Islam in the Middle East has always been barely tolerated in the US by the status quo, despite it's growing popularity here. When you combine that with the economic dependance we have on the Middle East and the fanaticism that arises anywhere you combine abject poverty with deep religious convictions... well, the boiling cauldron of oil shouldn't be a surprise. In the aftermath of 9/11, it's hard for anyone to maintain perspective about the region when you already have a widespread residual prejudice against people who share the same socio-religious background as a bunch of murders who carefully plan ways to kill anyone they disagree with.

So now Iraq has ceased offering anything resembling the olive branch in the wake of the latest grandstanding from Washington. Gee... what a surprise! Since when do petty dictators -- particular fundmendalist Islamic ones, do anything but get stubborn and defiant in the face of Western bullying??? There is nothing that Iraq can do to appease the US, and it's been stated quite clearly that the US wants regime change, not inspectors.

Time for a pet peeve -- I hate hearing how Iraq "threw out" the weapons inspectors. The weapons inspectors were withdrawn by the US in 1998 because they said Iraq wasn't cooperating, and we wanted our people out before we bombed them. "Cooperating" in this case meant that the "inspectors" -- US spies -- wanted full access to things like Saddam's private home. Oh yeah, there's a weapons factory in the basement! Then Iraq refused to let the inspectors back in after they were subjected to another round of aerial death.

Right or wrong, I'm tired of hearing about how Iraq "kicked out" the inspectors. They did no such thing, it's just propaganda at it's best.

Honestly, though, I'm starting to feel a little optimistic about the Iraq situation. Regular people in the US are talking about whether it's right or wrong. Even if Bush goes ahead, as tragic as that will be to the everyday citizens of Iraq who get killed in the process, the fact that a dialogue is taking place is a sign that democracy may be very ill, but it's still alive and it's not going down without a fight. I haven't seen people (other than the usual left or right wing activists) talking seriously about politics in almost a year...