around our ankles as far as disaster management. Oh, and the guy that masterminded that attack on 9/11 that changed everything? We still haven't a clue where he is.

And the problem is, that the minute we started this gun ho war against terrorism, all we have to show for it is more terrorists, a country on the verge of a civil war, and continued terrorist plots against us. There are plenty of things that we can do to reduce incidents of terrorism without giving up our civil liberties and our hair products. As long as we are engaged in a losing battle with Iraq though, I don't see it happening any time soon.