Chief, Web can be a little bit of a cynical H. L. Menken type. And I note that he likes to pontificate on areas he knows little about. And then there is the fact that no one can check his credentials to determine how little he really knows. Kind of a game that serves noone except Web.
You are basically right about nonlinear dynamical systems. The problem for the models is as you describe. The best justification I’ve heard is that the models all seem to “settle down to pretty much the same climate.” This is circular reasoning and tells me very little of much value. It may be true, but relies on some pretty strong assumptions about the nature of the attractor. My betting is on complex feedback processes that respond to changes in spacial distribution of the forcings causing ice ages and interglacials.