Can I just pick it up at the store or is it only available online?

Oh, and where at in Florida? If near Tampa, let me know. The Beer is on me.

Make a fuel stop in OKC, either OKC or PWA, and lunch/coffe/soda's are on me

Tom

I am busier than a nine-tailed Texas news anchor in a room full of pajamahadeen on rocking chairs

Could you please replace my keyboard? ;^)

Congratulations on "Silent America". It seems a most prophetic title. I look forward to reading it. Happy Holidays!

Glad to see the sales are going your way. If you're the one doing the flying down to FL, be sure to watch out for all of us T-34 students buzzing around Pensacola. I just got my copy of Silent America and I'm glad to finally see your work in good-old-fashioned paper form. Maybe the data's skewed since it's a new item, but #613 at Barnes & Noble's seems like nothing to sneeze at. Hopefully it's up and up from there!

Received my book yesterday, and save the necessities of human cleanliness and my hourly job, I haven't put it down. Excellent writing Mr. Whittle.

Dear Marble,

Unfortunately, we'll be a little north of you. Too bad, though, since I never, ever fly without a couple of good stiff drinks.

=)

Just remember, Bill . . . no smoking within 50 hours of the flight, and no drinking within 8 feet of the airplane. Or is it the other way around? ;-)

Do a fuel stop in Tucson. I will fete you. (No, that's not a misprint.)

Bill,

Beer on me if you decide to detour a little north to Valdosta.

Grey Matter -- just use your NACWS to keep clear of Bill, it's quite reliable! [/sarcasm]

Bill, how about a post about your meeting the Iraqi bloggers? As mentioned here:
http://cathyseipp.journalspace.com/?entryid=453

Hunh, Bill, I don't remember any alcohol fumes from our flight ;^)

Now it's at #411 on Barnes & Nobles and rising. I got my copy from the PayPal printing yesterday. Thank you, sir.

You should have been willing to face Moore. Whenever his incompetence or malevolence is revealed we are all better off.

Bill's middle name is Alfred!

"HA-ha!"

"Silent America" BN Sales Rank: 396

"Dude, Where's My Country?" BN Sales Rank: 1,696

To Bill and all of your loyal readers:
Very.Good.News. in three words, Blue.Eyed.Infidel.

Bill,

Hope you have a nice time here in Florida. The weather was beautiful here in O'Town until about a week ago. Now it's cold.

I posted a review, I hope I'm the first! But it will take a little time before they post it.

Got my copies of Silent America today, Bill, both of them. I can hardly wait to get started - my son doesn't know what he has to look forward to, but he's gonna have to wait until Christmas, anyway.....

Bill,

Got my copy via PayPal on Tuesday. Man oh man, you're good!

As I've commented here before, my only beef is that I wish your writing were more timeless -- i.e., fewer Star Trek references and such. (You write well enough that, were it not for such inside jokes -- which will not be understood in a decade or two -- "Silent America" might well stand as a classic, alongside Twain and Swift, for decades and centuries to come. No, I'm not exaggerating; you are THAT good.)

But I really can't complain. Many's the time I've told a friend, about a book or a movie, "It has some really cheesy parts, but the such-and-such scene is worth the price of the whole thing".

There are plenty of books that I own and reread, even though there's only one or two scenes in it that really speak to me. Your essays GRAB me, each one of them; each essay has SEVERAL such passages.

In other words, I'd have paid list price for "Silent America", gladly, even if it had only ONE of your ejectejecteject essays in it -- pretty much any one, chosen at random -- with blank paper to fill the rest of the space.

You'll be getting a bunch more orders from me, my friend. Please tell the printers to Keep On Printing.

with respect bordering on awe,
Daniel in Brookline

Bless you, bless you, bless you!

I got my three books today and am simply delerious with joy! And, I'm going to have to order MORE! (Let me see, I have one for me, one for my parents, and one for my brother... now I need one for my sister, one for my daughter's teacher, one for my pastor, one for my cousin -whups, make that three - one for....)

Bill, you are incredible, awesome, and I *cannot* thank you enough! I hope and pray that he only thing that stops you from writing this fantastic stuff is a peaceful death in the far, far, FAR future!

Thanks again, and I'm off to order more...

