1 Perhaps the key is to respect the Arab World by not invading it or selling weapons there.

2 Did you not see the image of the guy kissing the picture of George Bush? He disagrees.

3 With all due respect, Collin is the perfect example of the intellectually vacant left. They are either oblivious or so full of rage and hatred for the President they can't see whats right in front of their face. The war in Iraq is the reason these Arab nations have a chance to choose.

4 Colon Babler must be punished for his crimes against America.

5 To hell with their respect, the key to the Arab world is to give them all free subscriptions to Penthouse.

6 I think Carlos hit the nail on the head.

7 Iraqi chicks have big boobs? They can be saved.

8 'Which way will the Arab world go from here?' What arrogance! Making out as if the Arab world is some wayward, errant child that needs to be chided and guided. Leave Arabs alone and they will leave you alone. They never asked you to invade their country. What are American troops doing so many thousands of miles from home? Do they all have Iraqi visas? As far as I am concerned when your back is to the wall and the world's only superpower has decided to give you a beating after starving you for 10 years through the deepest economic sanctions programme ever introduced, you have no choice but to fight back. If the US had their way they would kill every Muslim man, woman and child. That is the way they are. That is the way theu think. We can't change that. More power to you Muslims of the world. You have your work cut out for you. Defend yourselves and your families!

9 'Which way will the Arab world go from here?' What arrogance! Making out as if the Arab world is some wayward, errant child that needs to be chided and guided. Leave Arabs alone and they will leave you alone. They never asked you to invade their country. What are American troops doing so many thousands of miles from home? Do they all have Iraqi visas? As far as I am concerned when your back is to the wall and the world's only superpower has decided to give you a beating after starving you for 10 years through the deepest economic sanctions programme ever introduced, you have no choice but to fight back. If the US had their way they would kill every Muslim man, woman and child. That is the way they are. That is the way they think. We can't change that. More power to you Muslims of the world. You have your work cut out for you. Defend yourselves and your families!

10 oops. didn't mean to post twice. soz!

11 Ah, pogoman, you traitorous twit. The last time I checked, your fellow countrymen were fighting along side ours. Calling the enemies to arms against your own people is an act of treason.

12 >>>"If the US had their way they would kill every Muslim man, woman and child. That is the way they are. That is the way they think. We can't change that." Goebbles has nothing on you. We've pretty much had our way, and I don't see our GIs killing every muslim man, woman and child.

13 Pogoman: Was your leader Saddam and company starving? Was the Republican Guard starving? Was the contractors building palace after palace starving? The Arab world not childish? Saddam and son's not childish? Now I understand why you wear the rag on your head. You're so full of shit it's probably dripping out of your ears.

14 On Fox, every day, they always show something good that goes on in Iraq despite reporting all the bad news and the good news really outweighs the bad news. Think of our country; we didn't start out that easy and quick and wars were waged but look how far we have come in what? 300 years? Look how backwards the middle east is and they've been around forever. It'll take time but I believe that the people really want a decent life and hopefully will step up to the plate and make it happen. Just wish they'd settle in that new voted-in group they just made. Since I can't think of the name this early in the morning, I compare it to our two houses of Congress - and hell, they aren't doing much better themselves. God Bless us all. Cindy

15 Rusty: 'Traiterous?' 'Treason?' I have every sympathy for those US & UK troops who are there purely because they signed-up to the forces with high ideals in mind. Nationalism really has no place in our world today. Governing parties are selected not elected as you well know from experience in your own country. So you cannot be a traitor when you oppose the policies of a government that represents far less than half the voting nation. 'Enemies?' Since when were the Muslim/Arab world the enemy? 911? Bali? Aden? Lockerbie? Perhaps you are long overdue to examine closely how your intelligence agencies really operate abroad. It has been common practice for year to carry out 'false-flag' operations which are then blamed on some foreign party with the intent to galvanise public opinion in favour of yet another war. Also bear in mind that the US wars and dodgy allegiances (Israel) are illegal ACCORDING TO YOUR OWN CONSTITUTION. Perhaps it's time for a little self-examination.

