Today's warblogger test

Posted Tue, Jan 21, 2003 at 11:38 am

From DP, here's a test of how much of a hawk or dove you are.

I scored 48, with 5 on the rationality scale. I'll take the 5 as a badge of honor. Perhaps someone could tell me the "right" answers:

1. George Bush was validly and democratically elected president in 2000
Disagree
"While he may have been validly elected, he wasn't elected in what I would term a "democratic" fashion. I.e., he did not win the popular vote."

2. The Afghani people are in much better condition today than before the Afghan war.
Agree

3. The U.S. Military Operation in Afghanistan was largely successful in disrupting and damaging Al Queada.
Agree

4. It has not been proven that the World Trade Center / Pentagon attacks were committed by Muslims.
Agree
"While I think it was, it hasn't been proven."

5. The Bush administation's primary reason for invading Iraq is to take control of Iraqi oilfields.
Agree

6. Iraq and/or Saddam Hussein represents a threat to the United States
Agree

7. If Saddam Hussein succeeded in building a nuclear weapon, he will try to covertly provide it to terrorists for use against the West.
No Particular Opinion
"I'm supposed to speculate on what he's going to do? Maybe he'll be deterred, maybe not."

8. The U.S. must stop Hussein from acquiring weapons of mass destruction
Agree

9. War has never and will never achieve anything
Disagree

10. The United States is presently the greatest threat to world peace.
Disagree

Comments

WildMonk (not verified)

Tue, 01/21/2003 - 15:00

Hey Lonewacko,

I came up with "Rationality" scores based on answers to questions that I thought were pretty much beyond reasonable, non-politicized discussion. For example, the claim that there is no proof that Muslims perpetrated the WTC attack seems pretty irrational to me. You pretty much lost all of your rationality points on that one question.

It has not been "proven" that Islamic radicals commandeered the planes in the sense of having video tapes of these individuals rising from their seats, slitting the stewardess' throat, invading the cockpit and steering the plane into the WTC.

However, we do know that each flight had 4-5 individuals on board who were Islamic radicals that had trained with Al Queda, that these individuals left behind documents of a revolutionary Islamic nature, that some of these individuals had taken flight lessons and had spawned a lot of suspicion about their motives during this training, and that Bin Laden took credit for the attacks. We have also found paper and money trails for these individuals tying them to radical Islam before the fateful flights. We also know that Islamic radicals perpetrated the Bali bombing as part of what they claim is a "continuing jihad" against the West.

We also know that no one else has claimed responsibility.

So, only by the most wildly uncharitable definition of the term "proven" could one say that it has "not been proven" that Muslims committed the attack.

Best regards,

Wild Monk