Tim Blair

I mailed Peter Fitz about a year ago when he wrote an article based on the canard that rising sea levels due to global warming threaten Tuvalu.

I pointed out that the sea level is not rising and attached the sea level data from Tuvalu that demonstrates this. I also pointed him in John Daly's direction.

His reply was polite, he promised to look into it, and he hasn't published on Tuvalu or global warming since. I was left with the same impression as Jared: he might be wrong-headed, but he's a decent bloke, and it's possible to reason with him.

In the email exchange was a simple question:

"How long can America sustain a bill of 4 billion dollars a month to have forces in Iraq and Afghanistan?"

The answer is simple: For as long as we need to.

No major terrorist attacks have occurred in the US or our western allies since the war started, and the jihadis seem to be throwing themselves at soldiers in Iraq rather than civilians in the US or children in Israel. However, another three infantry divisions would sure come in handy right now.

Jared should read this before he lectures Fitz. The US army is losing confidence in Bush. The irresponsible 'bring 'em' call will prove to be the catalyst for a seismic shift in US opinion.

Keep on wishin' and hopin' Ralph.

$4 billion a month is $48 billion a year. The annual budget for the US government is $2.2 trillion. That's 2 tenths of 1%. We could pay for it by eliminating some of the waste and fraud in the Department of Health and Human Servics.

"he might be wrong-headed, but he's a decent bloke"

Of course he's a decent bloke; he played rugby.

Took a few knocks to the head, though.

May I presume that Ralph has not spent time in the armed services? The "bring 'em on" quote is pretty close to the last thing that would bother most (probably all) of my comrades in arms. Whoever was president, we still believed we could handle whatever was thrown at us provided: 1) we get the supplies we needed; 2) the upper-echelon ass****s leave us alone; 3) we get paid every 1st and 15th; and 4) we get a little R&R. Decide on the objective, point us at it, supply us, get the F out of the way. I'm willing to bet that's still the attitude.

Also, I'm really feeling down. Whe I emailed FitzSimons, all the reply I got was that I failed to capitalize the S in simons.