"YOU were the one who said it was ok for a government to act that way, as long as it was democratically elected."

At no point have I said that - I don't have much faith in any government these days; please refer to my post of 13 Nov 07 - 04:46 AM which states "The US and many of our governments don't give two shades of shit about you, me or anyone else in the world..

The truth is though, Hamas have a mandate from their electorate and this means the only way to come to a solution is to talk to them, however distasteful that may seem. They provide a social infrastucture that otherwise wouldn't be available to them and the idea they are soley a terrorist force is wrong. Like the Provisional IRA they have a politcal wing and like the IRA any settlement for peace will have to include them, Fatah and Hezbollah too.

What gets in the way of this is the propaganist bullshite spoonfed to people by the agencies with a vested interest in the area - the corporate governments of the west and their allies who stand to loose big style should the people of the middle east finally find peace and take sole control of their own assets.

"The BA condones ... the use and proliferation of WMD's..."

Try http://www.slate.com/id/2099425/ and one of your own true blue rags discussing the matter.