Open Thread

Quite right Greg. From a debate I had with one nineteen years ago:

1.”Your responses offer a level of obstinate ignorance in the face of indisputable truth.”

That statement has as much substance as “No, I’m right, you’re wrong.”

2.”Please look up the definition of delusional.”

Why, when I see such a fine example of it in your ravings?

2. “Yes, the good ole USA only acts to do good and help other nations all the time. And Jews are the friends of America.”

Yes almost all the time to the first, and most Jews I believe are friends of America due to our lack of persecution of members of their faith, no doubt to your dismay.

3.” Do you also believe the Jews who brutally took over Palestine in 1946-1948 did so because God wanted them there.”

No, they created Israel by accepting the UN division of Palestine. The Palestinians did not because they thought they could exterminate the Jews with the aid of the armies of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Egypt. Big mistake. To the astonishment of the world, the outnumbered Jews won.

4. “Look, you are 100% wrong on the USS Liberty.
Obviously you never served in the military.”

Three years in the US Army Reserves 1975-78.

5. “The radar codes that are emitted from ships have a unique fingerprint which identifies them as US. French etc…
The Israel defense forces had to jam our radar in order to prevent the USS Liberty from radioing for help. That means they had to jam USA military codes.

It was not a mistake and our American flag on that ship was 15 x 30. 2 Israeli pilots were punished for refusing to attack the ship becasue they knew it was American. Israel never admitted it was a mistake. “

Too bad every official report has found that the attack was a tragic error caused by the Israeli pilots misidentifying the ship. You can find these reports online:

U.S. Navy Court of Inquiry, June 18, 1967
” Available evidence combines to indicate the attack on the Liberty on 8 June was in fact a case of mistaken identity.”

CIA Report, June 13, 1967
The attack was a mistake. In 1978, in a response to an inquiry, Director of Central Intelligence Stansfield Turner wrote: “It remains our best judgment that the Israeli attack on the U.S.S. Liberty was not made in malice toward the United States and was a mistake.”

Joint Chiefs of Staff, Russ Report, June 9-20, 1967 General Russ did not make any findings about the actual attack. The report compiled all message traffic and contains no evidence that the attack was not a mistake.

Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, Clifford Report, July 18, 1967
“The information thus far available does not reflect that the Israeli high command made a premeditated attack on a ship known to be American…. ”

National Security Agency, 1981
“Liberty was mistaken for an Egyptian ship as a result of miscalculation and egregious errors.”

Israeli Report
Ram Ron Commission of Inquiry, June 16, 1967
“[T]he attack on the ship by the Israeli Defense Forces was made neither maliciously nor in gross negligence, but as a result of a bona fide mistake.”

6. “You think DU is not toxic? Then why was it banned under international treaties? The known birth defects from its use are well documented.”

More Moonbattery. Here are the facts:
“Study Finds Little Risk From Depleted-Uranium Particles
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2004 – A new study finds the health risks from inhaling airborne particles of depleted uranium are very low.

The Capstone Study found that even soldiers in armored vehicles hit by depleted-uranium munitions would still not suffer health risks from inhaling the particles. Of course, officials said, soldiers would certainly have other problems if their tank or armored personnel carrier was hit by a depleted- uranium round.

The U.S. military uses depleted uranium as armor and in munitions. The five- year, $6 million study, analyzed for the Army and the DoD Deployment Health Support Directorate by Batelle Memorial Institute, found that even in extreme cases exposure to “aerosolized” depleted uranium did not pose a health risk.

The study looked at the health risks faced by servicemembers who had been in an armored vehicle that was breached by a depleted-uranium round. It also looked at the exposures mechanics or other maintenance personnel would get from working in such a vehicle. “What we found in this study is the highest-exposed individuals are those that are in, on or near vehicles when they were struck,” said Army Lt. Col. Mark Melanson.

“What we found is the radiation doses for people in that situation are below peacetime safety standards,” he continued. “We also found that the chemical risks of breathing in uranium dust is so low that it won’t cause any long-term health risks.”

Melanson, who holds a doctorate in radiation health sciences, is the program manager of the Health Physics Program at the Army’s Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.

