Administrivia -- Iraq redux

[Fyodor <fyodor () insecure org>]

[ WARNING:  Not directly Nmap related.  Please skip to the 3.20
  announcement coming in a few minutes if you aren't interested ]

Hi All!

I received well over 50 replies to my short peace plea in the
3.15BETA3 announcement.  These included some insightful messages from
people on both sides.  Particular thanks go to Ilan Meller of Israel
and Amir Safayan from Iran for presenting reasoned cases for
preemptive action against Iraq without calling me "socialist,
Al-Qauida ilk" like a guy named David.  They didn't change my mind
(and I doubt I changed theirs), but we had interesting discussions.
There were a few other civil responses as well.

As for the remaining replies -- boy did I ruffle some feathers!  I
received the worst flamage since several years ago when I joked about
making "sCriPT |<iddi3" output (-oS) the Nmap default :).  For
suggesting that perhaps Bush could have been a little more patient
with the UN & weapons inspectors, one person said I am "obviously a
terrorist".  Another concluded that Nmap "is spyware to spy on the
american people."  Chet from Hotmail explained that we must attack
because "the religion of Islam seeks to destroy the USA". Jason from
CMITexas said "Stick it up your ass! .... You are another resentful
European loser. I demand an answer now asshole!!!!"  Another crazy
Texan said "Iraq will bow to the most powerful nation in the world and
you will stand by and observe.  Your representatives are powerless
against gods chosen nation. No country has the power or the intellect
to do anything about it."  Guys: I am a proud US Citizen residing in
California -- please tailor your invective appropriately.

Let me address a couple common themes in responses:

o Many people objected to me expressing opinions (especially political
views they disagree with) on my lists.  Sorry, but I reserve the right
to post whatever I find worthwhile or interesting.  You'll notice that
none of my lists have advertisements that you'll find on
Securityfocus, Sourceforge, etc.  So far I have refused.  This allows
me to speak my mind without worrying about offending advertisers.  If
I wish to lampoon some security company, ridicule a firewall product,
make snide remarks about political issues like the DMCA or Iraq, I
reserve the right to do so.  A few years ago I sent a long anti-Saudi
missive when I found they were censoring Insecure.Org.  Yet that did
not draw any complaints.  This list also may contains profanity, and
occasional links to what prudish folks might consider pornography.
You never know!  But I will keep the primary focus on Nmap and
Insecure.Org.  If all you want is a dry notification of each Nmap
release, go to http://www.freshmeat.net and subscribe to the Nmap
project.  You can then remove yourself from this list by emailing
nmap-hackers-unsubscribe () insecure org .  I will have no hard feelings,
and you can continue to use Nmap as often or as little as you wish.

o Numerous people objected to my reference to Bush's "imperialistic
objectives".  I did not mean and do not believe Bush will rape and
pillage the land.  I am referring to Webster's definition of
imperialism which includes "the policy, practice, or advocacy of
extending the power and dominion of a nation ... by gaining indirect
control over the political or economic life of other areas; broadly :
the extension or imposition of power, authority, or influence"

o At least as many folks complained that I called the Bush decision
"unilateral".  By that, I mean that he abandoned the UN Security
Council proposal authorizing force and issued an ultimatum to Iraq on
his own.  Only two countries have contributed troops to the effort,
and 235,000 of those 280,000 troops are from the US (numbers just now
taken from nytimes.com).

Finally, I'm not defending Saddam at all.  I hate him as well as the
brutal and/or terrorist leaders of North Korea, Libya, Iran, Syria,
Sudan, Myanmar (Burma), etc.  I am simply unconvinced that bombing
them _right now_ is the best approach.  If we do invade Iraq, I hope
we win a quick, decisive victory with minimal innocent civilian
casualties.  I hope most of us can agree on that.

And now for a lighter read: http://www.satirewire.com/news/jan02/axis.shtml

I hope this clears up some of the issues.  And remember that these are
only my humble personal opinions and not an attempt to lash Nmap to
any particular political agenda.  Now if you'll excuse me, I have a
program to release!

Peace,^H^H^H^H^H^HSincerely,
Fyodor



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