I've seen Moore's early work...he _is_ charming and (at least on the surface) self-effacing. It's only when you actually pay attention to his message that you realize he's the devil. (The devil is also, according to tradition, charming on the surface.)

I don't know the folks you work with, but it wouldn't surprise me to find any number of people in your industry who'd have a hard time noticing that. :)

Haven't seen my 3 copies yet, Bill (tap...tap...tap...), but it was certainly my pleasure to add to your financial windfall. Enjoy your trip, and pass greetings to Kim on your stop on the way home... with the money the two of you have had me spend of late, it's a wonder my kids will have anything to open next Saturday!

My paypal copy arrived on Friday - I'm halfway through and would skip work to read it if I could get away with that.

I bought a copy for a friend last night via B&N and will do that a few more times in the near future.

Thanks for a great read - I'm looking forward to reading Sanctuary.

If you're ever in New England, the beer or other beverages are on me.

Bryan

Bill, keep the Star Trek references--they ARE timeless!

I can't wait to read your book! As for the not-timeless stuff, including it didn't hurt Dickens or Shakespeare. Tom Wolfe employs it with impunity, and I dare anyone born after 1968 to read his Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and not both get it and have a great time. Great writers decide what's timeless, and you might be one of them. Keep it coming!

Bill,
I'm going to pick up your book at B&N. In the meantime, since you're able to say what I think, only a whole lot better than I could, have you considered an essay on the death of reason in America? With a tagline of "How argument loses meaning through spin".

Keep up the good work.

Hey Author/Publisher!

Book is on Amazon here, and it needs a cover picture. I added the cover as a "customer shared image" but can't make it look pretty on the front. You may want to check it out.

Hey readers!

How about some customer reviews on B&N and Amazon, and some "You'd like this if you read xx"? Let's SELL this thing and see if we can get Bill the next Rutan project!

Howdy Bill,

Got my first two copies of Silent America yesterday. You can only imagine my surprise to find one of my own comments among the reviews (before I started my blog I used to post here as "aliestar"). What a thrill and honor it is to have words that I wrote in what is sure to be an early 21st Century American classic.

Like many others here I started re-reading your essays after I recieved the book, and immediately thought of a half-dozen more people I'd like to buy it for. When old college friends ask me how the liberal views I held back in the day could have changed so much, I'll hand them a copy of Silent America and say "Read this". If they don't get it then they never will.

S

Received my copy last week. Congrats on the big numbers.

You're earning every penny of it my friend.

Your ex-ussr American comrade-in-arms,

Phil

Bill Whittle: As for Michael Moore...I..uh...recused myself from that taping. There are only four people in the world I do not feel I could face without either going to jail or losing my job, and he is two of them (the others are O.J. Simpson and Ted Rall).

Wow. I don't consider Moore and Rall to be on the same planet as a man who got away with murdering two people. Michael Moore occupies the same ecological niche as Rush Limbaugh. Whether they're right or wrong, they're loud. They endear themselves to people who agree with them and make everyone else grind their teeth. They aren't murderers. At worst, they're annoying.

The same is true for Ted Rall and-- Cox & Forkum.

If you're hitting Orlando, Bill, let me know. I'll treat you and GHS to some drinks and food.

And if your books ever arrive in my store, I'd love to get you to sign them for me and my customers.

Once they start coming in, I promise you I'll hand-sell copies every single day. It's my bookstore after all, and all of Florida needs to know your voice.

JK

To paraphrase Mr. Moore--DUDE, where's my book?

I ordered two the first day they were available for purchase, but no Silent America goodness has yet turned up on my doorstep. My dad-in-law wants one of these for Christmas, even if he doesn't know it yet.

Finally, the customer reviews appear on the B&N page.

Yeah! Three copies (temporarily) sit before me... "temporary" because two will find their way to other hands this Saturday, of course. Magnificent as usual, Bill... "thanks" just doesn't seem to cover what it is you do.

Still waiting on my copies -- hoping they'll get here before Christmas. I dumped one of the intended recipients, but no worries, I'll find your book a good home ;)

Glad to add to your windfall. You've earned it.

Mine just arrived last night (12/20).

YAY! :)

My two copies of Silent America just arrived this afternoon.
And to my overwhelming joy I find that you included one of my comments in the opening. I guess I'm going to have to order more now. (at least the hard cover)

Thanks Bill

They have come. All is right with the world.