DoD has been assessing the safety of depleted uranium for more than 30 years. The radiation risk from the rounds and armor is negligible. Melanson pointed out that uranium is a common element. Depleted uranium has most of the U-235 isotope — the type used to make atomic bombs — taken out of it, leaving the more stable U-238.

But uranium is a heavy metal and, like lead or mercury, can pose problems if enough is ingested.

Specialists at Aberdeen fired depleted-uranium rounds at the turrets of M-1 tanks and at Bradley fighting vehicles. They measured the concentration of DU inside the turrets and passenger compartments and compared those rates with allowable peacetime standards. The levels were below the standards set for peacetime civilian workers.

“If it’s safe for workers in the States to receive these exposures during peacetime, it’s definitely safe for our troops to receive them in combat when there are other more dangerous risks out there on the battlefield,” Melanson said.

The study is further proof that DU poses little danger. Since 1993, the Department of Veterans Affairs has been assessing the health of American soldiers wounded in 1991’s Operation Desert Storm by depleted-uranium rounds. These individuals have particles of depleted uranium remaining inside them.

“There are no health affects attributable to DU,” Melanson said. “There are health problems from their wounding, but nothing from depleted uranium.”

Related Sites:
DoD Deployment Health Support Directorate
Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine
Health Physics Program”

7. “America sold Iraq its WMD and it was Donald Rumsfeld who was the salesman.”

Only in Moonbat land. The US sold no chemical or biological weapons to Iraq.

8. “You forget that John Negroponte helped to organize and fund the death squads in Guatemala under General Martinez, a man responsible for
50,000 deaths in the region. General Martinez was his most frequent lunch guest.”

You can’t even keep the info you get from kook leftist or paleocon web sites straight. Negroponte was ambassador to Honduras not Guatemala. General Gustavo Alvarez Martinez is probably the man you are attempting to refer to. He was the head of the Honduran military while Negroponte was ambassador. As for the figure of 50,000, here is the reality: “The human rights situation deteriorated significantly after the return to civilian rule in 1982. Under the new civilian president, the military, under the command of General Gustavo Álvarez Martínez, initiated a campaign against leftists. This campaign allegedly led to the disappearance of more than 100 people. Small insurgent groups also began operating during this period, but the overwhelming majority of political killings were carried out by the military, according to human rights observers. Although this violence paled in comparison to that in neighboring El Salvador and Guatemala, it marked a departure from the relatively tranquil Honduran political environment. ” Source: Library of Congress Country Studies. Where you get the 50,000 figure from, only God and the Moonbats know.

8. “The Downing Street memos prove that Bush had no reason to invade Iraq. He went with WMD because there was no link to Osama or anyone else.
The war is all about reordering the Middle east according to the PNAC manifesto which if you ever read it, which you have not, clearly outlines regime change in Iraq, Syria and Iran, as good for the United States”

Actually virtually every intelligence agency on Earth thought that Saddam had WMDs. His own generals were shocked during the war when Saddam did not order the use of chemical weapons because they assumed he had them. The rest of what you say is typical of the type of paranoia common among conspiracy mongers.

9. ” As to the Israelis and their illegal nukes, why are you so willing to turn a blind eye to the law?”

Actually, Israel possessing nukes is no more illegal than the US possessing nukes. I assume that your statement is merely rhetorical, and you are not referring to a specific statute of Israel that would prevent it from having nuclear weapons.

10. “I assuem you are a Jewish Zionist. Let me encourage you to convert to the One True Faith
soon, as the blood curse your forefathers called down upon you, will remain with you, until you are baptized.”

Actually, as you might have guessed from my name, my forebears are Scots and Irish with a few Cherokees tossed in for seasoning. I am a Catholic as you might also have guessed from my frequent posts at Open Book. As for you, you are a deluded anti-Semite. Here is something for you to contemplate. Saint Ignatius of Loyola was warned that one of his novices might have Jewish blood. This was at a time when such a charge was serious business in Spain. The Saint responded how fortunate for the novice in having a blood kinship with Our Lord and His mother.

Free yourself from the foul hatred that obviously has you in its grip, lest it be held against you when your soul comes before Christ.