Defeat for the US in Iraq is ineluctable. However, the stakes are too great for immediate and complete US withdrawal. Iraq is a major oil producer, strategically placed in a region that continues to occupy important place in US national strategic outlook. If the US were to establish 'friendly' government, it would be a major boost to US geopolitical assets vis-a-vis China -- its direct and immediate challenger for natural resources. China is growing hungry for resources, namely oil. And it looks to the Middle-East to slake its inexorable thirst for oil and gas. If the US were to with draw soon inevitably resulting in a chaos and power vacuum, others neighbouring nations the US deems 'rogue states' would swoop in and carve up iraq to their liking. Which will leave the US in far more dire predicaments in terms of its goals and interests in the region then before they invaded Iraq. Anyway you look at it, prolonged US stay looks likely. The wild card in all of this that overrides all other considerations is American public opinion. We all regretably learned from Mogadishu 93 how US foriegn policy is at the whim of its electorate. All opinions polls show mounting public calls for withdrawal from Iraq. I wouldn't be all shocked if Bush announced tomorrow the US will with leave iraq completely in 6-12 months.

Originally posted by SeeKer: Would that be pray tell? Giving "gatorade" to the lil guy to swim faster. No, I'd give the lil guy invisible potion to enable him to slip past the gatekeepers undetected.

Originally posted by Alle-ubaahne: Now, though its a sad reality, but am asking where are the liberals who always tend to advocate the system of democracy over Shariica law, when our homeland suffers from all preventable obsenities by means of our religion! I don't get what you mean. Are you blaming liberals (who are they?) on the rise of venereal diseases :confused: Do you have any evidence showing religion will help curb the spread of HIV and other venereal diseases?

Originally posted by Curling Waterfall: Plan B aborts the little guys' mission .... not the baby. AhA! gotcha! Then I propose Plan C - affirmative action against Plan B.

Originally posted by Femme Fatale: ^Please edit that disgusting and unIslamic statement. heh? what's so unislamic about it. It was for jest, lighten up.

Actually there is a valid reason for this. Bicycles are a ruse by the Communists to wile the unsuspecting masses to commie ways -- in particular the somalis. Take a look at the design of a bicycles for a moment, what leaps to mind? If you say sickle and hammer, give yourself a pat on the back you're correct. It is not plainly obvious at first but keep starring at it, the more you stare the more it'll appear to look like sickle and hammer. Keep starring! Why do you think there are so many bicycles in communists countries? What are the political bent of those pushing for bikes instead of cars as mode of transpo in non-communists countries? Connect the dots, see the patterns...it is a big commie conspiracy to turn us all into commies. When I was little kid my father bought me a bike, I told him I didn't want it since I was no commie. Befuddled, I told him to get me a toy gun and fire crackers. I didn't get the latter. Communism never left us, it is around the corner waiting for us to let down our guard so it can rear it's ugly head once again. I for one stand on guard against the Godless ideology and its subversive ways. Stay on the look out against communism, it is your moral duty! And say no to bikes! No for boys and girls.

I know this is an impossibility [ December 02, 2005, 20:22: Message edited by: Rahima ]

What happened to plan A or am I missing something?

hahaha I listened to the interview yesterday. The man is natural comedian and spoke the truth. I like his style. He shoots straight from the hips with stiff upper lip, he is not the kind to mince words or bother with inanities of being diplomatic or cordial.

I haven't watched SerieA for a while...no digital cable He should've proceeded ahead with the walk out if you ask me. Some1 must make a stand and draw a red line on the ground. Spain was even worse last season, especially at the Bernebeau. Fifa gotta start hitting clubs hards with financial penalties, take off points in demostic leagues (I know they can't but they can work a soln with demostic league FAs), bans, empty stadium games, disqualifications...

Kheyr, sxb I think you are dangerously teetering to the lunatic fringe, twillight zone, la-la land. Every post of yours I read is yet another peek into some1 who's either totally lost all grip on reality or is on the way. What prompted you to look for this flat earth balderdash in the first place? Did you see the edge of the earth, do you have any reason to believe the earth is flat? Have you looked at all the scientific data that show the earth is NOT flat? Kheyr, if the earth is flat, what cosmological implications can we draw from it? Is it also your view that the sun rotates around the earth too? ...another possibility is you've been smoking too much jamaica. Or another case of gone mad on smack. God help you bro, you really need it. Flat earth! Holy shmoly!

