What does it mean to be an American today, anyway? Let's all stand up and sing 'God Bless America', then torture those S.O.B.s until they talk? Unfortunately, America deserves George W. Bush.

Forget trying to impose modern Western ideology (democracy) on a people living in the Middle Ages. In the Middle Ages, religion was considered superior to reason, and arguing to the contrary would get you killed. Case in point, the Pope makes an oblique reference to Islam pursuing its goal (religious conversion) by using force instead of reason. The point was that Islam (and other religions) must learn to not use force, but to use reason to convert and co-exist. The indictment on Islam was that it lacked the ability to question or critique itself, perhaps due to the followers having a Middle Ages mindset.

The irony is that the followers are proving just that... they attack non-Catholic churches. Their leaders talk about their need to conquer the world, while accusing the West of being led by Crusaders. Thus, Islamists are showing themselves to be exactly what the Pope portrayed them to be... something that President Bush must learn while he fumbles with his Middle East policy.

I'll be surprised if this comment is posted. Perhaps the saddest development nowadays is that our vaunted free press is too scared to criticize anything Islamic. We've compromised our ability to discuss or examine, which is leading us closer to the Middle Ages as well.

http://freedom4um.com/cgi-bin/latestcomments.cgi

Bring the troops home NOW!

One government agency attacking another spells civil war - and it's all thanks to our very own "cowboy president". If Iraq were sitting on a turnip patch instead of millions of barrels of oil you can bet that we would not be there. Democracy my foot!!!

There is a civil war in Iraq and we cannot do a thing about it.

Will there come a time when Americans will have the moral high ground, will be liked and respected around the world again? The only ones that can get us started on that long road back are the voters. November 7 may tell the story. If Americans don't send a clear message that will be heard around the world that we reject the leadership we now have we wull deserve to suffer thw cosequences. Sadly, other countries will pay the price as well.

"War Is Hell"........I need quote nothing else!

why are you americans under the illusion that Iraq will soon devolve into civil war. Iraq IS in civil war!

this story illustrates that perfectly - one gov't ministry is getting into a gun fight with another gov't ministry. and it's clearly known that a shady figure runs one of the utilities.

my prediction? Dubya will wait until there's a clearer sign that Sunni/Shia conflict is the dominant one and then he'll do what he does best: twist the prevailing truth around until he has to "cut and run". but he won't call it that.

OR...

he'll "stay the course" (man you americans get caught up on buzz words). at least long enough to last until the next national election. that way it'll become some other pols' inherited problem.

So the mideast to be stable needs Iraq to be a Democracy, according to "W" and his loony tunes. How is it acceptable then that our two primary Arab allies, Jordan and Saudi Arabia are anything but democracies. Hmmmm, lets see, does this work "the guy is a bastard, but at least he's our bastard".

Where do you put killers? Yes you put them behind bars, and that's exactly where our president should be bacause a lot of people have been killed and who's at fault? With these two groups fighting it out we should pack up and let them have their cilvil war. The US had one, and look where we are today.

They will keep fighting either us or among themselves (shia or sunnis) Its in the history, read the books. Nothing we can do about.Best thing is to leave them live in medieval ages where they belong.

What the heck did we get ourselfs in too. I am sorry for all the people that are dieing, but I am sorry for the ones that are left behind to feel the pain. This is Civil war and when will the Civil war be over with. The only answer I can come up with is when they have another dictator.

I am very glad I was born Christian, my prayer and
hope that someday all Muslims,Sunnis, Shites or kurds
alike will treat each others like brothers. It is
awful and shameful for people living in one country
(one countrymen/one Iraquis) yet killing each other.
Separated by faith or Sects,so what,What is the pain
if they all leave in peace . American's went to war
in Iraq to liberate Iraqui people against
a brutal Dictator. He's finish why can't you people (Iraquis) start new ,instead of killing each other and destroying your beautiful country .A lot of people hates America for going in to Iraq, Without
America, Who is going to do it?, What the World would be like today without America? Just remember the Holocaust,The Bosnia war,The Japanese occupations,Vietnamn war victims,etc. etc. adding up the
most Generous helps from Americans helping people around the world victimized by calamities after calamities. Why the hate on America now???

