"Now it is far too early to say that the particular terrorist act that killed our forces was an act committed by terrorists that were backed by any elements of the Iranian regime, so I make no allegation in respect of that particular incident,"

"Just as we rejoice at the return of our 15 service personnel so today we are also grieving and mourning for the loss of our soldiers in Basra, who were killed as the result of a terrorist act," Blair said.

This is the same way that the U.S. led the public to believe that Saddam was responsible for 911!

Link Iran to terrorism in Iraq so that you have justification for an invasion of Iran. The five Iranian hostages were not the intended targets. They meant to kidnap men of higher rank but failed because the Kurds tipped them off. Now Iraq wants the Iranian released. How can the U.S. continue to detain these men if the Iraqis think it is wrong? Who has the power?

It is my understanding that while it may be true that Iran is supplying Iraqi Shiites with weapons, it is to protect the civilian population from the Sunni insurgency (something the military seems incapable of doing). They are involved in what is considered protection and reprisal killings. They are not targetting the U.S. or Iraqi military.

The deaths of U.S. and coalition forces are due to the Sunni insurgency and/or al-Qaeda. Al-Sadr wants the U.S. out because the U.S. is using Iraq as an excuse to start a war with Iran. If the U.S. would leave, the Mahdi militia and the Iraqi army would be able to quell the insurgency and allow the Shiite dominated, Iraqi government to control their own destiny.

I may be wrong and if I am, you are free to disagree but it appears that the U.S. has no intention of allowing a Shiite dominated, Iraqi government to succeed and that they are allowing the insurgency to gain momentum to justify their presence in Iraq. The end game is to invade Iran to eliminate Hezbollah and Hamas. All of this so that the U.S./Israel can gain dominance in the Middle East. If its true, the coalition forces are being used as cannon fodder in a war that will destroy more than Iraq and Iran.

Please tell me I'm wrong or bring the coalition forces home immediately!

For some odd reason, this post is not getting through. I'll hit submit again and hope this isn't a multiple post. What is going on? O.K., I've tried four times. Time to take a break and try later. Maybe I'm being censored.

I know, I'll remove the part about the Z*&^%$# conspiracy and see what happens. I do believe I'm being blocked.

Hmmm - Still no luck.