:D To be honest, I had to Google the episode name. While I do recall watching the Animated Series, I am not nearly as familiar with it as I am with TOS..

As to Basra, you have to love the irony.. Now it's the GOP who is hoping that things go all to hell....

Michale.....

OK, I have to admit you've out-geeked me on the sci-fi front. Not even I ever watched the animated Star Trek.

Yeah, the Brits pulling out of Basra isn't a microcosm of Iraq in any way -- it just happens to be at the right time during the debate. Which means it may be prime spin-fodder, for one side or another. Of course, the Republicans will make better use of it spin-wise (if things go their way), but then that's a safe bet pretty much any time.

-CW

Now THAT was a great commentary...

I would say it is a bit of a stretch (though not much) to postulate the scenario that Basra is a microcosm of the entire country...

For the record, the shelling of Basra during Desert Storm is always a sore point for me. Years later here in FL, I actually ran into some medivac weenies who were there at around the same time I was..

But I digress...

I think you will definitely find that most Americans (at least the ones who are paying attention) will be able to look at Basra and apply that vision to the rest of the country...

But, as you point out, is is difficult to try and pin down a small section of Iraq and make unilateral predictions that apply to the entire country..

In this way, it is like the three blind men who come across an elephant and are certain in their assertions as to what the elephant is really all about..

Or, if you prefer a more "Trek" approach, it's like when Spock, et al landed on Taurus II in "Galileo 7" and found a rocky inhospitable zone, but in the Animated Series (The Lorelei Signal) found an alien race of "sirens" inhabiting a garden of Eden....

It's all about perceptions.....

Michale.....