16 Bless your heart, Cindy. I understand how you see things but i nevertheless disagree with you. Wars are generally started purely out of national self-interest. Not because of some idealistic crusade to introduce democracy or to fight tyranny. The war in Iraq will produce an indeliable racial memory in the Iraqi people of Western aggression against them. Witness the use of chemical weapons and neutron bombs in Fallujah (Iraq) to 'pacify' the area. Pacification means: destroy every living thing. One day when your troops come home they may reveal the true story of what happened in Iraq. So to expect the Iraqi's to just 'get on with life' is perhaps to expect too much darling.

17 Democracy is not the alure of western civilization, it's Sex, Drugs and Rock N Roll. It's Hollywood's winning formula and everybody wants some. The people of the world just want the same access to kiddy porn as Rooster has.

18 looool!! yeah, perhaps buddy. but then sex & drugs (maybe not r'n'r) have appealed to the good people of the world since time immemorial + it's only recently that most drugs became illegal. It's just that Western culture has packaged the whole thing for popular consumption and done away with any moral moorings by introducing feminism, popularising gay sex, and breaking up families through social services. Rooster will tell ya

19 Pogoman: Quit listening to Al Jazzera. You and they are living in the past. Yes the Greyrooster will tell you about the poor image that portions of America give to other countries. I am against popularizing gay sex. That makes me a BIGOT. I am against gay marriage. That makes me a IGNORANT BIGOT. I believe Social Services has gone way overboard and contributed to the breaking up of families. That makes me a IGNORANT DINOSAUR BIGOT. I am against the foul, degrateing, stupid, anti white, anti police, immoral, filthy lanquage that is contained in Rap music. That makes me a RACIST. I am against a certain group of people siting on their asses in the getto and having illegitimate child, after illegitimate child and expecting me to pay the bill for them. This makes me a HEARTLESS RACIST. I believe in equality in the work place and in hiring. Therefore, I am against affirmative action. This makes me an even BIGGER HEARTLESS RACIST. I believe O. J. Simpson is a murderer. That makes me a GREAT BIG HEARTLESS RACIST. I believe people coming to my country should learn English and not expect special consideration. That makes me SUPER GREAT BIG HEARTLESS RACIST. Which of the things I am against are you for? Perhaps, you are for all the things I am against. What would that make you? For me. I would rather be called a racist, than a fool.

20 Greyrooster, Perhaps you are both?

21 There's no PERHAPS when you are called a lying traitor. You are one. Bitch.

22 C'mon Greyrooster, Stop chokin' ya chickens and bring it on!

23 lolz@rooster! i like you dude. you certainly have a way with words. i disagree with you on the iraq but that's cool.

24 Mark Flacy. Errm ... Fallujah is levelled. A once-thriving town of 300,000 souls has been wiped off the face of the earth. Our commanders gave the order for the resident to evacuate. Those that didn't were slaughtered wholesale, in their homes, in their beds, man, woman and child. Those who did leave were fired at as they departed even while carrying white flags. This is common knowledge here in the UK hence the continuing massive popular opposition to the occupation of Iraq. Napalm, cluster bombs and at least one neutron bomb were involved which is why the town was sealed off for a while, during which time our troops skimmed the topsoil to remove the evidence of banned weaponry. As for Muslims in the West, they are persecuted already. They are treated as 2nd class citizens even in the UK. Time will tell, but these things quickly deteriorate - witness Nazi Germany. Sorry to burst your bubble mate. CNN, FOX et al have a duty to present a much-sanitised version of events. God bless the American people. God strike down Uncle Sam.

25 I heard about some kind of decon team and a lot of street washing there. Dogs were eating people who were shot down just for leaving their homes.

26 pogoman: "It's just that Western culture has packaged the whole thing for popular consumption and done away with any moral moorings by introducing feminism, popularising gay sex, and breaking up families through social services." Well said, young man.