I don't mind being led by a woman.

Originally posted by WinningEleven: We Won 2-1.. That's because your team cheated! Like always. They're dark blot on the PL and club football. Never has there been a team more unabashedly disgraceful and disagreeable in every way then ManUnited. Bereft of any decency and moderation, they spread their obnoxious miasma everywhere they go. The mere hearing of their name thrusts me into paroxysms of revulsion and abhorrence. Argh!!! No wonder they call them ManUre. While Chelsea and every other PL team (with the exception of the gooners) play fair and square and by the rules, your beloved ManUre perennially employs underhand tactics. I bet they bought that ref, probably bought the goalie too (the 2nd goal he let in was highly suspicious, I'm gonna write to the PL to complain about possible match fixing). Hell I suspect they even paid the TV commentators to say few ear candies about them. If I was ManUre supporter, I wouldn't get my hopes high. Hard and painful fall is foregone conclusion. I would have moderate expectations -- ManUre will be relagated to 3rd division (my wish!). Van Horseface will go to spain, Rooney the Shrek will be donated to the city of Manchester zoo, Christiano 'final cross-over' ronaldo will probably leave as well. The rest of their jocks are incompetent bunch, they can go to hell. If I was you, I'll follow Keano the Dino's lead and abort this sinking ship that is ManUre 'going down' united. Enough with Manure, the lets talk about the greatest team on earth -- Chelsea FC. What can I say after slightly nervous dip in performance, the show is back on the road again! Two back to back 2-0 wins. Crespo on the board for both games. Will we see the Crespo of Lazio?!?!?! I hope we do, I was always a huge fan of Crespo for Argentina and Italian clubs. A momentous achievement for the footballer of the century Frank Lampard -- set the record for the most consecutive games played AND leads the PL in goals scored. The pinnacle in achievements for any footballer. The man is model specimen for modern day footballer. Exceptional fitness, some attribute this to his connatural ability which I tend to agree, combined with consistent and robust application when on the pitch and highly commendable behaviour off of it. He's my player of the year, centure, millennia...what the hell of all time. Finally, Chelsea are through to knock-out stages of the CL along with the Kops of the same group.

No no no, we DON'T need men's sections. Men's section is IN women's section. Why the hell would you wanna be somewhere else but in women's section? :confused: Once you're in women's section, you should always wanna go back there again and again and again... To all the women, don't distress. I make the solemn promise not to ogle, lurk at women's sections with the intent to only glean life imparting womenly wisdom that I'm sure y'all be discussing.

A topic of interest to me is animal rape. There two types I wanna discuss. 1. Animals raping other animals. How should we protect these victims and bring justice to the rapists? Who should a raped lioness or dog contact to file a rape charge? At the moment there is NO place for them to go, I think that is a great injustice. 2. Humans raping animals. This takes the prize of underreported crimes. The number of raped goats alone is astronomical. Yet not a sinlge individual has been arrested for raping a goat. This is one of the greatest tragedies of our era.

What a preposterous and irresponsible suggestion. Women are not responsible for getting rapped nor is what they wear legitimise their rape. You can chuck out of the window what woman wears as deterent because we KNOW that is not a deciding factor in rapes. Both modestly dressed and scantly dressed women have almost equal chances of getting rapped. If not, then we should assume that is the case. The best defense against any crime is overbearing due diligence. NEVER take chance, always assume the worst. Any woman can get rapped regardless of how she dresses should be the working assumption. Because the stakes are that high.

Chelsea all the way!!!!

Only if she agrees not to cut off my private parts or leave me when I cheat on her

Originally posted by The Flipmode..: But everyone is talking about 'The Fate of a muslim woman'..see that propaganda There is NO propaganda, you're just imagining one. I rather have ppl talk about the 'fate of muslim woman' then not. What possible harm may come from shining the spotlight on the state of muslim women? IMO, it is the best defense against abuse.

