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Storm of Mideast war has gathered over decades

08.03.2003
By RUPERT CORNWELL

How did it come to this, and so quickly? History can be a roller coaster but for all the markers along the way, it is still hard to understand how in 18 months the ride has led from Osama Bin Laden to Saddam Hussein; from a nightmarish day of terrorist attacks in the United States to an unprovoked war against a country that had nothing to do with those attacks.

On September 11, 2001, America had the sympathy of the world. Now, as 200,000 of its troops stand poised to invade Iraq, with 40,000-plus from its faithful ally Britain alongside, attitudes have been transformed.

America, or more accurately perhaps, the people who run America, have rarely been so mistrusted, disliked, even hated.

"Nous sommes tous des Americains" ran the famous headline in Le Monde that September. Not any more. Today the discourse between the US and its oldest ally, France, runs to puerile slanging matches, pitting the "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" mocked on late-night US television shows against "a small village populated by cretins", as a political puppet show on French television has dubbed the White House.
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Much more .......

Yes - dunno how that happened. Now I can't log in to get the orig link ???

Seems the Honks at PCCW screwed my account when I left HK - I requested it remain active for 2 months - ahhh well that is an accurate reflection of the future of HK <grin> Brits left it in good order in 1997, today HK is the *ONE* part of China in a prolonged slump & with at least 18 months still to go before hitting bottom.

They (the HK Chinese) without Euro guidance, are perfectly capable of screwing the HK economy & the place in general, all on their own. ($70 billion deficit this year).

Cheers

Doug Marker