Somehow I was able to sleep at night with Saddam in power. Brutal dictator, yes... but if that's your recipe for invasion, why should we stop at Iraq? Let's invade North Korea for starters, and maybe Syria for laughs. Then we'll launch an amphibious landing on Cuba. Better yet, let's go for the jugular and invade Iran (after all, they repress Sunnis, secular-oriented professors, Kurds, etc.). Let's not forget Sudan, either. As a matter of fact, the last Gulf War was fought for an emirate, not a democracy, so let's invade Kuwait and teach them how to vote. Let's just keep invading, sacrificing our nation's youth and economy. Forget recrimination, we should package it for the electorate as our moral duty!

Best thing Americans can do now is turn out in heavy numbers and elect democrats who support pulling out our troops in the mid term elections. Bush created this mess in Iraq and it should be his legacy for doing so.

Is Iraq safer now or under Saddam? When I was in Iraq earlier this year, I posed the same question to my interpreter. She said under Saddam, the danger was more isolated. You could avoid it, possibly, she explained. Now, she said, the danger can strike anywhere to anyone. Now, she is dead herself, taken and killed by the "bad guys" for the simple sin of working for the Coalition Forces.

We were in Northern Iraq. Now back in the USA, I see very little reporting done on the events in northern Iraq. That is unfortunate, since those are some very key provinces. The insurgency is largely Sunni driven. Al Qaeda gets the headlines, but most attacks, by far, are perpetrated by the Sunni groups. We need a better understanding of they want and think.

In the first gulf war we had a tremendous and justified victory in that war (by the way where is all the oil you critics thought we went there for?) The problem came when we let the politicians influence the military and we pulled out prior to completing the job. Now we are back for reasons you may argue for or against, but the fact still remains we need to finish this, and as Americans we must drop the politics and get on the same side together. If we are unified we will prevail in this and every conflict, if not we are doomed regardless of your political party. Think about that for a minute. The enemy will not stop, so we must not stop either. This war (on terror) will go on for years, we must be as one and remember: WE DID NOT START IT! These people are only satisfied with our total destruction, but we will leave (as always) Iraq, Afghanistan or where ever we fight a better place, rebuilt and free. It would be nice if more of the world had the courage to stand with the USA in this and other battles in other parts of the world, but even if we stand totally alone at least we standing up for the right. We must do this now and not stop or our children have little hope for their future. Oh yes, I would like to say (while it is still legal)
"God Bless America"!

From a humane perspective this is really one hell of a disaster.. American troops are dying on a daily basis for a cause that does not exists while Bush has his fun making that decison.. The level of hate in the world has increased significantly since Bush came to power; how is this possible that one man has been able to increase the level of hate around the world; So many have died; so many have been fooled. As an Arab i feel bad for the Iraqi people; but they fight for a cause they are well aware of; be it justified or not.. But those poor American soldiers.. how many of them are still unconvinced that they are loosing their lives to benefit the oil industry for George.. One man has chosen to sacrifice so much human life; dignity and bring misery to so many others for that loss.. and he has been allowed to do it.. not for four years but for eight.. i predict more shock is to come.. and there is nothing we can do about it because we remain silent; blogging; venting frustrations into cyber world. It is a shame what we have become; really.

The war goes on.I would like to see all Canadian soldiers brought home before Christmas.As a canadian I do not agree with sending our youth to a killing zone where the people they are fighting have no uniform and every civilian could be the 'ENEMY'.

While Saddam has not been proven to be a supporter of Al-Qaida, he was just as much a threat to humanity. After WWII people asked why didn't the free world leaders stop Hitler and prevent the atrocities. Seventy years later after Saddam initiated several wars, used poisonous gas weapons, delivered missiles on Iranian cities, and executed thousands of civilians America took action.
After Russia left Yugoslavia the world saw all many years of suppressed ethnic and religious hatred boil to the surface with years of warfare and tens of thousands of deaths. The same process is happening in Iraq and no one should be surprised. In the later case, the UN and the USA were necessary to bring peace. The same players will be required to help the Iraq government gain control.
Expecting this war to be a short engagement is naïve but that doesn’t mean that this is not a just war to protect America and save the people of Iraq.