I was told by the government of Ontario that I was DEAD and living on borrowed time! I'm not kidding, this really happened. I went to renew my Ontario Health Card which expired (without it I can't be treated at hospitals and clinics). I walked into Health Canada office and presented my expired card to one of the officials there. She ran my info into her computer and after while looked at me and said, "you suppose to be dead."

Where is Chelsea vs Ander? In-fudging-effable! so many chelsea haters :mad: how many of you are out there? do get shipped out of some factory? for those who don't know, chelsea won 2-0 and booked their place in the final 16

JB, I owe you a reply but I'm strapped for time now. Will get back soon.

Originally posted by Paragon: organisms or micro-organisms only 'evolve' to the point of 'adaptation', and after adaptation they seize to evolve. Gotta disagree here. The driving force for the evolution of species is Natural Selection and not adaptation. If the environment is supportive of organisms biological needs, the organism won't 'evolve' any further. But say there is sudden environmental change in the organims niche, then that organism WILL evolve. As NGONGE said, we should maybe consider macro and micro level of things and see their combination as compatible rather than conflicting. There is really no meaningful distinction between micro and macro evolution. Macroevolution is the accumulation of many microevolutions. The mechanism for both is the same -- Natural Selection. Why bother splitting hair? And as Johny Bravo pointed out, afterall, Darwin did not falsify the existence of divinity or God. Of course no one can prove or falsify the existance of Allah

Originally posted by Khayr: Which way do you sway 50%+ of the time RELIGION or SCIENCE??? What an odd question! My answer would be neither. I believe in Islam -- the religion of Allah. I believe Allah is all knowing, always right and everything in this universe is of HIS. Science is discpline aimed at seeking knowledge. All knowledge in this universe is Allahs. Therefore, science is HIS. In my view there is really no distinction between science and religion - in this case Islam. But I must warn this is MY personal view, unshared by most of my co-religionists. Scientism via Evolution which forms the foundation of Modern, PRO-PROGRESS thinking, does not believe in obeying PERMENANT, UNCHANGING LAWS i.e. RELGIOUS LAWS, DIVINE LAWS. Science DOES believe in invariant natural laws! Where did you get the idea it doesn't :confused: What Einstein and most people nowadays want, is CHANGING LAWS that succumb to people's WHIMS. Once again, you don't have the slightest clue as to what you're saying. First, this discussion is not about Einstien and his believes. Second, he's dead. Third, in science there are nochaning laws. This is what Evolution preaches, constant CHANGE and non-Permenance! Evolution theory doesn't 'preach,' it merely explains how we got to here as species. It doesn't say anything about constant 'change' or 'non-permenance.' What have you been reading or have you read anything on the subject Evolution theory? MAN IS THE CREATOR OF HIS OWN DESTINY How is this relavent to subject at hand? why a MUSLIM can not be PRO-SCIENTISM, PRO-EVOLUTION etc. b/c if you vouch for these IDEOLOGIES, THEN WHAT IS TO SAY THAT YOU WON'T view the SHARIA in the same light of EVOLUTION aka CONSTANT CHANGE. Unbelievable! How do we get into discussing SHARIA in Evolution vs ID debate? Sharia IS constant change, I suggest you go read up your Islamic history along with evolution theory. And start a separate thread about this subject, don't bring sharia and its constancy into this debate becuz you're only diverting it from its aim. You are also 'SECULARIZING KNOWLEDGE' here b/c RELGION (A WAY OF LIFE) encompasses PRACTICAL matters in the daily life of BANI ADAM aka HUMANS. But you don't believe that, if you did, you wouldn't be so anti-science. I know which group you have chosen then why ask me all these questions :confused:

Originally posted by Y-Chromo: They are only humans and things sometimes fall apart. They are indeed humans and that is precisely why they shouldn't be in the business of enforcing Allah's laws. We should see them as people like us who can get things sometimes wrong. But the motive behind their actions is worth everything. Unfortunetly for you and them, what WE as society judge actions are their end result, not the motivation or rational behind them. Was the end result of the particular action good or bad? There can be good motive behind murder, rape, theft...but all are still unacceptable and a crime. Motivation doesn't legitimize a particular action. Frankly no one gives a damn, least of all not the dead and their relatives, about what those demi-gods did. They should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law!