[aberdeenwriter]

Originally Posted by HowEver

As much as I wouldn't want any of these things to happen, and as much as I think they all are in some way actually related, are you really equating September 11, 2001, with the Holocaust, Pearl Harbour and the invasion of Poland?

Wow. Reality check here.

The jihadists can't take over a small patch of the desert, so imagining that they'll be overthrowing whole countries is a bit of a stretch--but not so much a putsch.

Stretch your mind around the Middle and Near East. Most of Africa. Parts of Russia, India, China.

Google this.

Somalia

EDIT:

Here are a few more to putsch their way into your knowledge banks...

The war in Kosovo between Christian Serbs and Muslim Albanians.

The Israeli-Arab conflict

The war in Iraq

The civil war between Christians and Muslims in the Sudan

The war between Christian Ethiopia and Muslim Eritrea

The war in Chechnya and Dagestan

Subversion by Uighur Muslim Nationalists in Western China

The war between India and Pakistan over Kashmir

The struggle between the Muslims and the Christian regime in the Philippines for control of Mindanao

The war between Indonesian Muslims and Christians in East Timor

[tie]

Unfortunately, (Nobel prize-winner) Stiglitz and Bilmes have updated their report on the cost of the Iraq war. Previously, they estimated a $1-2 trillion range. Now they are saying >$2 trillion. (According to Kristof for the NY Times, I can't find the full paper online.)

In all fairness, it should be noted that there is considerable dispute over the war's costs. Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz have argued that the cost will be $50 billion or $0, respectively. NEC Director Lindsey estimateed $100-200 billion (but was dismissed from the administration for his high estimates). Another team of economists is also attacking the Stiglitz-Bilmes figures as far too high; they estimate that the true cost is only $600 billion (for the US, the cost to the world is an extra $400 billion beyond that -- for $1 trillion total, but I am not sure if Stiglitz and Bilmes separated these costs or not). Interactive cost estimating website

For perspective, we're spending $18,000 per American household. $380,000 for every extra minute we stay in Iraq. aberdeenwriter, do you think you could spare $15,000 to help cover my share? TIA.