"Thanks for the story Al-Qaeda Broadcasting Company. I guess none of this behavior existed before the US was involved."

You're right. It didn't.

"There's no excuse for abortion, not to minimize the plight of these women. It's sad to see them adopt some of our values that lead to bondage, not freedom."

Spend 24 hours living the lives these women are forced to live, and then maybe you might have the right to make such a spectacularly stupid remark. Only you probably wouldn't then, because you might have an inkling of what you were talking about.

"Destroying a nation and its people: Mission Accomplished" by the liberals, the pacifists, the Democrats, and the news media - a bunch of sick hypocrites.

I hate to even rattle his cage, but Jake struck a nerve.

How about a little truth about the way things really were in Viet Nam. I served in the USAF from 1964-1968. To start out it wasn't JFK's or LBJ's or even Tricky Dickie's war. After WWII, the people of Viet Nam who had fought the Japanese thought the should rule themselves. France disagreed with this idea so "the people" joined under Ho Chi Minh and successfully revolted against the French. After kicking the French's collective asses at Dien Bien Phu, the French left the country. In 1954 there was a peace conference, the Geneva Accord, which divided Viet Nam at the 17th parallel. The conference also called for an election in 1956 to reunify Viet Nam under one elected government.

South Viet Nam was ruled by Diem who was a loose cannon puppet of the US. Diem knew that in a national election Ho would win so he under US auspices refused to allow the election. Thus started the war. So in reality the war was actually started by Ike and his CIA. Ho, a commie, was a national hero and a shoo in to win the election. There existed at the time a foreign policy theory that stated that if Viet Nam turned communist the rest of South East Asia would fall like dominoes. At first we propped up Diem with supplies and training. By the time JFK came along we were heavily involved since we in effect called off the election guaranteed by the Geneva Accord.

There were other facts that seem to have faded in time. The country was Buddist in the North and Catholic in the South. In the South you had 95% of the land and wealth controlled by 2% of the population. In the North you had agrarian reform which divided the land up amongst the people. Here in the US we are so afraid that one day the US citizen will realize that all the gravy is going to the upper 2% and decide to react much like we did in 1776 and throw the ruling class out and nationalize THEIR wealth that they've accrued from the population's labor.

It hasn't worked in many places, but Modern Viet Nam came out of the war as a whole nation unlike the US. In Cuba, for all of it's commie crap has a better health system than we do... and it's free. And my favorite is Hugo Chavez. He is loved by 80% of his countrymen. So loved that when a US backed coupe captured him, the streets filled with the poor 80% of the country Why? He took back the country's national resources from the corporate pirates and gave it back to the people in education and health care.

There are no answers in this, but as one who lived through it I felt that someone needed to inform all of you as to why we ended up in our previous quagmire.

I wonder how many of the women are getting abortions because they have been raped?

I just thank God I never voted for Bush and don't have to carry the daily guilt for the ramifications of his horrendous policy blunder.

"Moreover, the fruit of righteousness has its seed sown under peaceful conditions for those who are making peace."-James 3:18

NOT the seed of righteousness is sown under WARFUL conditions for those who are making Peace.

Hypocrites!

Amazing how the evangelicals and their False Leader (Bush)support war and troops.

Hypocrites!

As Jesus said best,
"LET them be. Blind guides is what they are. If, then, a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”-Matthew 15:14

Ironic that the Right-to-Life crowd and the neocons enjoy such a cozy, co-dependent relationship and yet pursue policies which have such sad unintended consequences. Gog help our currently benighted nation.

To Old Hippy...

You're right on! I always thought our fear of communism was a bit too neurotic and thus our support of petty dictators around the globe.

Gee, all the doom and gloom. What we gave them was the chance to be free. What they chose instead was to attack each other like the animals they are. Stop blaming America. People are given choices, what the make of them are their responsibility. You Politically correct are just so far out of touch it’s disturbing.

Drug abuse and abortion. Geeze that is the American way. Fleeing from the inter-city? Again the American way. See everyone....We Americanized these folks rather well. The American dream can be yours in down town Baghdad.

Hillary is going to import several thousand of the Iraqs to improve her political standings. That's the American way too! See Hillary, you did vote in the right direction for this war.

