Nothing personal, Jim, but this quote is a bit disturbing to me:

   "In the military, you learn not to question decisions from higher up because they always have a broader picture -- the big picture.  While we must always question decisions of our civilian government, we should also remember that the perspective at the top is far different from what we see, and we should not be quick to judge."

   I suppose if the Germans living in pre-Nazi times had questioned Hitler's words and actions things could have turned out much different. After all, he told everyone he was a Christian and was on a mission from God, too. He deceived millions of German Christians who never lifted a finger or spoke out against him. He said the following in a speech in Munich, April 12, 1922: "My feeling as a Christian points me to my Lord and Saviour as a fighter. As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice.”

   If anyone can show me scriptures that tell us we are to go out and conquer the world for Christ before He can return, or that we are to spread freeedom and democracy to other countries while killing innocent civilians, I would be most grateful. The Lord Himself gave us an example in Matthew 26:52 "Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword."

   Yes, we can pray for our leaders, and I do, because I am not a Bush hater, just a discerning Christian. We can pray for Iranians to come to the Lord, but the Lord does not need us to uproot the third horn in order to do this. Has anyone considered that Afghnanistan was the first horn uprooted, and Iraq was the second? If this is the Lord's way of accomplishing all that He has ordained, by using the USA as the instigator of the final war, then I only hope we are "outta here" before these other things come to pass.

    The headlines on Netscape this morning read: "Arab port firm, White House had secret deal". Why was this government contract not openly bid on as it should have been? Was this job ever offered to American companies to bid on? I can assure you there are many competent American firms who would dearly love to have this plum of a contract, and in a time when we should not be outsourcing valuable jobs to foreigners, I say we should investigate this whole matter more thoroughly. Yes, this deal was originally owned by a British firm that was bought out by the Arabs, but why was this deal not overseen by a US company in the first place? Why are concerns that are vital to our nation's security not managed by an American company, whose interests would be in line with our nation's interests? Asking the Arabs to guard our ports is like asking the wolf to guard the henhouse.