Originally posted by Azrael
Our hope for the future is clear understanding,
but you're still afraid that the Martians are landing.
The 'Reds' neath our beds appear far more attractive
than waking up dead in the radioactive debris....

Please don't limit yourself to thinking that you can only choose between death and communism. I think the history of the 20th century has shown them to be pretty much the same thing.

And something for our European friends to consider... while there has been a lot of History written about the death and misery caused by wars an every continent, an overlooked detail is the fact that no democratic government has ever made war against another democratic government. [u]None[/u]. [u]Not Ever[/u].

Even the war of 1812, (the [u]only[/u] one the US has lost) during which our combined Canadian and British forces set fire to Washington. (That's how the White house got it's name by the way. It was painted to cover the fire damage). The combatants were a democratic Republic (USA) at war with a Monarchy (UK), and it's colony (Canada).

The plain fact is, in a democracy, the decisions are made by groups of people, so one 'hot-head' is unable to make things get out of hand. When two democracies disagree, there is zero chance that the situation will be allowed to lead to warfare.

I hear, read, and see rubbish about George Bush being some kind of megalomaniacal fiend bent on World Domination. Sadly, a lot of this crap comes from the countries of Europe that seem to have conveniently forgotten that they owe their present-day freedom and economic prosperity, in large part, to the sacrifices made on their behalf by America. The pravailing attitude is that it is best to snipe at the 'rude Americans' while positioning oneself to derive any benefits that might derive from the coming conflict. Never mind that this gives aid and comfort to a proven monster. I smell oportunistic cowardice on a national scale!