Maybe we should start having abstinence only classes over there -- those totally prevent abortions. We should have thought of that sooner.

Also, should we be counting the number of abortions in the number of civilian deaths? Yikes, we're probably approaching a million civilians killed at this point then.

ABC news just sucks!

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A sampling of the smashed lives in this city's first shelter for battered women shows just how much work its founder, Yanar Mohamed, has before her.

There is Susan, whose new husband began to beat her after discovering that she had been raped as a teenager. He held their new baby to her breast for feedings, because she was not allowed to touch the infant. She now lives in the shelter with the child.

Rana, a 16-year-old who had been abused for years by her father, escaped from her home soon after he beat her sister so badly that she died.

The women are blamed for the very abuse they suffer, accused of bringing dishonor on their families. In a punishing and rigid Islamic tradition, some would be killed if their relatives found them.

Since the American invasion and the virtual collapse of the Iraqi state, Islamic militancy has grown. Hard-line Islamists dominate several cities just north and west of Baghdad. Liquor stores have been bombed, and more women are covering their heads in public.

At the same time, women's groups have mushroomed. Hanaa Edwar, secretary of Iraqi al-Amal, which provides health care to poor women, estimates that there are a few hundred women's groups across Iraq now, compared to just a few dozen before the war.

"Imagine being married by force and having five children with a man you despise," said Ms. Mohamed, 43, who on a recent day was wearing jeans, platform sandals and a red T-shirt. "It cannot happen again. But if you look at the streets now, the politics, it is happening."

Women began losing those gains in the 1980's, when years of war sapped economic resources, plunging the country into poverty and eroding women's independence. To appease religious leaders in Iraq and his Arab neighbors, Mr. Hussein forced a stricter adherence to conservative religious rules.

Rana, the 16-year-old, is from a conservative southern city. She was taken out of school after the fourth grade. She was not allowed to leave the house, or watch television. After her sister died and she fled, a woman from the American military saved her, she said, allowing her to stay on a military base temporarily.

Her family tracked her down, through a local Iraqi translator at the base, and showed up one day to take her back. The family signed an agreement saying they would not beat her, but she said it had no effect. Relatives placed hot coals on her head to cure her of her running away, which they perceived as a mental illness, Rana said.

You're out of touch, Andy. Over 650,000 Iraqis have died since we invaded their country on false premises. While you have no concern for the welfare of these "animals", rest assured that among the dead are borthers, sisters, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. But, again, what do you care?

If a TV channel reports about the horrible effect of Bush's war then all right wingers scream:
They are enemies of the state, they support Al Qaeda.
Nonetheless they support a war based on lies which destroys our country.

Right wingers = the real Al Qaeda members

John, First you have been reading too many left wing rags. You can not substantiate the 650,000 number because it’s a lie. Second. The majority of deaths are due to sectarian violence and Al Qaeda not from American troops. If the after the soldiers liberated America from the British we began killing each other, who would blame?, the liberators or the idiots killing each other. Stop your politically correct nonsense.

P.S. the average death toll in Iraq from sectarian violence and suicide bombers has been about 3,000 a month. We have been there four years , 48 months * 3000 = 144,000.

John, First you have been reading too many left wing rags. You can not substantiate the 650,000 number because it’s a lie. Second. The majority of deaths are due to sectarian violence and Al Qaeda not from American troops. If the after the soldiers liberated America from the British we began killing each other, who would blame?, the liberators or the idiots killing each other. Stop your politically correct nonsense.

P.S. the average death toll in Iraq from sectarian violence and suicide bombers has been about 3,000 a month. We have been there four years , 48 months * 3000 = 144,000.

Must be interesting to the religious right and the right-wing republicans that their advocacy and support of the war on Iraq has spawned everything they claim they are against. Wonder what it feels like to be completely responsible for all the ills that currently plague the Iraqi people. Thank you George Bush, your syncophant republican congressional members, and all your hateful and ignorant followers. What would Jesus do? Hmmmm.

Does anybody remember Bush claiming to be a "wartime" president, even before the invasion of Iraq? I do. One good thing of late is that Bush vetoed the stem cell funding bill, again. It's a relief to know that no one in the near future will be cloning another flat fore-headed GW. Bush or his Christian Extremist allies at taxpayer expense.