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There is documented evidence that virtually every crime which the Bush Administration has accused the Saddam regime of commiting has been perpetuated by the US. The following is an excerpt from an online review of Rogue State --- A Guide to the World's Only Superpower by William Blum: Harbouring weapons of mass destruction In the 1940s, 60,000 US military personnel were used as human subjects to test mustard gas and lewisite (blister gas).Most were not informed and never received medical follow-up. They were threatened with imprisonment if they discussed these experiments with anyone, including wives, parents and family doctors. From the early 1960s, US forces sprayed tens of thousands of tons of herbicides (particularly Agent Orange) over three million acres of Vietnam as well as Laos and Cambodia.This polluted Vietnam with 500lbs of dioxin, a nearly indestructible pollutant and one of the world's most toxic substances. Three ounces in the water supply could wipe out New York's population. On top of that napalm was used in wars in Korea and Vietnam and reportedly Sarin nerve gas in Laos in 1970. In the 1990s the Pentagon admits that it exposed nearly 100,000 of its own US soldiers to trace amounts of Sarin gas in the Gulf War. US imperialism has waged sustained economic, chemical and biological war on Cuba. In 1962, they contaminated sugar exports and infected turkeys with a virus (killing 8,000). In 1971, they infected pigs with African swine fever. In 1996, they caused a plague of pesticide-resistant plant-eating insects affecting corn, beans, and other crops. Exporting lethal weapons A US Senate Committee report says that from 1985 to 1989 American suppliers exported biological materials to Iraq - materials that UN inspectors later found and removed from Iraq's biological warfare programme! Hundreds of thousands of acres have been turned into DU weapon-testing grounds in many US states. DU has been sold to Thailand, Taiwan, Bahrain, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Korea, Turkey, Kuwait and other countries. This weapon was used in Iraq and Yugoslavia. Cluster bombs Each cluster bomb contains over 200 "bomblets" aided by little parachutes that disperse them to hit what the manufacturers call "soft targets". If the fail they in effect become landmines. Up to 30 million bomblets were dropped in the Gulf War; over a million didn't explode. It has led to over 1,200 Kuwaiti and 400 Iraqi civilian deaths so far. The Pentagon is working on newer and better cluster bombs, "...suitable for the new millennium. America deserves nothing less." Assassinations Blum claims that the CIA have been involved in 36 assassination plots since world war two, including Nasser, Castro, Che Guevara, Michael Manley, Ayatollah Khomeini, Qaddafi, Saddam Hussein, Milosevic and even, in 1965, Charles de Gaulle. War criminals Blum suggests many US Presidents, generals etc for war criminals singling outRonald Reagan for "Eight years of death, destruction, torture and the crushing of hope inflicted upon the people of El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Grenada by his policies; and for his bombings of Lebanon, Libya and Iran. He's forgotten all this, but the world shouldn't." He also nominates Henry Kissinger. "...(who successfully combined three careers: scholar, Nobel peace laureate and war criminal), behind interventions in Angola, Chile, East Timor, Iraq, Vietnam and Cambodia." Harbouring and supporting terrorists US-backed Cuban exiles are amongst the world's most prolific terrorist groups. In 1997, for example, there was a spate of hotel bombings in Havana directed from Miami.There are numerous air and boat hijackings. Even when perpetrators are brought to trial they are acquitted. The US harbours state terrorists - government ministers and Generals - from Guatemala, El Salvador, Haiti, Chile, Argentina, Honduras, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Iran and former Yugoslavia. That doesn't include those the US flew to safe havens in third countries. In Afghanistan Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser to Jimmy Carter in 1979, said that the US began aiding the Islamic fundamentalist Mujahidin six months before the Russians made their move, even though he believed - and told Carter - that "this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention". Did he regret this action which armed "terror" groups who have gone on many missions including against the USA?"Regret what? ...an excellent idea," he told Le Nouvel Observateur in 1998. Blum notes that the edition sent to the US didn't include this interview. A US diplomat in Pakistan in 1996 admitted: "This is an insane instance of the chickens coming home to roost. You can't plug billions of dollars into an anti-Communist jihad, accept participation from all over the world and ignore the consequences. "But we did. Our objectives weren't peace and grooviness in Afghanistan. Our objective was killing Commies and getting the Russians out". Backing dictators Zbigniew Brzezinski said in 1979, "I encouraged the Chinese to support Pol Pot.... The question was how to help the Cambodian people(!). Pol Pot was an abomination. We could