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Your opinion is based on falseshoods.

If Bush were going to send "our" children (are you even married?) to die for his God, we wouldn't be setting up democracies. We'd be setting up generation-long colonies, and give "dollar-equal" space to anyone who wants to set up a church or other religious body.

Go read Article 7 of the Provisional Iraqi Constitution. No Christian Crusade would let that be set up.

The simple fact is that Bush sent Americans to kill and do horrible things for his politics, not his religion. There's ample enough room to vilify him based soley on those things, without marginalizing yourself by thinking that he's just doing it because of his religion.

I must have missed that meeting then. They did denounce the elections in Iraq...

Sure, they denounced that election. But only as a sub-set of democracy in general. Here is the quote from the man himself, Bin Laden's head head-remover in Iraq:

"We have declared a fierce war on this evil principle of democracy and those who follow this wrong ideology," said the speaker, who identified himself as Zarqawi. "Anyone who tries to help set up this system is part of it."

Righto, there you have it. You might also read this Washington Post piece by Fawaz A. Gerges, wherein he discusses the Al Queda position that "democracy is heresy itself." And quote's Bin Laden's take on the new Iraqi provisional constitution, which he says is by its nature, heretical. It's nature, by the way, calls for equality, representative government, freedom of speech... you know, all of those heresies that we (and the newly bloodied UK) also stand for.

All of the head people so far have been former oil industry workers.

Really? Let's see. How about their new Foreign Affairs Minister? Just picked one at random. Point is, even though he hasn't had anything to do with the oil industry, that other than being part of Saddam's military thugocracy, there wasn't much industry in Iraq, so most people with any social clout amount the local establishment/society there are going to have at least some connection to what amounts to the national industry. Pretty hard to avoid. And, since oil revenue is about the only thing (other than the charity of other nations) that will bring Iraq up out the crumbling infrastructure they inherited from Saddam (not counting the palaces he built with skimmed-off "food" money), it's not like it's a bad thing for people who know that business to be involved in the running of a country that depends upon that business.

Perhaps you are confusing Al Qaida with the fundamentalists who run Saudi and Iran?

Um, most of the Al Queda hierarchy is Saudi, or has received a lot of their cash from them. Bin Laden, of course - the founder of the group - is Saudi.

Contrast the likes of Jerry Fallwell with any sane Christian out there. Is it fair to tar all Christians with the same gay-hating "AIDS is a blessing from God" brush? I think not!

Hmmm. Probably not. But it's also reasonable for those very same Christians to be the most vocal people in showing how Falwell is wrong. Likewise, for all the talk of how peaceful most Muslims are, it's Muslims that should be completely non-stop shouting down the extremist members of their culture or explaining over and over how they are not good Muslims. Instead, you get Al Jazeera treating these jerks like heros, and much of the Muslim world tuning in there for their news. You don't see the major western news outlets talking about how wise and brave Falwell is - he's mostly the subject of jokes. But Bin Laden, or his buddies like Zarqawi, are help up as examples of righteousness in the popular Islamic media. To the extent that decent Muslims don't shun and boycott that sort of nonsense, it's pretty hard indeed to separate what you'd hope were just some violent extremists in the minority from the larger majority. But they don't even separate themselves, let alone demonstrate why the rest of the world should think of them that way.

Paul Bremer was a career Foreign Service officer, serving the State Dept. for 23 years prior to being appointed Big Man in Baghdad. He was a creature of the State Dept, furthering the Orientalist viewpoint prevalent in State. He was appointed after State won the turf war against Defense in Washington over who would run post-war Iraq.

Biography:
http://cpa-iraq.org/bios/

American occupiers incompetent in getting the most simple services running effectively.

I don't know what the current status of services is, but we've come a long way. "An Historic Review of CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) Accomplishments" (8.5 MB)

"Suicide bomber's funding cut" Really? Doesn't seem to have stopped them.

OK, you support funding suicide terrorists. We're starting to get a picture of who you are.

"Millions of people liberated" Country of millions occupied by foreign power.

We didn't "occupy" them (i.e. protect them) after the first Gulf War, and what happened? Iraq fell back into tyranny; Saddam crushed hundreds of thousands of dissenters. In the Iraqis' minds, America under Bush 41 turned its back on Iraq by not "occupying" them.

Our "occupation" is necessary and temporary. Iraq wants us there for now. They know they can't handle the security situation by themselves at this point.

"No more $billions of illegal OIL MONEY for Europe and China through abuse of the UN Oil for Food program" More like last desperate attempt by the US to throw mud to justify this idiot exercise. Bash Europe and the Chinese -that'll play well at home.

No, the reason France, Germany, Russia, and China opposed the war is because they didn't want to lose their oil money from Saddam. The UN is mired in scandal up to its devil horns.

"A new democracy in the Middle East" ROFL!

(1930s) "A new democracy in Japan" ROFL

Wake me up

So you admit that you are indeed asleep.

when the January elections are over and have any credibility.

See Afghanistan. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Most likely result is a Shia government with close ties to Iran which will crack down on the Sunnis and Kurds. Result - three-way civil war

You wish.

"Fascist dictator with WMD imprisoned" What WMD?

The ones he used. The ones he shipped to Syria during our months-long "rush to war." Pay attention.

BTW, Saddam was an a*hole, but he was one of the strongest secular forces in the Middle East and cracked down on Muslim militants.