27 POGOMAN: "Napalm, cluster bombs and at least one neutron bomb were involved which is why the town was sealed off for a while, during which time our troops skimmed the topsoil to remove the evidence of banned weaponry." Neutron bombs. Yikes. This is what it means to be a Leftist today. A nutcase.

28 Pogoman: For a minute I thought you had something to say. The Fallujah bullshit is pure bullshit. I had a personal witness there. One who has never lied to his father. That Collin Baber bullshit will merely discredit you. You were on the right path to saying something creditable. You fucking Collin Baber?

29 Colon Babler: I heard some kind of decon thing washing the streets. Dogs eating people shot for leaving their homes. You heard where? You lying piece of dog shit. You are nothing a but a traitor. You never heard nothing, never seen nothing and don't know nothing. Piss on you. Fucking liar.

30 Dear Greyrooster, Thank you for asking for sources. For the areas needing decon: http://www.countercurrents.org/iraq-jamail190105.htm For the dogs eating people in the streets: http://www.antiwar.com/jamail/?articleid=3984

31 Greyrooster. You had a personal witness in Fallujah? And he/she is still alive? Now you're just being silly. It seems you have already made up your mind about the whole Iraq thing. I continue to read the news and I have many relatives living in Qatar, UAE and Yemen. So I have access to many sources of news. I am also fluent in written and spoken Arabic from having lived in Abu-Dhabi for 10 years. Therefore I understand their culture, speak their language, and have access to sources of information you can only dream of. Take your head out for your arse for minute and take a good long look at the world around you.

32 Collin, and you actually believe that shit? Unbelievable.

33 pogoman, there were plenty of embedded reporters with the U.S. forces. None of them, nor any of our troops, has so much as hinted about such fantasies.

34 Pogoman: My personal witness is my son. A Capt in the United States Marine Corps. He has been in Iraq for 15 months now. He was one who led his company in Fallujuh. If you had any relatives there to bad. They were warned regardless of what the Islamofacists claim. I will believe him and his comrades in arms before I believe your muslim relatives. Just that simple. He has nothing to gain by lying. He doesn't want to be there. Doesn't like the place. Just doing his job. He has no politcal or religious beliefs. He claims the normal everyday people of Iraq are glad for the happening of the last two years. They can see they have a future. The hateful, lying terrorists and their simpleton ass kissers are losing. I suggest you loosen the rag on your head. It's restricting the flow of blood to the brain. Have a nice day. I will. Because democracy in winning.

35 Greyrooster. Ah! ... so your son is a Captain in the Marine Corps. So your imparitality on the issue is quite compromised from the outset. He doesn't want to be there? Just doing his job? Awww ... what a good little boy he is. You should be proud of him So you truly believe that the objective behind this middle-eastern adventure is the 'Democratisation' of the region? Well I guess there's a sucker born every minute. My relatives are not 'a bunch of rag heads'. They are earning a rather good living there and are deeply ashamed of what we are doing to the region. Ever read General Smedley Butler's 'War is a Racket'? Check it out: http://lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm The motives of warmongers has not changed since. Always remember that America was never under threat, let alone under attack. This was straightforward bullying. In fact it's not even a war because to have a war you need TWO warring armies. Here we have the biggest military on earth battering a starving nation. I guess things may calm down in the end. But, as Smedley points out, it will only happen when the US has secured it's energy interests from the region. This has nothing to do with 'Democracy'. And no ... the Iraqi people do not want Western troops there. You can fantasise all you like. Ciao

36 One more thing .... The US has a rotten government. Once they are through with their plans for global conquest as per the neo-con gameplan, you better start watching your own backs. Wars cost money. Lots of money. And who do you think they have arranged to pay the costs? YOU, the American taxpayer. Well I'm telling you now: You will NOT be able to pay the costs. You will NOT even be able to pay the interest on what you currently owe as a nation ($6-7 Trillion ). America is bankrupt. Why? because as a nation you have not been streetwise. You have swallowed everything your leaders have told you hook line and sinker. Boys I'm telling you now. Reclaim your nation!! Before it's too late. Before you end up living a life of financial servitude to service debts that can never be repaid. This is happening right now. Look at the value of the dollar on the markets. Look at how many nations are in the process of switching large portions of their foreign reserves away from the Dollar and into more stable currencies like the Euro. And whatever you do ... don't ignore the consequences. You are being duped by men who think they are so much smarter than you. well, maybe they are.