Still hoping my 2 copies from PayPal arrive before Christmas, I've got 2 boys, 20 & 24 that need this book. Then I'll get a copy from B&N for myself!

And if Ogden UT end up on the flight path, lunch is on me. And range time if schedules permit. I'll take you to see JM Browning's actual shop where his greatest designs came from!

Somebody should send a copy of this to the President.

Yes I'm serious.

BIll's aggressive patriotism and go-get-em attitude seems right up George's alley. Can you imagine the PR if he actually read it? Now imagine if there was a photo of him holding it. (I've seen this with another book... a picture on the author's website of Pres. Bush walking along with the book in his hand) :-)

Oh... and "hellesfarne"?
"Michael Moore occupies the same ecological niche as Rush Limbaugh. Whether they're right or wrong... they're annoying."

Yes they're both loud, opinionated, and sarcastic, but they are otherwise very different. Moore's bread-and-butter is deception and anti-Americanism -- he invents whatever information he needs to attack his own country. All I really need to know about him is that Hezbollah distributed his latest film throughout the Middle East. They love the man.

Stephen, Moore and Limbaugh are diametrically opposite each other, but they're also both absolute @#$@ and I'd hate to wind up in an airline seat next to either of them.

(Okay, in an airline seat two seats over from either of them, because 'next to either of them' pretty much guarantees a rapid death through crushing or asphyxiation.)

Moore is probably worse - but by inches, not yards. I'd see it as my duty to take up arms if necessary to protect America from the visions either of them would like to impose.

Still waiting here in the UK. I guess it takes a little time to cross the Atlantic.

Leo, have you seen a picture of Limbaugh in the past couple of years? He'll 'll never be mistaken for Lance Armstrong, but he lost a LOT of weight.

I've been doing some heavy duty hinting to the other half about your book; it's looking good! Just wanted to say how moving your essays are to me. You are a WRITER Bill, I mean, a blog is a blog, but when a reader has tears in the eyes (and HEY- I'm a gun totin' woods livin' hardcore type!) after reading one of your essays, then you've got something fine going on. Merry Christmas to you & yours, & best wishes for a happy & prosperous New Year. I think your star is rising. Best regards....

Damn, I went to Barnes & Noble online a couple of days ago, and was surprised that Silent America was number 3,324 in their sales rank (not that it doesn't rate it, mind you, but I didn't realize quite how fast word of mouth would get it out there), but now the site says its sales rank is 230!!! Go Bill!!!

For those who might be interested, the big flying adventure is over. Bill (and his lovely co-pilot Dana) arrived in Orlando last Saturday evening, where I picked them up, stopped in at a pilot's store in town, then drove them the hour-and-a-half down to Vero Beach where we spent the night. Sunday morning, I dropped them off at the Velocity's hangar at the Sebastian airport, and left them to prep it, while I drove (read "blazed") back to O'Town (to leave my PT Cruiser in the correct city). And there I grabbed my bag, and raced down to the Kissimmee Airport, getting there just in time to videotape Bill's arrival and landing in the Velocity, having just flown up from Vero. I joined them aboard, and off we went.

The story will be related (in detail) and posted (with pictures) as soon as both have been readied, but suffice it to say that two days later we landed at the Santa Monica Airport in L.A., having fought 50 mph headwinds (and some epic turbulence) the first day, and 100 mph headwinds (but less turbulence) the second day, plus sub-freezing temperatures at altitude, and a house full of crazy bloggers and blogophiles that came to meet us in Dallas (mountains of thanks to Kim and Connie du Toit who not only feted and boarded us in comfort and style, but saw to it that we were far better accoutered for the high-altitude cold on the next day's flight, and provided the in-flight catering as well -- bless you both -- you were great).

It was also amazing how much better that little pocket-rocket flew once we'd reached LA and pitched all our baggage and Dana, the SkyQueen, out on the ramp. Just imagine how much better still it will fly now that MY fat ass is no longer confounding your weights-and-balances calculations, Bill.

Anyhoo, I'm back in Orlando again.

JK: we'll have to do that flying thing one of these days. And Nate: sorry we missed you heading west, but does it count that on my commercial return flight, I had a layover in Salt Lake City?

