Ah, Wretchard/Richard (I’ll stick to the latter if you insist, but the former has SO much more panache!) ’tis a far, far better thing you do than you have ever done before. Welcome to your new home!

Lilith – Of course there was no “Al Quaeda in Irag” prior to 2003. Saddam was in charge and he insisted on having a monopoly. Once he was gone, there was room for the “new” organization – same old folks, though.

As far as being the world’s policeman, well, you’re right. It’s a dirty thankless job that doesn’t pay for squat. Neither does being a cop anywhere else. But it does have its’ rewards and every now and then you get one up on the bad guys. So a lot of us think it’s still worth doing. You’re welcome to disagree, of course, but please just stand back and let us do our job…it works better that way.