[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Radtgaeb

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Like it or not, morals derived from religion/faith. Morals make laws. What do you want? NO laws whatsoever?

Have you realised that somewhere above I admitted that the US is a nation in the tradition of Christian-Judaistic values? Like Germany is. But nevertheless both nations are truly secular - religions has not been allowed the power to influence the decision-making of poilitics for it's own internal interests and dogmas, and national offices and autorities are not to fulfill the interests of religion. THAT is the decisive point. The basic fundament of historically grown values of a society, and religious fundamentalism, are two different things.

Iraq, though I don't support the war in any war, was not a religious issue AT ALL. It was about "WMDs" *which don't/didn't exist* (but probably more about lining the pockets of the higher-ups).

Here you reject your own subtelty you just tried above. Both Bush and Blair were/are two people who made decisions in favor of war - and based on what they considered to be their morals, and both try to present an almost exemplaric image of being "religious" to the outside, and the media, and so itnense that it is almost pathetic and has earned them a lot of disgust and criticism for that theatralic effort. The war, btw, was only superficially about WMD, infact it was preplanned more than 10 years in advance, and had been described in papers by neocon planners since the early 90s. WMDs and Al Quaeda were just lame excuses to blind the public. We had the discussion repeatedly, so I leave it here.

We got bad information. The British got bad information.

No, the bad information was self-made, it was demanded and ordered by the leading ranks that the secret services should show up with "info" sayin Iraq has WMDs and by that to support the war, even when such infos were not available. But again, we had that discussion.

If I'm not mistaken, I think the Germans got bad information as well.

Yes? All I remember is that we and some others warned and warned and warned again about the war in general, and the highly questionable "quality" of things liike the niger-deal, the London missile memo, the AQ-link. But again, we had that discussion.

Don't bring faith into the attack on Iraq, I don't even think that Johnnie Cochran could've made that connection with coherence.

But I do, by the figure of Bush, who said that God talked to him, and who repeatedly has referred to his beliefs with regard to his policies not only with regard to Iraq). Blair also has referred to his Christian faith, with regard to Iraq. And in the early phase of the war, when first resistance was forming up in later 2003, I remember those TV pictures of American pro war-protesters , and a hysteric women almost cried into the camera that she felt so sad that those unthankful, misunderstanding Iraqi did not understand that all the Americans were tryin to bring them was God and the loving Christian truth.

This is a parade example of why fundamental religious views infiltrating the military and the poltiical decision making, as stated in the study this thread is about (!) , are of such high concern.