never support him. But the Chinese could." A million Cambodians died under Khmer Rouge rule. The School of the Americas (SOA) trained tens of thousands of Latin American military and police in counter-insurgency, infantry tactics, military intelligence, anti-narcotics operations and commando operations. Under pressure, the Pentagon released seven Spanish-language training manuals used at the SOA until 1991. The New York Times said: "Americans can now read for themselves some of the noxious lessons the United States Army taught ... during the 1980s. "A training manual recently released by the Pentagon recommended interrogation techniques like torture, execution, blackmail and arresting the relatives of those being questioned." These exports included plans for chemical and biological warfare production facilities and chemical-warhead filling equipment. Iraq was reported as engaging in chemical and even biological warfare against Iranians, Kurds and Shi'ites from the early 1980s. Blum notes: "Presumably, Iraq's use of these weapons against Iran is what Washington expected would happen." Depleted Uranium, (DU) used in tank cartridges, bombs, rockets and missiles is denser than steel and can penetrate tank armour. It is radioactive (forever), upon impact forms an aerosol of fine particles that can be carried downwind for 25 miles. When inhaled or ingested it can lead to many cancers and serious diseases. Excerpted from http://www.geocities.com/youthagainstwar/news/realroguereview.htm I have read Rouge State and the above are just a few of the many examples of US double standards documented in the book. The fact of the matter is that any perception of the current war as one of "the good guys" versus "the bad guys" is simply being too simplistic. Instead of constantly denouncing other countries, Presdient George W Bush should take heed the following words from his spiritual master Jesus Christ: And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, "Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. (Matthew 7:3-5)

It's frightening when the person capable of such a remark is the Defence Secretary of the United States. One wonders how Mr Rumsfeld would think of people expressing their freedom by looting his residence.

Rumsfeld: Looting is transition to freedom By Pamela Hess UPI Pentagon Correspondent WASHINGTON, April 11 (UPI) -- U.S. forces should not be blamed for the lawlessness and looting in Baghdad as it is a natural consequence of the transition from a dictatorship to a free country, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Friday at the Pentagon. "The task we've got ahead of us now is an awkward one ... It's untidy. And freedom's untidy. And free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things. They're also free to live their lives and do wonderful things. And that's what's going to happen here," Rumsfeld said. "And for suddenly the biggest problem in the world to be looting is really notable." Rumsfeld said he believes time will take care of the problem in Baghdad, as it seems to have in the southern cities of Umm Qasr and Basra, where looting has largely abated and the streets are back under relative control. In Qatar on Friday, U.S. military officials said U.S. forces do not intend to crack down on looting in Iraq because it might alienate the Iraqi people they are trying to win over. "If the coalition simply imposed control on the population, that wouldn't achieve the desired effect. We wouldn't be everywhere and we might also alienate a population that doesn't need to have another regime with a grip around its neck," said Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, a Central Command spokesman. The Pentagon is coming under increasing criticism from human rights groups who say looted hospitals are unable to treat patients, food and water cannot be delivered because the streets are unsafe, and the population is in danger from unchecked fires and criminal violence. The Geneva Convention holds occupying powers responsible for maintaining law and order. "We do feel an obligation to assist in providing security, and the coalition forces are doing that. They're patrolling in various cities. Where they see looting, they're stopping it, and they will be doing so," Rumsfeld said. However, U.S military officials say the war is still very much a hot one. Forces must focus on vanquishing the last vestiges of the regime before they can turn their attention to policing, they say. Rumsfeld conceded one of the problems with the looting is that government offices are being ransacked and burned -- and with the looters go important documents that could be used to track down people, weapons and possibly missing prisoners of war. Amnesty International called on the United States and United Kingdom to deploy more troops to secure the cities beyond the 125,000 who are already in the country, many of them still engaged in combat operations. AI warned of reprisal attacks against members of the Baath party and Republican Guard and their families. Rumsfeld seems to be taking a hands-off approach to that possibility. "While no one condones looting, on the other hand, one can understand the pent-up feelings that may result from decades of repression and