[steeljack]

Bullseyebarb ........I am writing this as one of your fellow countrymen .......It's not surprising to me one bit ,that the general feeling on this thread is showing a bit of "anti" americanism , and who can be trusted more the Russians or the Americans , consider .....prior to Sept 11 it was possible to go into many Irish American bars in NYC, Boston and San Francisco and come across fund-raisers for the IRA , funds which were used to buy bombs to blow up British city centers, killing and maiming, women and children , succesive British Govts. appealed to The U S Govt to try to stop this all with no action , it was only after 9/11 that the open invitation to Irish Republican leaders to have lunch at the White House on St. Patricks Day was withdrawn .....so lets not be so critical of folks who don't have as much faith in our Govt. as you seem to have ,
Maybe the idea of exporting democracy is a good idea , I seem to remember that Iran was a secular democracy during the 50s (under Prime Minister Mossedeq) until it was overturned during a CIA sponsered coup which re-installed the Shah, any wonder the Iranians distrust the U S, another fine example of exporting democracy comes to mind , remember a country called Rhodesia, it used to export millions of tons of excess foodstuffs every year, not the case these days is it .