This idealistic hippie view that if we just bow down to terrorism and shake hands with Al-Queda that they will stop killing innocent people is a bunch of bull . I really don’t think people understand that these extremists and terrorists hate all western culture and they wont be happy until all western civilization is dead. Hopefully after what Spain has done other countries will realize what is really going on and wont follow in their socialistic footsteps. I wouldn’t be surprised if Spain still received more bombings. You would think after going through “Europe’s 9/11” it would make them realize even more so than before how important it is to stop these lunatics.

Hey but maybe they got it all right... maybe France does too... why fight when they can sit on the side lines and pick daisies all day while the U.S. does the worlds dirty work.

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I don't see any Spanish "bashing" here. Although you're treading awful close there, Bentley.

oh, well, seeing that the Spanish and Italians seem to have joined together to keep Tel Aviv from hosting the Eropian basket ball final four, bash away... , just kidding, be civil yall.

Im sad to see that the spanish have pulled their troops out of the iraq area. but is it because of the terrorist attack? or socialism? Or is it something else...maybee like if you are going to have problems at home, its a good idea to get the troops back in-country to deal with a more serious threat? I would like to think that its the latter.

Just how big is the spanish army anyway? Could it actually spare that many troops in iraq at the time, or what? I dont know. I dont think they want to cave in to a terrorist group. From what I remember of spanish people, they dont let things slide when they have been hit. They can fight just as effectivly against terrorism when motivated, and i think they will.

I think everyone has a right to do whats best for their country. I think the spanairds are doing whats right for them.

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The Head? You mean the oil? You mean the economic center of the world is centered in the middle east?

Well, the easy to get oil is in the middle east: thats true. The oil that comes from already developed wells and pipeline systems is there; thats true. But somehow, if the crux of what you say is that the middle east is the head, and that head is strictly oil related interest, well id have to disagree with you.

If it was only about the oil id guess you'd be right. Most countries would really grind to a stop, because over the years most countries have stopped the actual search and recovery of petroleum, relying on the middle east to provide them with relativley inexpensive sources of it until they have become dependent on it. Its almost the same in the US: i say almost because, God bless em, the oil companies have still maintained a usable amount of wells, the Alaskan Pipeline, and a salt dome strategic reserve that will enable us to muddle through for a while until something can be done about the situation. Sure, the capacity of the american cars and other uses is a termendous drain on oil; having lived through the Oil Embargo of 1972-73, i ve seen what the loss of a major material can do to the US.

But if it came down to the middle east not coughing up the oil, well there are other means. The south American fields of columbia, venesuala, and mexico havent even been scratched. The oil sands and oil areas of western Canada havent even been touched yet. The new finds off the coast of Africa promise to almost rival the saudi field in richness and in capacity; i guess we'll be getting friendly with them next. And i do believe that some scientists think probly the biggest field sits under antartica itself: hard to get, but desperation showed us we could get it in Alaska, i guess we could get it there too. there would be treaty problems to be sure, but i think world wide desperation would smooth out the kinks.

Now if you mean that the spiritual head of the world is in the middle east, well i d say you might be right. Too many religions have their hopes and spiritual centers there.

Now if you meant that cutting off the spanish head of the european unions second highest office, would cause the disolution of the european union, well that might be true too.

Im really not sure what you were trying to say in the post Cryhavoc. A post or reply might help.

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Please keep it civil, we have members from across the world here, and several who have served as UN troops.