Let the Iraqis keep their own council on who is being a patriot. Our interests are NOT theirs, no matter how many pretensions we stack on.

Matt wrote: "They are not the terrorists, Baathist jackals, and hired criminals who are attacking the coalition forces"

Again, have you met any of those attacking the US forces? They *MUST* be bad people because they are attacking US troops? Is that it? While my hopes are on my guy, I'm not going to be so stupid as to turn the fellow attacking them into a propaganda poster.

matt wrote"And need I also point out that the Iraqi Governing Council, even if transitional and limited in power, is the most broad-based and representative governing authority that the nation of Iraq has ever had"

Not the case, as long as all political power, all power of law enforcement and the universal trump card (140k 1st world soldiers armed with the state-of-the-art) is held by american hands. Thats our goal- to surrender that trump card- but until we do, we are going to have angry armed Iraqis coming right at us fully loaded.

You would likely do the same if the tables were turned, or you would at least support and sympathize with those who did- remember that.

While you are falling over yourself to proclaim the nobility of Our Side and how those who coincide with Our Side are the white Knights and those who attack Our Side are Baathist Jackals (ie propaganda posters), re-read this line from your source and consider what $60 US means in the bombed-out shell of Iraq.

"Enlistees will initially receive $60 a month, be outfitted with light arms and will take over the country's border patrol, checkpoints and eventually other tasks. "

I'm not saying that everyone who collaborates with our occupying forces are meerly doing it for money- but you must allow that some (in fact many) probably are. Just in the same way that you must agree that some of the ones coming at us are patriots.

And doing this, and giving your respect to those attacking us, does not mean, Matt, that you must refute the patriotism of those working for/with us. This world, and especially the Iraqis are not a crude binary proposition.

To not admit this is to reduce the 'Iraqi' to a figment of your political projections. Again: its de-humanizing, turning a culture into a propaganda instrument- its the ULTIMATE occupation, and a distinct form of oppression (taking from them their right to believe in themselves and give their life for that purpose- even if those beliefs are flawed, or at least are flawed from your perspective).

Davin L.