people who have had members of their family killed by that regime, for them to be taking their feelings out on that regime," he said. "And I don't think there's anyone in any of those pictures ... (who wouldn't) accept it as part of the price of getting from a repressed regime to freedom." Rumsfeld said in the United States there has been looting and riots and they eventually come under control. "Think what's happened in our cities when we've had riots and problems and looting. Stuff happens!" AI said Friday the climate of lawlessness might have led to the April 10 slaying of a senior Shiite religious leader, Abd al-Majid al-Khoei, who was stabbed to death at Imam 'Ali mosque in al-Najaf. Two others were killed: Maher al-Yassiri, an aide of al-Khoei, and Hayder al-Rafi'i, another religious leader in al-Najaf. Abd al-Majid al-Khoei had arrived in al-Najaf a few days earlier from the United Kingdom. He wasn't under U.S. forces' protection. "As with many other cases, we do not want to impose ourselves on behaviors that are occurring within the Iraqi population. We want to cooperate with the Iraqi population. And so the security that he had was his own in this case," Brooks said. Rumsfeld was unusually exercised about critical press coverage of the lawlessness that seems to be gripping Baghdad, saying coverage is repetitive and distorts what's really going on. "I read eight headlines that talked about chaos, violence, unrest. And it just was Henny Penny –- 'The sky is falling.' I've never seen anything like it!" Rumsfeld exclaimed. "The images you are seeing on television you are seeing over and over and over, and it's the same picture of some person walking out of some building with a vase, and you see it 20 times and you think, 'My goodness, were there that many vases?'" Brooks said reports of looting at hospitals appear to be overstated, noting there are more than 100 hospitals in Baghdad and looting is confirmed at one of them. AI cited at least one other hospital that has been looted. "We think that this is a very, very small representation that's getting probably more attention than it deserves. Nevertheless, it is putting some hospitals at risk and creates a consequence and a hazard for members of the population who are injured," he said. Rumsfeld said U.S. forces are beginning to protect hospitals and helping to enforce a curfew. Brooks said the coalition is doing what it can to create calm. "In some cases, it may require shooting machine guns in downtown. At no point do we see really becoming a police force," Brooks said. In Basra, British forces foiled the looting of a bank over the past two days by using their guns. "Some bank robbers entered into an area and they were halted by coalition forces. They continued moving and drew weapons and they were shot. Looting went down a lot in Basra," Brooks reported. Brooks said the coalition is eager for the Iraqis to provide for their own security. "The Iraqi population itself will determine what's appropriate behavior over time," he said. Nevertheless, Brooks said the coalition can not trust local police to do the job. "Simply putting police back on the street would not be an acceptable answer. In fact, when we entered the city, we found that there were police radios that we'd captured, and the police were calling for ... indirect fire in support of the regime. So putting the police back on is not an easy solution for us," he said. Rumsfeld said many local police fled the cities because they knew there would be popular reprisals against them as they were once enforcers for Saddam Hussein's regime. "We haven't gone in and done away with any police. In fact, we're looking for police in those villages and towns who can, in fact, assist in providing order, to the extent there are people who can do it in a manner that's consistent with our values," he said. As in Afghanistan, Rumsfeld said the solution to security is going to have to come from within Iraq. "The Iraqi people are going to have to do this, in the last analysis. We can help, and we want to create an environment that is as secure as possible and that is as stable as possible so that they can find their sea legs, if you will, and get themselves on a path to the future," he said. Part of that process is tracking down the people on a Pentagon "black list" who will be subject to pursuit, capture or death. "We consider them all to be legitimate military targets," Brooks said. The U.S. military has produced a deck of 55 cards identifying by name and photo the "most wanted" Iraqi officials. The cards are being distributed to soldiers and Marines to help them get Iraqis to provide information on their whereabouts, Brooks said. The faces and names will also be published on posters and handbills. The United States is offering financial rewards and other enticements to get information regarding the whereabouts of the 55 and information on chemical and biological weapons. "We've also said that if people have spotty backgrounds, assisting us might make their futures brighter," Rumsfeld said. He said the only way suspected "weapons of mass destruction" will be found –- one of the primary reasons for the war -- is if people come forward with information, enticed with money or promises