So stay tuned all. Bill's had a hell of a good year, thanks to you -- he raved about it constantly on the trip -- and is all kinds of pumped-up about the projects awaiting him at his keyboard. So good news a-comin'.

Merry Christmas all.

Steve
(a.k.a. GreatHairySilverback)

Bill,
You have listed three books now at least mentally in progress. Are you aware that another project is being proposed for you elsewhere on the Internet? I haven't seen it mentioned here, so I thought that I would bring the idea over and see if your other regular readers would comment favorably.

I'll contribute a suggested title:
The Krell Mind Machine, online essays by Steven den Beste, edited by Bill Whittle.

Steven has now closed out USS Clueless, stating that he has a degenerative disease that will no longer enable him to write essays at that level. I spent some time recently in his archive. Many of his essays are still relevant today. Somebody should make a selection and put them into permanent ink-on-paper format, and I can't think of anybody who could do that better than you.

You have stated that you now have no worries about money for the first time in your life. Anybody with a degenerative disease could certainly use some extra money. I'll bet that Krell Mind Machine would sell at least as well as Silent America. So I'd say you stand a fair chance of getting Steven to say yes, and an even better chance to have your publisher print the book if he does.

I know, you have a day job, and there are those three books of your own in the mental planning stage. Perhaps some other conservative essayist with contacts in the publishing industry should do the job instead. Who? The job does need doing.

Dear Past Time to Clean House,
Time's Man of the Year is the biggest, most important newsmaker of that year. There is no requirement that the news be good news. I believe that Adolf Hitler was given that designation twice. (It isn't "won".)

From your letter, I can see that it obviously hurts like hell to know that your son is gone and will never ever come home again. Many of the people who read this website will disagree with you on the value (or lack thereof) of that sacrifice. But if you have read Bill's essay History and you still feel that this sacrifice was certainly in vain, there is nothing any of us can say to try to make it hurt less. I sincerely hope that the course of history yet to come will show that Dubya was right after all, and that the sacrifice was worthwhile, and that you will come to know that, and the knowledge will ease your burden.

Thank you for the update, Steve. Good to hear from you (c:

Congrats on the book Bill! Looking forward to reading it soon!

Bill, the book was great (of course, it was a collection of previously great essays, so no surprise) It is good to have it to read when not at the computer.
I vote for you to edit the book proposed by the professor.
Don't know who war crimes is, but consider this: Even if the prisoners were routinely beaten, it is less than what was done under Saddam. Yes, they should be treated with human dignity because that is what we do, not what they deserve. You fail to see the fact that these people want you and me dead. Again, some perspective, please.

Oh, yeah. And what about the violation of human rights that goes on in the Sudan? What about the violations that go on in North Korea? China?

Best to ignore "War Crimes" as he is totally incapable of rational thought, and can argue only by copy and paste...of an editorial, no less.

Stephen Rider: Yes they're both loud, opinionated, and sarcastic, but they are otherwise very different. Moore's bread-and-butter is deception and anti-Americanism -- he invents whatever information he needs to attack his own country. All I really need to know about him is that Hezbollah distributed his latest film throughout the Middle East. They love the man.

Moore has advocated a sort of blue-collar populism that's skeptical of governments, corporations, etc. Roger & Me was not an anti-American film, TV Nation was not an anti-American television series. Fahrenheit 9/11 wasn't anti-American either: It was critical of the Bush administrations, and in general critical of American policy in the Middle East, but you can be critical of the government, even in the middle of a war, and still be a patriot. Has Moore always been right or even honest? No. Is that a problem? Yes. Yes, it is. Critics of Bush's policies are obliged to be right about the president and his administration. Critics of Michael Moore are just as obliged to be right about Michael Moore.

In the United Arab Emirates the film distributor Front Row Entertainment has been approached by Hezbollah, in the interest of publicizing Fahrenheit 9/11. Gianluca Chacra, the managing director of Front Row Entertainment said, "Naturally we didn't reply negatively to that, as they have a huge impact on Lebanese and Muslim audiences." He also said, "The only possible response we could give them was: 'Go watch the film, and if you like it you're free to publicise it.'" [1]

Does this sound like Hezbollah is distributing the film? Do they really love Michael Moore, or are they just attracted to a film that's critical of George Bush and the Saudi government?

