I'm a new poster here at FP. I appreciate a comment board that is not censoring posts, in order to eliminate unpopular, but valid criticisms.

Sadly. trolls like Falas 105 are taking advantage of FP's liberal posting policies.

These spammy ads detract from any gravitas that FP is trying to project. Why does the FP management submit to cyber-attacks like this; it makes them look impotent, not tolerant.

These posts by Falas 105 should. IMO, be deleted; they violate the terms of service and negatively impact the value of the online FP product.

I don't normally like the idea of banning posters, but this Falas 105 character should be disciplined, if not banned outright, IMO.

Falas 105 is not the only troll spamming this board, FSFSDFSDF and HUAILALA are also guilty of violating the TOS with these off-topic, spammy advertisements.

As I said, I'm new here, I suspect that there are other trolls taking advantage of FP's tolerance.

Hello, is there a moderator in the house? Please, will the webmaster or an editor come online and explain this to me?

I have a blog too, but posting that URL here would seem to be in violation of the spirit of the TOS. These FP boards were not intended to serve as public billboards for goods and services...or am I wrong on that?

The government of *Italy* found the scanners to be "slow and ineffective?" They must be, because nobody knows slow and ineffective like the Italian government.

Thank you, moderator/webmaster, for taking out the trash.

The word verification function is challenging, I needed 3 screens to get something recognizable. This is analogous to the tamper-proof packaging dynamic; we all suffer inconvenience to protect us from the knuckleheads - kinda like TSA and the pat downs, I suppose.

This article is great ammo for the inevitable political arguments that seem to surface at family reunions these days. Divisiveness and rancor may spoil a few turkey day get-togethers...the spirit of gratitude and brotherhood that once characterized Thanksgiving has been replaced with the spirit of Black Friday.

I don't care how often for-rent pundits mouth the same truthspeak, or how often .00001% of elite Aghans are wrapped in Western drag for the latest fauxto-op and chummy (as in chum) interview.

Afghan is and will remain for the indefinite future a medieval society whose national passtime is mutual slaughter -- or that of foreigners if they're crooked enough to dispatch their poor sons for the endless game.

It will cost as much (way too much for this near-bankrupt Nation) to "manage" Afghanistant with peasant-raping native pollice as with ear-souveniring NATO mercenaries.

Send in main battle tanks to get the locals to "interface" with their government when they come in to claim their houses have been blown down? The rotten lot of you are hypocrites or idiots or both!

One or more countries in the neighborhood -- or much more dependably, one or more neighboring kleptocracies -- will funnel weapons to the locals for a fee: the surefire recipe for a failed counterinsurgency.

Afghan poppy will provide unlimited funds for bad guys on both sides -- as it is doing today.

Say what you wish; Afghanistan will remain a bottomless profit-center for the purposeless, self-perpetuating, self-gratifying and runaway bankrupting American military-industrial-Congressional complex.

ERGWERTWER @ 2:36 AM ET managed to get through the screening process. I've posted on many a thread, but FP seems to the strongest magnet for spammers out there; what's up with that?

For the record, the War Lobby is a tripartite consortium of three of the most powerful lobbies presently influencing our US federal government. These three potent interest groups share mutual goals and have common interests in the Middle East. The acronym is DIE.

The War Lobby consists of the Defense, Israel and Energy lobbies collectively. The US Defense establishment is constantly sharing intel and state-of-the art technologies with the IDF.

The Israel lobby (AIPAC, COPOMAJO, ZOA, ADL etc.) is actively and openly formulating US policy in the region.

The Energy industry is a for-profit, multi-national, global affair, with no particular allegiance to the American people. Since the bulk of the natural reserves of petroleum and gas are in the ME and Central Asia, the Energy lobby is inextricably connected to events in those regions.

Democrats, Republicans and Tea party "populists" are all beholden to the War Lobby.

Now, with the recent USSC ruling, (allowing unlimited corporate campaign giving), the War Lobby will become even more powerful.