GingerV,
If you’re unwilling to fork over the $$, as I am, they don’t make it easy…
US Department of State, Patterns of Global Terrorism
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/pgtrpt/
Select 2000, (A)Introduction, scroll to the bottom for Definitions, and in the note on non-combatant you’ll read that each terrorist attack is measured separately, each with the possibility of multiple casualties (ref two servicemen killed in the Labelle discotheque bombing, and the four off-duty US Embassy Marine guards killed in a cafe in El Salvador).
I’m still working on the RAND criteria.
Point 2 of post 82: let take as given that the Hussein/bin Laden story was a transparent fall back position once the WMD position became untenable. I’m confident that you’ll be able to trace its birthday back to the funeral pyre of the WMD. Bush and Blair felt confident that the WMDs would be found. They weren’t.
Point 2.5: Sorry about those 30 minutes, I can’t proofread either. The verification of Iraqi compliance with their commitments was the responsibility of the Iraqi government. Iraqi obstruction and duplicity is well documented, and occurred over an extended period. The Iraqi government could have ensured that they were completed promptly and did not do so. A straightforward miscalculation.
Point 3: The Taliban Afghan government was overthrown by the Afghans of the Northern Alliance. The United States and Great Britain provided crucial air power. Between The end of October and the end of November 2001 the Northern Alliance had captured 60% of the country. Kandahar, in the south of the country fell to the NA on December 6, 2001. The American bombing campaign then focused on the Al-Qaeda training camps and headquarters in the Tora Bora area in the east of Afghanistan. The ground war was fought and won by Afghans.