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Maybe it would be proper to point out that you addressed me first and in defense of someone who called the president "Chicken George" and compared Iraq to Viet Nam. That got you off to a bad start with me.

Then later you said:

"...and please remember that these devices are killing Americans."

Have you actually ever seen an IED blast?

I have.

Have you ever actually seen an IED casualty?

I have.

I don't need you to remind me that IED's kill Americans.

So you got off to a bad start on two accounts.

And you've not done better since.

I don't care to have a discourse with you. You came to me in defense of someone I think is either a bona fide DU'er or is at least on their mailing list. I don't owe you any apologies, but I am sorry that you defend idiots.

Please don't bother discussing Iraq and the mideast with me, I don't think you have any useful insights to offer.

Here's another bit of news that you might want to pass on to the President. What's he gonna do to Russia? Iran seems to making out just fine, and why should Syria be any different after all?

Russia says will defend Syria against U.N. sanctions
KeralaNext ^ | Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Russia says will defend Syria against U.N. sanctions

MOSCOW - Russia, Syria's close ally since Cold War times, will do all it takes to block any attempt to impose economic sanctions on Damascus, a Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

The United States and France threatened Syria with economic sanctions earlier this week if Damascus did not cooperate fully with a U.N. probe into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. "Russia will do everything necessary to stop attempts to introduce sanctions against Syria," spokesman Mikhail Kalmynin told Interfax news agency and other Russian media on the sidelines of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's trip to Israel.

Lavrov made no mention of this stance at a news conference in Jerusalem, and reiterated that Russia had called on Syria to cooperate with the U.N. investigation. Russia, a veto-wielding permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, angered the United States earlier this year by announcing plans to sell advanced missile systems to Syria, which Washington has accused of having links to terrorism.

A draft resolution, also backed by Britain and circulated to the 15 U.N. Security Council members, demands Damascus detain possible suspects in the assassination probe and make them available to U.N. investigators, who have complained about Syria's cooperation. If Syria does not do this, the text says, the Council would consider "further measures", such as economic sanctions, "to ensure compliance".

Lavrov will seek at next week's discussions at the Security Council in New York to make sure any resolution calls for the investigation to be fair and objective, Kalmynin said. "Russia will accept the conclusions in this international report," Lavrov said during a news conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom. "Russia calls on Syria to cooperate with the Mehlis committee ... President Putin said as much in his telephone conversation with Bashar Assad yesterday."

"We are also certain that the Security Council will support our position," added Lavrov, whose comments in Russian were communicated to reporters in Hebrew by a translator. Both U.S. President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have refused to rule out the possibility of military action against Syria, but said Washington has not exhausted its diplomatic options.