I don't think it's necessarily true that Nazi Germany would have won WWII if the United States had not entered that conflict.

Already by December 1, 1941, the Wermacht lay bleeding and freezing in the snow drifts before the Soviet capital. They had suffered almost a million casualties, and lost most of their transport and armor. Zhukov's counterstroke was imminent, and even before Kido Butai turned into the wind to launch its planes at Pearl, the Germans had been defeated at Moscow.

It's also worth noting that perhaps so many Jews would not have perished at the hands of the Nazi lunatics if the Zionists had accepted the deal offered to them in 1939.

~

While I agree with most of Jerry's remarks here, I think it's worth noting that the US was essentially defeated in one set of war games simulating an invasion of Iraq, so I can't completely agree with his remark that "deposing Saddam Hussein will be no great problem."

Nor can I agree with his ideas about nuclear reactors. I've just finished reading an article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer on Rense.com concerning lies about long-standing safety violations at the Davis-Besse plant near Toledo.

IMO, we cannot depend on the utilities or the NRC to safeguard public health.

I'll continue briefly with two quick points: while you have the inherent right to drive whatever kind of fuel-guzzling SUV or truck that you like, doing so may play a tiny role in determining whether or not your son (or daughter) may someday fight and possibly perish in the Middle East.

Finally, I have long argued that air launch of rockets is an obvious way to reduce payload to orbit costs. We have aircraft capable (with modifications) of fulfilling the role of mother ships - the 747, C-5, probably C-17, An-124, and best of all, the massive, 6-engined, split tail An-225.

Of course, in the booster industry, driving down the cost of launch may not be the first priority.

Mr. Pournelle concludes (in part) "But whatever we do about Iraq, it is criminal that we are not pouring out the funds needed to reduce our dependence on that part of the world."

Yes, and even better, all of us can work "to reduce our dependence on that part of the world" by burning less gas.

sp