One of the greatest tragedies in all this mess is that there were NO TERRORISTS in Iraq when the war started. Saddam made sure of that, and he had no connection to Al Quaida etc. (Bin Laden apparently despised him). It is also untrue to use the argument that "our country was brutally attacked" by Iraq. It wasn't. And: "We are not fighting "Iraq" - we are fighting the maniacs who are hiding in that country!" isn't quite true, they weren't there before America gave them the golden opportunity. Who were you fighting when you first invaded then? Saddam of course, not terrorists.
Now Iraq is crawling with terrorists, and the arab world hates America and the West even more bitterly than ever before.

There are an awful lot of people outside America who are of the opinion that Pres. Bush and his staff have done irreparable damage to the stability of the world. Like it or not, this is a fact. One can't help speculating that perhaps Bush started this as a personal vendetta due to Saddams' run in with his father. There have been too many lies, half truths and hypocrisy from this administration (is it a true representation of the American people? - I would prefer to think not).

The very least that the administration can be blamed for is a total lack of understanding of what it could and would lead to, and little interest in the problems that would emerge when the rebuilding of Iraq became necessary. They just don't seem to understand the mentality of people and cultures so different from themselves.

Now the unthinkable has happened, and America has to sort this out fast. The longer that Bush and Rumsfeld and the others wait before taking serious action to convince the rest of the world that they mean it, the worse the situation will become. They have both stood up and said "sorry" in a very low voice, but what is going to happen? Are some out-of-line bad apples in the military going to get a "reprimand"? That's nowhere near good enough. The whole chain of command has to be thoroughly investigated, and the sooner the better.

The argument that the other guys are much worse than us just doesn't do it I'm afraid, even though they are. The administration should have known this sort of reaction would come when it started the whole thing. I have little understanding of American politicians, but not blaming Bush then blaming "that blabbermouth coward KERRY and the stupid irresponsible MEDIA", isn't accepted as a rational argument outside America.
How on earth did they think the Iraqis were going to react? "In a civilized manner" perhaps?

And lets try and get the message out: terrorism is not Islam, it's sick people misusing it. I am amazed at the general ignorance of Islam and what it stands for. It has it's faults, and Sharia law and other excesses are totally unacceptable, but Christian fundamentalists and extremists are often no better I'm afraid. We must remember that a lot of terrible things have been done in the name of Christianity too.

How sad for all those upright honest soldiers that are down there in hell risking their lives and being let down by their leaders and dumped on by an indiscriminate, news hungry media. I have a very great respect for them.