of leniency. "Are we going to find (the weapons)? No. It's a big country. What we're going to do is we're going to find the people who will tell us that, and we're going to find ways to encourage them to tell us that," he said. An Abrams tank in Baghdad rolled over a remotely detonated mine Friday, the first of its kind encountered in Iraq, a U.S. Army official confirmed. CNN reported that one soldier was killed in the attack. The mine confirms what the military had known: There remains lethal if unorganized resistance in Baghdad, an official said. A Marine was killed in a firefight Thursday near a mosque and more were injured. On Thursday, special operations forces entered the Abu Gharib jail in Baghdad, a facility that can hold up to 15,000 people. It was empty, and Brooks suggested the prisoners had been released and might be behind some of the lawlessness in the city. Also, a coalition special operations commander accepted a cease-fire agreement from the regular army Iraqi 5th Corps commander near Mosul. "The forces up there essentially capitulated, left their equipment in place and just left," said Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon Friday. Special operations forces also accepted the surrender of an Iraqi colonel who was responsible for border control points on Highway 11, which leads to Syria and has been a route for smuggling, as well as Highway 10, Brooks said. "And he turned over the keys to the border control point at Highway 11. The coalition now controls that border crossing point," he said. On Highway 1, which runs north from Tikrit, special forces engaged in a firefight and later discovered five small airplanes hidden under camouflage Thursday. All five aircraft were destroyed, Brooks said. Members of the 173 Airborne Brigade have secured four gas-oil separation plants and several wells in the northern oil fields around Kirkuk. The United States began sending world news TV broadcasts in Arabic on Friday into Iraq, using military rather than Iraqi broadcast capabilities. Radio broadcasts continue 24 hours a day.

Yes, but what is the value of an illusory "peace" based on unqualified violence? What is the value of a "peace" that is built on the anger and hatred of many Arabs? Now we see Iraqi citizens waving flags and giving thanks to George W Bush. What we can so easily ignore is that probably millions of Arabs are seething in anger at the latest humiliation of an Arabic state by the "American imperialists" and some of them will be bidding their time to exert revenge. And when that happens, what then? Another round of pre-emptive strikes, which will lead to more and more and more violence? The Bush administration will surely win this war, but in doing so, they have almosty certainly activated yet another time bomb. It's like taking a giant step forward, then two steps backwards. Do the mathematic.

Any ideology that is centered on violence --- whether it is terrorism or the Bush Doctrine --- can never bring about real peace.

His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada explains the divinity of Caitanya Mahaprabhu: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the golden avatara, appeared in India nearly five hundred years ago. It is the custom in India that when a child is born, an astrologer is called for. When Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, appeared five thousand years ago, Gargamuni was called by His father, and he said, "This child formerly incarnated in three complexions, such as red and golden, and now He has appeared in blackish color." Krsna's color is described in the scriptures as blackish, just like the color of a cloud. Lord Caitanya is understood to be Krsna appearing in golden complexion. There is much evidence in Vedic literature that Caitanya Mahaprabhu is an incarnation of Krsna, and this is confirmed by scholars and devotees. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is confirmed that the incarnation of Krsna, or God, in this present age, Kali-yuga, will always engage in describing Krsna. He is Krsna, but as a devotee of Krsna He describes Himself. And in this age His bodily complexion will not be blackish. This means that it may be white, it may be red, or it may be yellow, because these four colors - white, red, yellow, and black - are the colors assumed by the incarnations for the different ages. Therefore, since the red, white, and blackish colors were already taken by former incarnations, the remaining color, golden, is assumed by Caitanya Mahaprabhu. His complexion is not blackish, but He is Krsna. Another feature of this avatara is that He is always accompanied by His associates. In the picture of Caitanya Mahaprabhu one will find that He is always followed by many devotees chanting. Whenever God incarnates He has two missions, as stated in the Bhagavad-gita. There Krsna says, "Whenever I appear, My mission is to deliver the pious devotees and to annihilate the demons." When Krsna appeared, He had to kill many demons. If we see a picture of Visnu, we will notice that He has a conchshell, lotus flower, club, and disc. These last two items are meant for killing demons. Within this world there are two classes of men - the demons and the devotees. The devotees are