Thread: Organics found on Mars!

Originally Posted by honedright

The war was catalyzed by 911. Whether we were attacked by them or not is irrelevant. It was believed at the time by both the US and Britain that Iraq posed a severe threat.

How could that possibly be irrelevant?! In 1941 would it have made sense for the USA to respond to Pearl Harbor by declaring war on, say, Thailand?

It was believed by some in the US and Britain that Iraq posed a threat. Not by everyone. Certainly not by those who actually knew about Iraq and its relationship (or lack thereof) with Al Qaeda. Saddam hated them, they hated him. This was very well understood by many, but was a fact that was massively under-reported. But not un-reported. I lived in the UK at the time and remember reading all kinds of reports from a variety of sources that clearly and cogently analyzed the background as well as contemporary relationship between the two and came to the correct conclusion that they had absolutely nothing to do with each other and that Iraq most certainly had nothing to do with 911.

EDIT: apologies for straying yet further from the original intent of the thread. Mea culpa. Back to Mars - yes, benefits have resulted from space programs, but I do think it is legitimate to ask whether those benefits have warranted the cost. I'm one of those who don't have to pay for it (!) so my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt to be sure. However, when one is speaking of the amounts of $$ that are involved in space programs - even if that represents a small percentage of the total budget - I believe it is necessary to ask whether those dollars could have a greater positive impact on society if they were spent in different ways.