37 Pogoman Just a few comments regarding your posts. First and foremost please accept i am in no way, shape or form a Racist or bigot so please bare this in mind during my rant. I agree with you that the reasons for this war are not what we were told but, there are iraqi's that are grateful for the presence of the troops. Have you read any iraqi's Blogs for the troops? if so,do you dismiss them and why? I take exception to your comment that MUSLIMS are treated as 2nd class citizens in the UK. As a UK citizen i can assure you this is not true. People of all races and religions get treated badly not just muslims and that includes the white people of this country Discrimination is not yours to own. If you are speaking about the scum of our society, the ned running the street the trouble makers then please dont profess to be the only ones that are victims of their ignorance everyone gets it from them Black, White, muslim, anyone who they decide that night just depends on the mood. i have had personal experience of this and witnessed on numerous occasions these idiots targeting old young regardless of religion or colour and again it isnt right but not just a muslim problem. YOu also stated that Muslims around the world should take up arms and defend themselves and their families. Correct me if i am am wrong but the last time i looked this was not a war against a RELIGIOUS GROUP, but by your comments your a basically saying it is. Is that what you think? Are you Muslim and if you are why are you trying to propagate this rubbish. I dont think for a minute that this is a religious war. Do you really think that the people of Britain want to rule iraq cos thats nonsense. Where i live people of all races and religions live relatively in peace and generally get along. There is good and bad in all walks of life please keep that in mind. Also i would like to point out that it was you and not me who brought up the muslim thing. Why does Religion have to be brought into everything. In my opinion it is a personal thing and shouldnt be forced on anyone everyone has their own beliefs and thats fine just keep them to ourselves and the world would be a better place the only thing i see religion doing is breeding hatred which is the opposite of which is intended. I ask that you dont take this personally it is after all only my opinion for what its worth. Which is about a penny i just get angry at people making sweeping statements and my 4 yr old deleting my much thought out post:0)