And here are the actual quotes from Screen Daily:

"In terms of marketing the film, Front Row is getting a boost from organisations related to Hezbollah which have rung up from Lebanon to ask if there is anything they can do to support the film. And although Chacra says he and his company feel strongly that Fahrenheit is not anti-American, but anti-Bush, 'we can't go against these organisations as they could strongly boycott the film in Lebanon and Syria.'" (June 2004)

And...

"According to Chacra, no such funds were received, only an offer of assistance in publicising the film. 'Naturally we didn't reply negatively to that, as they have a huge impact on Lebanese and Muslim audiences,' he said. 'The only possible response we could give them was, 'Go watch the film, and if you like it, you're free to publicise it.'" (July 2004)

So, Chacra receives an offer of support from "organisations related to Hezbollah" in Lebanon. He understands that Hezbollah is known for being an anti-American organization, but believes it would be commercially unwise to oppose them. He doesn't accept funding from them, but he doesn't oppose their publicity, either.

Even this tenuous link is creepy enough that Moore should oppose it.

Just got my copy of the book...fantastic sir. You are a great American!

Have a safe flight and a great Christmas!

Even though I'm unemployed and lacking in money, I decided yesterday to order your book from Amazon.com, and urge all you readers to get behind Bill in this undertaking. It's not a sin for an artist to be rewarded in this life for his efforts.;)

Steve, YOU'RE GHS? Well, drats! I'm sure I shook your hand, but sure would've chatted your ear off had I known that was you.

To Bill et al, we have SEVEN copies of the book en route. Heh! Top that! And, I'm delighted to read all of the comments at the B&N site.

Got my copy two weeks ago. It was a Christmas present to my son (who has 2 sons). Wrote him a letter glowing about the art of the essay and about your wonderful words to accompany the book. Suggested that he develop the habit of reading one a week to his boys.

Much love and affection, Bill, for taking the time to collect your writings and for sharing with the rest of us. If you made money on this I am delighted and wish you only the best and much success.

Marti

I just received my copy at Christmas from my father. I look forward to reading your book. I have heard many good things from him about your site, so I decided to check it out. Thank you.

I want to echo Prof. Willard and others who have suggested that it would be a Very Fine Thing if you could see your way to editing a "Best of Steven Den Beste" collection. I think you, in particular, are the ideal person for the task, and I think it is a task very worth doing. It would advance the cause we are all engaged in, much as your book as done, and for similar reasons.

Bill - Just got your book in the mail yesterday (it was the only Christmas present I actually requested!) I am thrilled beyond words. Thank you, thank you for writing so well and sharing it with us. Each of your essays will be used to teach my Civil Air Patrol Cadets a new and different lesson and give them something to think about. Once again, thank you, thank you and I (no doubt along with many others) will be sending the book to you with a return envelope for signature, once I can actually bear to let it go.

While searching Amazon for Mr. Whittle's book, I found this book detailing Frank WHITTLE's creation of the het engine. Mayhaps the drive for flight is a genetic predisposition?

I must also give my support to the idea of a dead-tree format of SDB's many works. I don't know what Mr. Den Beste would think of the idea though. I look forward to more content in the coming year.

As of 2:40PM PST Silent America has moved to #335 on Amazon.com's sales ranking for books. This after Instapundit finally noticed that it was for sale there, and plugged it.

Congratulations, Bill! Now you can afford that complete avionics suite for your plane!

Ain't America wonderful?

Err, make that 2:46 MST.

and 267 at B&N...

Sales are so brisk, my order has been DELAYED. Ugh!

*pacing the floor waiting for a Whittle fix*

"Jesus was walking like this," says his father, imitating a crouching walk, "when he stepped on a cluster bomb."

But Suarez found out this part of the story only much later. At first, he and his family were told Jesus had been shot in the head, an image that horrified his parents. Later, he was told his son had stepped on an Iraqi mine and there was an investigation pending.

But a reporter with the 'San Diego Union Tribune' newspaper called Suarez to confirm elements of a story he was writing and told him his son had stepped on an unexploded ordinance, information that Bob Woodruff of ABC News later confirmed because he had been embedded with the soldier's unit.

According to the Union Tribune, Jesus lay wounded for two hours, bleeding out. He died en route to hospital.

