but in science we have a way of deciding whose theory about the world around us is closer to the truth: It’s called the Scientific Method whose hallmark is the comparison of predictions to the actually observed results. So if you have a World View that consistently predicts events that conflict with actually observed facts on the ground you need to discard or modify that World View. Thus if, for example, you predict that you can overthrow the government of a nation militarily, that you will in fact be welcomed as a liberator and that you can change said nation from a dictatorship into a Western-Style Democracy within a few year then all we need to to is wait these few years and compare the actual events to the before-mentioned predictions. OK, so now we know that this prediction was completely at odds with reality.

Next up is the prediction that if  you send 30,000 U.S. troops and 7,000 NATO troops along with an equal amount of civilian contractors (bringing the total number of military and civilian personnel to about 200,000) into Afghanistan now, you can “stabilize” that country and begin withdrawing these troops in about 18 months from now. Again, all we have to do is wait 18 months and compare prediction to actual outcome. On this experiment I am siding with Ralph Nader who in this piece lays out why he thinks President Obama’s decision is not in the interest of the majority of the citizens of the U.S.

Unlike in most Sciences, the above experiments actually kill and maim plenty of innocent people. Also, there is usually no accountability of those who initiate the ‘experiment’. Neither do those whose predictions turn out to be crazy as batshit take the hint and modify their misguided World Views. That is why politics is not science and why even an otherwise enlightened human being like President Obama can proudly talk about how “high-ranking al Qaeda and Taliban leaders have been killed” along with scores of innocent bystanders by U.S. drones. As if killing is an acceptable way of conflict resolution. As a proud atheist/humanist the enthusiasm of Church-going Christian folks to kill other human beings never fails to surprise me. Does it not say somewhere in their Commandments that killing other humans is a no-no? That he who is the lowest is still God’s creature? I must have miss-understood these things when I read them…