I think I made a mistake by voting for the republican party. The lies and decietfulness that has come from this leadership is appalling to me. It saddens me to realize the carnage is an every day occurance in Iraq. How many more troops are going to have to give their lives before we stand up and tell this government to pull out? We are running around in circles over their. Marine

i agree with mr bush that invading iraq was the right thing to do. wmd. that people say were not found wasnt the real issue anyway, the issue was that saddam would not let inspectors in even though he was under threat of military action. at that point he was playing against and rejecting a world order to comply. if you dont follow through with your statments it is just rhetoric.if mr bush didnt follow through with his word and make saddam acountable then the us voice would have been meaningless and easier for other evil nations to flaunt.and ignore.

No doubt Sadamn was a bad guy but after the Gulf war he was pretty tame. He certainly was not ruling over a country with 3000 civilians being killed each month. That is the US's doing. Iraqi's had electricity 4-8 hours per day country wide and 16 - 24 in Baghdad now it's 10.9 hours per day and 6.1 in Baghdad. 162,000 Iraq's have been displaced between Feb, and July 2006, Total refugees and asylum seekers 889,000, Oil exports
under Sadamn 2.5M barrels/day in Aug 2006 it was still only 2.24 barrels/day, unemployment now up to 40%, reconstruction estimates thru 2007 $35 BILLION, Amount funded by US $21 Billion, waiting time for gasoline under Sadamn .1 hours now up to 7 hours, 14,000 of the 34,000 doctors have either left or have been killed since 2003, potable water available to 12.9 Million Iraqis before the war, today still only 10 million, 59% of Iraqi's rate the economic conditions poor and 26% rate it fair.
76% rate the security POOR, and 14% rate it fair, 40% state there is a lot of corruption in the new government, another 22% state there is some corruption, 80% think the US will maintain permanent bases, 77% state it was worth it to overthrow Sadamn. So I guess the hardships, daily killings and displacement from homes was all worth it.

Jim Frego
Grants Pass OR

I see few if any people on this blog offering any solutions to the problems in Iraq. I see almost know one willing to put there lives on the line to help make a difference there. I see many of the "Blame America first" supporters. Neither America nor Bush started the events that led to the War on Terrorism (9/11). Bush had not been in office as long as the attacks had been planned. As for how the world sees us, I remember seeing Palestinians cheering in the streets about the 9/11 attacks on TV immediately after they happened. I also remember seeing a report about the Iraqi national news service congratulating the hijackers that killed over 2000 of our fellow Americans. A few of you wrote of how you could not sleep at night since we invaded Iraq. How would you sleep if the US pulled out right now. It has become a magnet for every crazy who wants blow himself up. As for us getting involved there only because it has oil, if Iraq were in a turnip patch Sadaam would not have had the money to pay the families of the people who were blowing themselves up on Israeli busses. Somehow people are under the impression that there were terrorists in Iraq before the invasion. Maybe the people who think that are the troops who killed hundreds of them during the invasion when they came running at tanks strapped with explosives. If you want the real story about what is going on in Iraq don't rely totally on news reports that are biased toward either side, why don't you talk to those folks who volunteered to defend their country, you know the people who are mostly from those dirt farms in east-bumble-freak. They put their lives in danger every day not because they think that their home specifically will be blown up but that any American home could be. I'm sure they will tell you that yes it is very dangerous there, but also alot of good things are happening too. Instead of sitting in your affluent neighborhoods complaining about those who are not like you, try to remember that is why the terrorists don't like us because we are not like them.

Kind of crazy thought, folks. Fact is, every nation has a period of civil unrest every 2-3 hundred years. This is how governments realign themselves to the views and opinions of the masses. Problem is, the US is too busy denying foreign countries their RIGHT to civil unrest, even if it serves the same purpose our own Civil War did... to make a decision stand for all people, not just those choosing to aknowledge it.

While the US is going to every other place in the world trying to prevent these natural government occurences, it has forgotten the fact that the US is long overdo for having it's own period of civil unrest. Plus, with the politicians acting with total disregard for the masses they represent (just like England was doing when we had our Revolution), there is no better time for our own civil unrest, as it is, at this point, the only way to revive our corrupt system of governance.

Wake up Americans. We have our own issues to deal with, like when did being a politician become a career path with retirement benefits and tax advantages. It was designed to be a position of honor and prestige, not a career path.

Answer: Congressional TERM LIMITS are our first step... but wait... Congress will never approve them, and civil war is going to be the only way to get an agreement on conducting a nationwide simple majority vote on this issue, with voter verification being conducted using SSN to remove any padding of the vote. Each vote is to be counted as 1 vote, no use of electoral college-type representation of votes, and may the whole country win!