"I can understand the confusion at first," says Suarez, "but why continue to lie to me?"

It took two weeks for the military to return his son's body for burial, and they refused to let the father see it until the remains were at the mortuary.

The day of the funeral, Suarez asked to spend time alone with his son. Armed with university training in forensic medicine, he examined the corpse and found that, indeed, something had ripped through the right side, removing pieces of hand, foot, upper thigh and groin.

"At that point," says Suarez, I knew."

And now his fury is palpable.

"The Americans dropped about 20,000 cluster bombs. Only 20 percent exploded. My son didn't die in the front lines from enemy fire; he died because of the military's negligence."

"You know," Suarez del Solar says thoughtfully, enunciating every word, "there are people who say I give aid and comfort to the enemy. I never spoke with Bush, he never sent me anything, but the people of Iraq I met, THEY comforted ME for my loss! I have yet to see the enemy."

In the shadow of the glass case that holds his son's picture, as well as the Mexican and American flags, Suarez del Solar goes back to organising medicines, in the hope that some Iraqi parent will not have to do what he has done -- bury a child killed in the war.

"They say Saddam had illegal weapons. Jesus died because of an illegal weapon. Cluster bombs are illegal under the Geneva Conventions."

The story of Jesus A Suarez del Solar Novaro and the cluster bomb that killed him is not a pretty one and despite what must be hundreds of tellings, his father's anger and grief are still just under the surface, tightly controlled.

Jesus had moved with his family to Escondido when he was 14 to fulfil his dream of becoming a U.S. Marine and joining the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to combat narco-trafficking along the U.S.-Mexico border. That dream died Mar. 27, 2003. Just 20 years old, Jesus left behind a young wife and an infant son.

The bombs look like tennis balls or beer cans, Suarez explains. And when the children try to give them to U.S. soldiers, they are shot on the spot -- military orders.

Cluster bombs, munitions that scatter hundreds of small "bomblets" over a wide area, are designed to inflict high numbers of casualties. "I asked a colonel why they couldn't clean up the cluster bombs, and I was told, confidentially, that they couldn't, there were too many."

hey clusterdude, your talkin to the hand here - these guys know all that stuff and are ahppy with the way that clustercookie crumbles. all is fair in love and war and boy do these guys love war.

Alpha wrote: "all is fair in love and war and boy do these guys love war."

And you mischaracterize. No one but the insane "loves war," but we recognize when there is need of it, and we believe that if it's necessary, it should be carried out with overwhelming force so as to make it as short as possible. I'm sorry for the loss of Jesus A Suarez del Solar Novaro, as I am for every American soldier, and every innocent civilian, and every coalition soldier, and every contract laborer. But I am not sorry for the slaughter of those who wish to bring death to America and the West or force Wahabist Islam on the region and the world.

War is not something you simply decide not to do. As Bertold Brecht stated, "Suppose they gave a war, and nobody came? Why then, the war would come to you!" War has come, and it will be a long, protracted, and bloody one. It will be longer still if we tie our hands behind us, or worse, simply quit and go home.

Now as to the previous poster, he states that "Only 20 percent (of cluster munitions) exploded." I've researched it, and the military says 95% (minimum) reliability, the ICRC reports a 75% reliability in Kuwait and Kosovo. Strike one. He then states that "Cluster bombs are illegal under the Geneva Conventions." No, under the Geneva Conventions they are prohibited if they cause incidental loss of civilian life or civilian injury that is excessive in relation to the anticipated direct military advantage of the attack. That's a judgment call, not a hard and fast rule of war. Strike two. He finally states that "when the children try to give them (unexploded ordnance) to U.S. soldiers, they are shot on the spot -- military orders." Right. Soldiers are ordered to shoot children. No need for a strike three required if he expects us to swallow that bilge.

