Sorry, I wasn't going to post anything further in this thread; but WHO started WHAT? Iraq didn't invade the US, and neither did France. Yes, there were terrorist attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon by terrorists who were being given aid and shelter by Afghanistan. The last time I checked, Afghanistan and Iraq were separate countries. As far as I know, no-one has ever provided any evidence, or even claimed, that Saddam Hussein was involved in the WTC attacks. Your argument makes as much sense as invading Switzerland because Germany sank the Lusitania.

Who started it? It was the Americans who trained Osama Bin Laden; it was the Americans who put the Taliban in power; it was the Americans who took sides (rightly or wrongly) in the Arab-Israeli conflict. If you stick your nose into someone else's war and choose a side, you lose your right to act shocked and apalled when the people you've taken sides against decide to treat you as the enemy. (Hunting them down and killing them may be an appropriate response; whining about how unsportsmanlike they were is not.) As Captain Erickson said to the U-boat captain who complained that Erickson had taken him by surprise, "This is war. I'm sorry if it is too hard for you." (Monsarrat: The Cruel Sea)

Where do you get off thinking that the US has a God-given right to order other countries' armies into battle? Or that the French are a nation of cowards because, when Uncle Sam says "jump", they say "not today, thank you"?

In other words, WHO started WHAT? <img src="images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />