dang...

interesting thread. no doubt, this is a war fueled by religious fervor and a deep resentment for those that, ironically, rely on, oil/oil by products from the middle east.

there will never be peace as long as we are viewed as a completely fundamentalist "christian" culture, and not the diverse one that it actually is.

is bush any more a necessary evil than the mullahs? don't both feel that they are protecting their own, with whatever means necessary?

the concept of "right" is both relative, cultural, and deeply based in history.

in times of conflict and war, our "leaders" never have the "environment" in mind, nor do they care about the lives of any one individual (our own, or those of our enemies). It is about "warring" efficiently, politically, and successfully.

do we "like" war, of course not...

go back through time/history (of the world) and you will find that no nation has waged war, without harming someone (including the environment). It is the nature of the beast.

and, yes, it is apparent that there are depleted weapons of war, left behind, but there are organizations whose effort it is to educate those that might be exposed and eradicate their use or remove them altogether (in times of peace). should our government do this? of course; but, when it doesn't, that is where the action of our own citizen's or private sector, is required.

our government (or any other) will never be "correct" in everything it does.

sometimes our own citizens have to step up, help out (ie, doctors without borders) and offer their expertise to help others/other nations.

If we believe that it is our government's responsbililty to "fix everything" without the effort of its citizens, then we get what we get. paying a tax isn't enough.

and, lastly, it is the citizen who questions their government that is the heart of a democratic society; it is a great citizen of that democracy that does more than question, but also takes action to affect change, however subtle or great that change may be.

fueling fires of hatred, anger, cultural differences with half truths, serves only to perpetuate the conflict between us, and everyone else; words of hate, innuendo, complaint without action, generalization, etc. are as potent/dangerous as the depleted weapons we leave behind.

the media, perhaps, should be questioned as much as our leaders. it is facinating that we tend to believe so quickly anyone who can offer words on a website, TV/radio station; it is no doubt that our "enemies" have also come to form hateful generalizations about our culture/people, not through actual contact, but through the images presented by our media.

even if we wanted to break away from this hatred fueled media representations, could we? would we have enough fortitude to turn away from the "tube" and take the time to educate ourselves about those that are our enemies? would we really take the time to understand history, religions of the world, politics, philosophy, psychology, to the level that truly is required to "know" what really is at play or form an objective opinion?

time to think for ourselves and act.