Go troll elsewhere. Both of you.

you recognize when there is a need of war. well that would be all the time then? when hasnt there been a need for it? i think the point here is that this one has altered the concept of what is 'needed'. pre-emptive can now justify anything. hence much opposition to it. you have to expect that and deal with it graceously. it doenst benefit everybody despite arguing to the contrary.

point by point arguments are stricktly inside someone elses box. quoting figures and 'facts' is totally scource dependent. you have to go there yourself to know.

heres some people who have.

http://www.undermars.com

Hey Alpha moron: If it weren't for war, you would not have the ability to set at your computer and type stupid statements on someone else's website without being hauled away. If not for war, you would probably either be a lampshade or a bar of soap, and lastly, if not for the war on terror you probably would become a "victim" of the wahabist's who are randomly killing innocent people who do not agree with their methods of subverting liberty and independent thought! Sleep well tonight knowing there are others who understand war is a necessary evil and are keeping your lousy butt safe to practice as a moron! You owe them more than you will ever be capable of repaying!

you know its hard not to have a relative or several involved in war past or present. many of us are lucky enough not to have done so ourselves. it has been possible to be in the military for a few generations now without seeing active service. kinda the luck of the draw. i grew up in a military family. some of my relatives who did see active service were not even in the 'military' so to speak but fought nonetheless in ww2. after the war, there was one relative i guess you'd describe as a terrorist or something, depending on your point of view about israel. that terminolagy may have even shifted in your phsyce's vocab over time. politics is a transient thing...enemy of the enemy and all that. witness madman insane & ronald dumbsfeld. anyway, i digress.

im glad i got under your skin greg old bean, because you need to switch your headlights on. what you say is blindingly obvious. the same applies to you by the way. i am no less greatful for the sacrifice made by thers than you. where we likely differ is in our ideas of how to avoid such future waste of life.

many military strategies have been disasterous and pointless in the past. how doubly tragic to lose your life so uselessly and worse at the orders of your own commanders. in our case, our commanders have systematically created the need for the war on terror. it is a well documented pattern of years of us foreign policy. the american public dont even know the half of it.

evidently you choose to close your eyes at that bit and shout insults at anyone who has another point of view?

i come here to learn actually and have learned lots over the duration. thanks for your help too. such as it is. i dont claim to have all the answers so its good to listen to people who claim they do. i just dont agree that if you badmouth and destroy everyone who disagrees with you that it makes for a better place. as for self defence, thats the desperate rallying cry of the people with less and less.

Great book, Bill, and great website.

The readers of this web are the heart and soul of western civilization. How many times western civilization has hung by a thread, and only survived due to the fine hardies such as your readers.

God bless.

Kevin Baker,

Above I posted comments by the father of a son killed in uniform in Iraq, by our own cluster bombs. The father was lied to by our own government, about the circumstances of his son's death.

Let me be the first agree that the bereaved father's off-the-cuff wording is slightly imprecise. For example, he refers to 20,000 "cluster bombs". A nitpicker would point out that 20,000 is the number of bomblets we've dropped on Iraq. Not the number of clusters of bomblets.

Furthermore, the dead soldier's father indeed said cluster bombs were prohibited by the Geneva Convention. And, as you point out-- they are not explictly banned. But rather their indescriminate use is banned.

So-- does our use of cluster bombs in Iraq qualify? Well: refer above to the colonel who said we have dropped "too many" to clean up.
You may personally disagree that "too many too clean up" is adequate proof of indescriminate use. But you're being disingenuous if you summarily dismiss the father for concluding otherwise. After all, the bombs killed his son.

Here's a link that clarifies some of these issues, such as the Geneva Convention & cluster bombs:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3463.htm

One particularly appaling thing you'll learn at that link is that

The Pentagon claims that there has only been One Single Civilian casualty from cluster bombs in Iraq.
That is absurd.

The Pentagon's count of how many cluster bombs we've dropped-- also omits cluster bombs fired from land-based systems. (Counting only air-dropped cluster bombs.)

Thank you Kevin, for your contribution to clarifying the dead soldier's father's words; and for reading this additional comment.

Peace.

Don't care to address the "soldiers are under orders to shoot children" claim, Cluster? I was appalled by that assertion. I wasn't "clarifying," I was refuting.

Because so much of that comment was bogus, I find the rest of it to be suspect, including the "confidential Colonel."

Ordered the book....waited drooling....got the box from UPS....opened it and found...EIGHT MANGLED BOXCUTTERS! No kidding....UPS must have had a bad day at one of their sorting centers. I am working with them to: 1. Find out where the book went and 2. Get the boxcutters back to their owner/shipper.

Needless to say I am a little distressed but I'm patient. Just read your latest posting...Keep up the good work and make lots of $$$$

Stan Lefler