You all forget...

 

When mazrim Taim went from town to town looking for MEN to form the black tower, he pulled MANY of them of all ages.

 

The test was to see if a spark could be pulled from them... NOT to simply question if they had channeled before.

There are two types of channelers.  Sparkers channel around their late teens regardless of whether they want to.  They don't need to have the spark pulled out of them, they just channel.  That includes Rand, Nynaeve and all other wilders, etc.  Galad is too old to be a sparker.  Then there are learners.  Learners can't channel on their own.  They have to be guided to the Source.  Galad could be a learner, but this passage would not be indicative of that, because learners can't sense or touch the source.

I agree.  Galad is simply in a state of extreme concentration and focus similar to meditation.  It takes a lot of discipline, but that's one thing that Galad definitely has.

That knowledge should have let Moiraine know that he was the soldier who found the prophacy baby on the mountain.

 

Only, there was no soldier in the prophecy. The prophecy was essentially that the Dragon would be born on Dragonmount to a maiden. No mention of an Aiel, no mention of a soldier.

 

You're right there was no soldier mentioned in the prophacies, BUT Moiraine later explained to Rand that stories of a soldier who found a baby on the mountain led her to the TR. That soldier obviously being Tam. I just thought of this, but just knowing that Tam had been 'out and about' when the other boy's father's hadn't should have been enough to alert Moiraine to the One.

But she did not know this at the time.  She explains it to Rand in TGH, then comments on how much easier it would have been if she had known Tam's history in the Two Rivers.  Also, she could not be entirely certain about Rand, though she had suspicions, because Ishamael was interested in all three ta'veren.  She could have taken Rand only, the most likely candidate, but at the risk of leaving the real Dragon Reborn to Ishamael?  Her doubt was not cleared until Rand began to channel and she learned the truth of Tam and Rand's birth.

I didn't mean that the other villagers would know he was Aiel, I meant that Moiraine should have known, and Lan would have known for sure seeing as he fought them before being bonded by Moiraine. And even if nobody else knew exactly where he was from, they all knew he wasn't born inside the TR because Tam came home with his wife and a baby Rand, and to add to that he looks nothing at all like them, something that was constantly remarked upon.

Looking like an Aiel does not make one an Aiel.  As stated before, Aiel have some similarities in appearance with Caemlyners.  Also, small villagers are understandably mistrusting of strangers, especially strangers who inquire into the personal history of the village's inhabitants.  Nynaeve never revealed this information, and I doubt the others did.  In addition, the Dark One was interested in all three, so rather than taking the best bet, Moiraine took all three.  In her own words, what the Dark One wants, she opposes.

I would add that Moiraine suspected Rand from the start.  There was his resistance to her wishes, Bela, etc.  However, she was not sure until Rand began channeling and fulfilling the other prophecies.

Ishy had the same information as Moiraine. 

I would not say Ishamael had the same information as Moiraine.  The Shadow's methods are considerably different from the Light's.  Moiraine was searching for children born at a specific birthdate on Dragonmount.  The Black Ajah never knew about that date.  Only Siuan and Moiraine did (and Tamra, but she revealed nothing).

I agree with most of the opinions stated.  I don't mind Nynaeve's bossiness because she is in a position of power.  Plus, she has really matured through the series.  Also, the scene where she lost her block was pretty cool (scratch one more mark onto "ways the Forsaken have messed up").

My opinion of Egwene is opposite of Spirit's.  I hated her at the start of the series, because she tried to act bossy without any knowledge of anything.  As the Amyrlin Seat, I've started to like her a little more because she's come up against people even worse than she is.  The scene with her and Rand will be interesting.