Only the militants who opposed him. He funded terrorists who opposed Israel and America. There was even a terrorist training camp in Baghdad. Along with the militants Saddam killed, he "cracked down on" thousands of peaceful dissenters.

Part of Axis of Evil defeated". It's been defeated how? Saddam's gone but the US forces are still being shot at.

They're being shot at mostly by foreigners. The Iraqi government has said as much. Iraqis want peace. Neighboring dictators see the writing on the wall if democracy thrives in Iraq. They have everything to lose if Iraqi democracy succeeds, so they're sending in terrorists to create chaos and make America change its mind and run away like Clinton did in Mogadishu. It looks like you don't need much convincing.

"Other rogue states see the light and start to reform". You mean Libya.

Libya's nuclear disarmament should not be taken lightly! This was a major brewing catastrophe averted without a single shot fired. If THIS ALONE had been the only positive effect of the war in Iraq, it would've been worth it.

It seems to have had the opposite effect on Iran.

You're seeing what is probably the dying gasps of the current Iranian regime. They're squirming because they know their days are numbered, and most observers think the revolution will come from within. I think what is going on in Iraq gives hope to the oppressed people of Iran.

"Terrorists on the run" Yep, they're running to get into Iraq to blow up Americans who've been obliging enough to provide them with a huge target and training ground right at home in the Middle East.

That'

Work on another aircraft, the L-29 jet trainer, to convert it to a RPV started in November 1995 and continued until at least 2000. The L-29, although smaller and less capable than the MiG, could still be used to deliver CBW agent in quantities that would pose a significant threat to neighbouring countries.

There is also the case of Abu Zubayr, an officer in Saddam's secret police who was also the ringleader of an al Qaeda cell in Morocco. He attended the September 5, 2001 meeting in Spain with other al Qaeda operatives, including Ramzi Bin-al-Shibh, the 9/11 financial chief. Abu Zubayr was apprehended in May, 2002, while putting together a plot to mount suicide attacks on U.S. ships passing through the straits of Gibraltar. He has allegedly since stated that Iraq trained and supplied chemical weapons to al Qaeda. In the fall of 2001 al Qaeda refugees from Afghanistan took refuge in northern Iraq until they were driven out by Coalition forces, and Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, an al Qaeda terrorist active in Europe and North Africa, fled from Baghdad during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He has reportedly been sent back to Iraq to coordinate al Qaeda activities there.

Take note of Al-Zarqawi. You can read some of what he has to say about the war in Iraq in my next response.

Iraq also sheltered Abu Nidal, one of the most notorious terrorists of the 70s and 80s who appears to have links to 9/11. Oddly enough, Nidal committed "suicide" by shooting himself multiple times, in the head IIRC, not long before the war.

and now we're handing it over to Al Qaeda.

Al Qaeda doesn't feel that way. Here is what their leader in Iraq, Al-Zarqawi, has to saw about their fighters and efforts there only a few months ago:

1. Most of them have little expertise or experience, especially in organized collective work. Doubtlessly, they are the result of a repressive regime that militarized the country, spread dismay, propagated fear and dread, and destroyed confidence among the people. For this reason, most of the groups are working in isolation, with no political horizon, farsightedness, or preparation to inherit the land. Yes, the idea has begun to ripen, and a light whisper has arisen to become noisy talk about the need to band together and unite under one banner. But matters are still in their initial stages. With God?s praise, we are trying to ripen them quickly.

2. Jihad here unfortunately [takes the form

The author of the parent post is correct, the entire "abuse" wasn't just recently discovered. In fact, there is a transcript of the Coalition Provisional Authority Briefing that mentions briefly the same allegations that have been floating around in the press as of late.

Personally, I think the Associated Press writer needs to be fired for misrepresenting the facts; although, it is possible that he or she was merely using information available at the time. Regardless, this is just a blatant demonstration of the agenda behind purportedly unbiased reporting. Someone, somewhere saw an opportunity to pin this on an individual very high up in the chain of command (Rumsfeld) even though it is outdated news.

Yes, folks, even with the Information Age upon us, the three day delay between taking the pictures at Iwojima and publishing them was much faster than what happened here. The reason? The Pentagon didn't want them to be released for a while after the incident. (Though, it's a bit silly to discuss an investigation this late into the game--except to save face.)

It's worth reading the orders of the Iraq Provisional Authority. It's an Ashcroft wet dream. Order 14 allows arbitrary suppression of newspapers and broadcast stations, including seizure and confiscation. But Order 25 gives stronger property rights and three levels of appeal to other businesses.

Also in those orders is a copyright extension act for Iraq. Only to 50 years, and no DMCA, though.

Forgive me. My language was imprecise. I should have said: Dictators, dictator enablers ,and human rights violators. And yes, I am aware the United States, most especially during the cold war, propped up dictatorships left and right (well, mostly right), but I was referring to the world as it exists today. France and Germany especially cannot seem to shake that nasty national habit.
And another thing.. if by "unilateral actions from the US" you are referring to the recent and continuing war in Iraq... I am sure that Afghanistan, Albania, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Uzbekistan will all be very surprised by your definition of unilateral action.

• Coalition forces attacked with Saddam's WMD (well of course, there weren't WMD, right?)
• thousands of U.S. troops killed
• refugee crisis
• ecological disaster
• seizure of Iraqi oil
• destruction of Islamic "holy" sites by Americans
• destruction of historical artifacts by Americans
• terrorist attacks in America after invasion