Nobody is trying to defend BP in terms of its responsibility for clearing up the mess.

What we are saying is that BP has stated very clearly, right from the start, that its intention is to pay for the lot.

Q says "only $5000 dollars has been paid out",while we hear that BP has been paying out all small damage claims to affected fishermen and others who have suffered losses.

By whose reckoning has the amount paid been only $5000?

Who has paid for the hire of containment equipment, for the capping devices, for the services of all the organisations involved, and for the chemicals used to disperse the slicks?

I suspect that the only part paid for (pro tem) by anyone other than BP is the shoreline cleaning, and BP have already promised to cover the cost of that.

The accident has happened, and nobody can change that fact. BP is taking responsibility for dealing with the aftermath, and doing everything it can to mitigate the disaster.

So what is it you US citizens are after?.......REVENGE?

How do you gain by the destruction of the very organisation you are relying on to put things right?

One comment from the BP interview made a considerable impression on me, and it was this:-

""When the well is plugged and the slicks are dispersed, then we (that is BP) will be spending months, maybe years dealing with the onshore and offshore damage. By that time, all the Media will have gone home""

I think that was fair comment. We will not see Media headlines about BPs efforts to repair the damage because the Media don't much care for good news, DO THEY?

Don T.