38 Sparky. Thanks for your comment. Let me say from the start that I am also a UK citizen. I am also not a Muslim, but I have many friends who are. There are several strands to this that need clarification. Throughout the world Muslims are receiving bad press. Apart from a few noble exceptions, the media spin a one-size-fits-all image of Muslims as a people who are intolerant of other cultures and who think the whole world ought to be converted to Islam. Islamic fundamentalists, like fundamentalists of any religion, say certain things and do certain things that are not representative of the whole. Now, perception is fact. While the thinking man can see that they are people just like everyone else who have their families and their jobs uppermost in their minds - not every man is a thinking man. The common denominator, in Britain as elsewhere, has a hostile view of Muslims. You can find this out, as I have, as close as your local pub. Mass opinion is the opinion of the common denominator, the majority, the vote-swayers. Of course, significant segments of the British people have not fallen for this, hence the millions on the street protesting the invasion of iraq. Religion does not 'breed' hatred my friend. A hateful person will find any way to express his anger. If he's also religious, it will find expression in that field. If he's a football fan, it will find expression there too - as you must be aware, being a fellow Briton. As for Iraqi blog sites - yes I have seen some of them. Most of them are expats who have not been to iraq since childhood. Some of them have never visited their homeland at all and are therefore not even culturally integrated with their own people and do not share or understand their pain. There numbers are small and they go along with the politics of it. fair enough i suppose. As for wanting to 'rule iraq' or any other part of the world, let me remind you that empire is alive and well. The british empire never did die, it just changed the way it operates. you do not need to physically occupy a country to govern it. all you need is to run the corporations that manage the nation's wealth. that's something that britain, holland, france and the US are very good at. please look at this, it is very important. without understanding how this system operates it will be very diffcult to appreciate why it is that the people of developing countries feel so aggrieved. Ok, now for the biggie. The war against Islam. Is there such a thing? And if so, why? to quote a politically savvy british comedian who saw through the whole charade since it's inception: "No this is absolutely not a war against Islam! It's a war against Muslims.' cracked me up lol. The middle-east is a very important region commercially. it sits between east and west. it also happens to sit on top of a large portion of the worlds proven oil reserves. Whether the 'peak oil' issue is true or not is largely immaterial. The point is that we are being steered into thinking that we are running out of oil fields that are cheap enough to extract the goodies from. Now, of all religions, Islam is the only one that has not separated 'church from state'. In islam, what is good enough for the person is good enough for the state. Islamic governments are bound by the same strict code of ethics as the population as a whole. Such a situation presents very little 'wiggle room' for corrupt wheeling and dealing. That's the beef that Western governments have with Islam. And given the way we have treated them over the last 150 years or so, an islamic arabia would not be willing to do business with the west - at least not on the current 'very favourable' terms. Corporations and intelligence agencies in the West have been very frustrated at the cultural impenetrability of the middle-east. The allure of the 'sexy' western culture has come up against the hard wall of arabian moral inflexibility. of course this is not true throughout arabia - you have very western style cultures in dubai, bahrain, syria, lebanon, parts of egypt and so on. but where it matters, where the oil is, there's a danger of a islamic state (like iran) arising, or spreading. it has been the stated goal of some very powerful politicians in the west to destroy islam by arranging a 'clash of civilisations' (Zbigniew Brzezinsky). Like most things, it's just about a struggle for survival. In this case it has taken on the dimension of a religious war. For strategic reasons.

39 Liked that comedian quote myself lol I conceed that people breed hatred but you have to admit that religion doesnt help and im not just speaking about Islam. YOu only have to look at Ireland to see the hatred that stems from religions there. Though i really dont want to get into a debate about that We would be here forever. I also agree that Islam does get a bad rep when it comes to the media but what about when the Fundamentalists start spouting their hatred what happens is no one gets to hear any other Islamic Group denounce them therefore people are led to believe they agree with them. Is it not said that "saying nothing speaks volumes". Dont even get me started on our government you'll wish you hadnt I read your post and i have to say you havent brought anything up that i dont agree with in part. Do you not agree though that the millions of iraqis that did vote want a better country and need help doing so. As i said maybe the way we went about it was wrong but wasnt Saddam also? Oh and i meant to say at the beginning and im sure you'll agree Ignorance breeds contempt, of this i am positive. Thanks for responding PEACE :0)

