Re: Eliot Spitzer, antismoking leader, self-destructs

On Tue, 18 Mar 2008 11:09:56 -0500, "Judson McClendon"
<judmc@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>> Point taken - Let me re-phrase:   "Money spent on trying to convert
>> Iraqis to Democracy does not help the domestic economy nearly as much
>> as if the people had spent that money on consumer items".
>
>On the other hand, how much wealth was destroyed on 9/11? There is
>no way to know for sure how valuable dealing with terrorism will be,
>but one thing is clear: not dealing with it will be an unmitigated
disaster.

The big assumption is that what we're doing is making things safer.
Some people say it is working, others say it is making things worse.

At any rate, it is a huge cost to our economy - whether or not it is
worthwhile.  

>Working to build a successful democracy in Iraq seems a better use of
>wealth than simply bombing the terrorists and potential terrorists out of
>existence, no?

Or bombing the people out of existence and giving the terrorists
reason to rank us above their neighbors as enemies.

But talking business - let's determine our goals and evaluate how we
will know when we have accomplished our goals.   Determine what we are
willing to pay, and develop a plan where we can measure our progress
against our objectives.    You know, the things we should do when we
have any im****tant project.