Is this a defensive reaction? Did you feel like I was challenging your knowledge on the topic?

No, you were a dick.

See, here we were, having a useful discussion about chemical weapons, history and politics and YOU throw down with:

How is today a good day? Yay Karl Rove is to blame, who gives a shit?

Way to make it about me. Way to go off on a tangent. The discussion here is Karl Rove. We can take as a base assumption that chemical weapons are bad, suffering is bad, and the Iraq War was a tragedy. We can even solve by inspection that all that shit is steady state, as in, has not changed.

Still with me?

What has changed, the only delta in the equation, is "blame for Karl Rove."

Therefore, in a long long run of terrible news, finally some good stuff: There's ample blowback for one of the assholes that caused the misfortune in the first place.

Net delta is positive.

Therefore, the flippant title that I used, which you chose to hung me out to dry for, which you are even now accusing me of being a heartless beast for using.

That makes you a dick.

Apologize for being a dick. Not, " I'll apologize if I really was being a dick." You really were. Not "I'm not angry with you." 'cuz I'm angry with you and that's your fault. Not question my motives, question my thought process, somehow make you attacking me my problem. Apology. "I'm sorry for denigrating your discussion with personal slander." Under your own admission,

I don't see how I condescended in the first place, but then again I have problems with seeing that sort of thing sometimes so maybe I really did.

Ya did. There's your explanation. Apologize.

As far as IEDs, you can have more effect by putting a bag of ball bearings or rusty screws around a block of explosive than you can with fresh and shiny new mustard gas. Or VX. Or any chemical agent. Chlorine gas was used to great effect in WWI and any pool supply company can get a budding terrorist all the chlorine he could possibly want. The fact that chemical weapons are not used in improvised munitions should demonstrate their ineffectiveness.

So don't pretend to know my motives, don't pretend to know my level of knowledge and don't pick a fight with me just so you can feel self-righteous. If the next comment isn't an apology, my next move is a muting.