Diving in with a question first off for you Cow, then I'll explain why people think you are a conspiracy theorist Lanny...
First Cow, your statement
I've said repeatedly in this forum that I agree with taking out Afghanistan and Iraq, driving a stake into the hornets nest of the Middle East and stirring things up, while simultaneously predicting Iraq would be the last major land conflict the USA would be involved in for the next 25 years.
I see very little in the way of large scale military action in the future.
This doesn't make sense to me on a few level.
It's been proven (and is continuing to be proven) that Iraq was simply not the threat the U.S. claimed it was. We can decide to believe them or not when they say things to the effect of, 'we PERCEIVED they were a threat'. Regardless, there is more proof that nations like N. Korea are more dangerous to their area, the world, and the U.S. global direction. If this is the case, why would the U.S. attack Iraq and then cease military opperations for a 25 years?
Unless of course attacking Iraq didn't have to do with safety.
If it did have to do with safety, then further incursions into the Middle East would seem like the next logical step. The government is outright fooling itself if it thinks it can change Iraq into a beacon of 'democracy and freedom' that will have a domino effect on the rest of the Middle East. We all know how well Vietnam worked out.
Lanny, I think people call you a conspiracy theorist because of the conclusions you jump to and the fact that you never back down from a argument to take a middle posistion. You are obviously a very intelligent and well read individual but so are a lot of other people on there and the side you present is always just one side of the story. Often the discussions come down to whose sources are you going to believe. If there was overwhelming evidence either way, the U.S. and western world would not be as divdied as it is.
You have great ideas and arguments, but sometimes the conclusions you come to are a little skewed (even for me and I have found myself discussing lots of things with Displaced and Tranny and Cow usually taking the left). But your insistance that your ideas are right and everyone needs to wake up can cause people to look at you like you are someone holding a sign that says 'the world is ending'. If you didn't come into (and start) all discussion guns a blazing the term 'conspiracy theorist' might come up less.
Hey, you asked.
Still, I love to read your guys' threads.