40 Sparky. Yes, of course I believe that the Iraqi people want a better country for themselves. Certainly few people deserve it more than them, considering what they have been through since 1980. War with Iran, war with the US, sanctions for 10 years, then another war with the US. God help them. But what is occuring in Iraq is going to fracture tha nation in the long run. Whether this is accidental or by design I cannot possibly say. The nation is being divided along ethnic lines - Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites. This is not apparent at the moment but the seeds have already been sown. Also we are even being conditioned to accept this here in this country with constant references to the ethnic origins of the various parties and emphasis being put on the resistance being a 'Sunni insurgency'. This is simply not true. The average Iraqi is not nearly as conscious of these differences as we have been lead to believe. As for Saddam - good riddance to him! What I have doubts about is the motives for starting this war. I see 'divide and rule' - I see a sectarian civil war in the making. Certainly if this does not happen, if the Iraqi people can make this work, then none will be more pleased than myself. But foreign intervention must cease, and help only provided if it is solicited in the first instance. On the issue of Islamic fundamentalists and the rubbish they spew on a regular basis I would say that this has not arisen out of a vacuum. The concerns and needs of the Arab world have been neglected for a long long time. They have been betrayed time and again - ever since the days of 'Lawrence of Arabia'. There is a deep distrust of any Western influence on Arabian issues as a result. This has happend geo-politically with the establishment of Israel despite a promise by Britain to the Arabs that they would not allow such a state to arise (on land already occupied by the Palestinians). During the time of 'Lawrence'. Britain had promised this to the Arabs in exchange for their help in defeating the Turks. It has also happened financially. Remember that the Saudi's and lots of other Arab countries are now almost broke? Inspite of their tremendous wealth vis-a-vis their natural resources? The media would have us believe that this is the result of profligate spending by the ruling families etc. Granted, the ruling families are a pretty degenerate lot and have squandered untold billions, but it would not have been possible to lose all that money in that way. What actually happened is that when Arabia first started extracting their oil, gas and so on, the countries who helped them - mainly the US - demanded that in exchange for their technical expertise these countries would have to deposit their newly-found wealth in 30-year time-deposits in US banks. This they dutifully did. Why not? The wealth that they did not immediately need for civic construction was deposited in a safe bank in a safe country and earning good interest. The only proviso being that they would not withdraw those deposits for 30 years. I reckon anybody with that much spare cash would have done the same. Guess what? Thorough a pretty devious piece of legal and political chicanery, the money that the Arabs had saved got lent to the 3rd world developing countries of Africa and so-on. Without the Arabs' permission! (they knew nothing of this). It is now lost. In fact all this recent talk of 'debt forgiveness' by Western countries and so on is an utter sham. The money that was lent was never ours in the first place. It belongs to the Arabs! How devious can anyone get? And we wonder why they hate us! If the average Arab on the street knew this, they would all hate us (not just the fundamentalists - who are aware of the issues, and the history). The reason the man on the Arab street doesn't know this is because their leaders wouldn't dare tell them. They would be lynched! What would they say? 'Sorry we have squandered our nations wealth, we gave it all to Western banks and they tricked us - so sorry, please forget all about it and go about your business as usual.' It shouldn't be so hard for us to understand their fury. If your life savings that you entrusted to a bank were just given to somebody else without your permission, you would feel the same way. Now I've got nothing against helping the developing countries through cash injections. It's just we should be using our own cash not some else's. Also bear in mind that the aid given to these nations has often come with very strict conditions of economic reform. Largely to further enrich Western corporations! The whole thing stinks. It upsets me to even think about it. And here we were all along thinking we were the 'good guys'. Nothing could possibly be further than the truth. Thanks for keeping this thread alive. Peace through understanding. Fraternally yours, Pogoman

41 hey Pogoman Again good post i agree our governments have been raping countries for years GREED is a terrible thing. Thing is ive never really heard of a democratic government anywhere who is just that, democratic, we are always being told what is best for us and the only ones gaining anything is them. We are forever reading of corruption in our gvmt all to be brushed under the carpet. I know i would be outraged at what our goverment has done to these people i have never commented that im not its just why do young children, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters all innocents have to die. If people are truely angry at governments and their policies then they should attack them not the innocent people. Yes you could say that gets them noticed more but, by who, anyone who cares? or to rephrase that By anyone who can do anything about it? The answer is no because it doesnt effect our polititions directly does it. If they were targets then maybe they would pay more attention. You only have to see proof of this when we are told of impeeding attacks who will be saved and sheltered the Government members, seriously why are these peoples lives any more important than yours or mine, there not, they just think they are. I was reading an iraqi blog a few weeks ago and the the sectarianism thing was brought up there it was a worry to the Blogger he was having concerns over the situation and was basically saying that the New Government would have to act fast to stop this from happening. As you can see its working Not. Its concerning that people are desperate for help, love their country and have the peoples best interests at heart yet are not being heard i try to let people know and ask them to educate themselves but you know how people can be "Tunnel vision" only seeing what they want to see. I am a people person i get on with all people i would love to see a truly democratic world, Hopefully in my lifetime but i fear i am deluding myself. Oh well all i can do is pray for a better world where all men and women are treated equal. ALL LIFE IS PRECIOUS