Just a quick note McGrath - I have never, ever, seen black people dancing around a dead soldier or burning vehicle shouting 'nigga nigga nigga'. Have you? But you see overexcited Iraquis doing same (only 'woggle woggle' etc) every night of the week. My point is not so much to make fun of their language (sounds a lot less painful than Welsh) but to express my deep dislike of the lethal cocktail of fear, hysterical machismo, mob mentality and religion that these people seem intoxicated by. I'm particularly revolted to see children being allowed to join in. I know why they do it, I know that US interference is making it worse, but I find it utterly repulsive in a visceral way. I see this kind of behaviour on a small scale with teenage boys I teach - to my mind these people seem disturbingly immature in their psychological development. I doubt this is true of the vast majority of Iraqis, but there is enough of this sort to be a real worry. Let me tell you I have exactly the same kind of reaction to the mindless shouts of 'USA! USA!' with which rational debate is drowned out in that country. I don't like any of 'em!