called demigods; they are almost like God because they have godly qualities. Those who are devotees are called godly persons, and those who are non-devotees, atheists, are called demons. So Krsna, or God, comes with two missions: to give protection to the devotees and to destroy the demons. In this age Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mission is also like that : to deliver the devotees and to annihilate the non-devotees, the demons. But in this age He has a different weapon. That weapon is not a club or disc or lethal weapon - His weapon is the sankirtana movement. He killed the demoniac mentality of the people by introducing the sankirtana movement. That is the specific significance of Lord Caitanya. In this age people are already killing themselves. They have discovered atomic weapons with which to kill themselves, so there is no need for God to kill them. But He appeared to kill their demonic mentality. That is possible by this Krsna consciousness movement. Therefore, in the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is said that this is the incarnation of God in this age. And who worships Him ? The process is very simple. Just keep a picture of Lord Caitanya with His associates. Lord Caitanya is in the middle, accompanied by His principal associates - Nityananda, Advaita, Gadadhara, and Srivasa. One simply has to keep this picture. One can keep it anywhere. It is not that one has to come to us to see this picture. Anyone can have this picture in his home, chant this Hare Krsna mantra, and thus worship Lord Caitanya. That is the simple method. But who will capture this simple method ? Those who have good brains. Without much bother, if one simply keeps a picture of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu at home and chant Hare Krsna, then one will realize God. Anyone can adopt this simple method. There is no expenditure, there is no tax, nor is there any need to build a very big church or temple. Anyone, anywhere, can sit down on the road or beneath a tree and chant the Hare Krsna mantra and worship God. Therefore it is a great opportunity. For example, in business or political life one sometimes finds a great opportunity. Those who are intelligent politicians take a good opportunity and make a success of it the first time it comes. Similarly, in this age, those who have sufficient intelligence take to this sankritana movement, and they advance very quickly. Lord Caitanya is called "the golden avatara." Avatara means "descending, coming down." Just as one may come down from the fifth story or the one-hundredth story of a building, an avatara comes down from the spiritual planets in the spiritual sky. The sky we see with our naked eyes or with a telescope is only the material sky. But beyond this there is another sky, which is not possible to see with our eyes or instruments. That information is in the Bhagavad-gita; it is not imagination. Krsna says that beyond the material sky is another sky, the spiritual sky. We have to take Krsna's world as it is. For example, we teach small children that beyond England there are other places, called Germany, India, etc., and the child has to learn about these places from the version of the teacher because they are beyond this sphere. Similarly, beyond this material sky there is another sky. One cannot experiment to find it, any more than a small child can experiment to find Germany or India. That is not possible. If we want to get knowledge, then we have to accept authority. Similarly, if we want to know what is beyond the material world then we have to accept the Vedic authority, otherwise there is no possibility of knowing. It is beyond material knowledge. One cannot go to the far planets in this universe, what to speak of going beyond this universe. The estimation is that in order to go to the highest planet of this universe with modern machinery one would have to travel for forty thousand light-years. So we cannot ever travel within this material sky. Our lifetime and means are so limited that we cannot have proper knowledge of even this material world. In the Bhagavad-gita, when Arjuna asked Krsna, "Will you kindly explain the extent to which Your energies are working ?" the Supreme Lord gave him so many instances, and at the end He finally said, "My dear Arjuna, what shall I explain about My energies ? It is not actually possible for you to understand. But you can just imagine the expansion of My energies: this material world, which consists of missions of universes, is a display of only one fourth of My creation." We cannot estimate the position of even one universe, and there are millions of spiritual planets. All this information is available form the Vedic literature. If one accepts Vedic literature, then he can get this knowledge. If one doesn't accept it, there is no other means. That is our choice. Therefore, according to Vedic civilization, whenever an acarya speaks he immediately gives references from the Vedic literature. Then others will accept it: "Yes, it is correct." In a law court the lawyer gives references from past judgments of the court, and if his case is tight, the judge accepts. Similarly, if one can give evidence form the Vedas, then it is understood that his position is factual. The avatara for this age, Lord Caitanya, is described in Vedic literature. We cannot accept anyone as an avatara unless he has the symptoms described in the scriptures. We do not whimsically accept Lord Caitanya as an avatara on the basis of votes. Nowadays it has become a fashion that any man can come and say that he is God or an incarnation of God, and some fools and rascals will accept it: "Oh, he is God." We do not accept an avatara like that. We take evidence from the Vedas. An avatara must conform to descriptions in the Vedas. Then we accept him; otherwise no. For each avatara there is a description in the Vedas: He will appear at such and such a place, in such and such a form, and He will act like this. That is the nature of Vedic evidence. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam there is a list of the avataras, and there is mention of Lord Buddha's name. This Srimad-Bhagavatam was written five thousand years ago, and it mentions different names for future times. It says that in the future the Lord would appear as Lord Buddha, his mother's name would be Anjana, and he would appear in Gaya. So Buddha appeared twenty-six hundred years ago, and the Srimad-Bhagavatam, which was written five thousand years ago, mentioned that in the future he would appear. Similarly, there is mention of Lord Caitanya, and similarly the last avatara of this Kali-yuga is also mentioned in the Bhagavatam. It is mentioned that the last incarnation in this age is Kalki. He will appear as the son of a brahmana whose name is Visnu-yasa, in a place called Sambhala. There is a place in India with that name, so perhaps it is there that the Lord will appear. So an avatara must conform to the descriptions in the Upanisads, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Mahabharata, other Vedic literatures. And on the authority of Vedic literature and the commentary of great, stalwart gosvamis like Jiva Gosvami, who was the greatest scholar and philosopher in the world, we can accept Lord Caitanya as an incarnation of Krsna. (Excerpt from "The Appearance of Lord Caitanya", The Science of Self Realization by His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)

A time will come when a politician who has willfully made war and promoted international dissension will be as sure of the dock and much surer of the noose than a private homicide. It is not reasonable that those who gamble with men's lives should not stake their own. (H.G. Wells)

Many devotees and guests had come for the Sunday feast. Prabhupada spoke strongly from Bhagavad-gita, and then asked for questions. The second or third question was more of a challenge. A young bearded man stood, claiming that Meher Baba was God, not Krsna. In an argumentative tone, he asked Prabhupada what he thought about Meher Baba. The audience was quiet and expectant. Srila Prabhupada looked lovingly at Radha-Gopinatha on the altar. "I don't know anything about these people. I only know about Krsna. Krsna is so wonderful that he lifted Govardhana Hill on his little finger for seven days." As he spoke, Prabhupada, smiling brightly, held his left hand in the air, with his little finger sticking up, while still looking at the Deity. Prabhupada's eyes widened; he turned to the man. You can have Meher Baba. We take Krsna." He paused and turned again to Gopinatha. Krsna is verybeautiful. You can take Meher Baba, we take Krsna." Srila Prabhupada quickly stood, offering full obeisances before the Deities, as the devotees followed suit. A kirtana commenced and Prabhupada walked towards the temple door. He turned and spoke out humbly to the bearded young man in the crowd: Don't be misled. Don't be misled --- Krsna is very beautiful and you can know Him." (From The Great Transcendental Adventure by Kurma Dasa --- Part I Saturday, 1 April, 1972) You can have Swaminarayan. I'll take Krsna. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Dear Vaishnav: The following link may provide you with the informaton you're seeking. http://www.indiadivine.com/hinduism-cows1.htm Keep the faith!

Louis Armstrong was once asked for a definition of jazz and his reply was: "Man, if you have to ask what it is, you’ll never know." Similarly, if you have to ask whether you are God, you're not God. God, by definition, doesn't have to ask anything. He is never confused.

That's right. Take out any threat (real, perceived or imaginary) with war after war after war. Blow up the world to save it. Have fun in your imaginary cow boy world.

Yes. And that makes them even more pissed off. Which makes more terrorists which America strikes harder which makes them people even more resentful, which makes America strikes even harder, which...results in a never ending cycle of hate and violence. I'm not a pacifict. I believe in the use of violence for self defence. But if violence is going to be used recklessly on real and/or perceived threats, then what difference is that from the paranoia of Stalin? If violence is used in such a way that international unity is sacrificed, what is the gain? Yes. And after Iran, what's next? North Korea, Libya, etc. One spree of violence after another. It would be ironic if after being the good guy in the first two world wars, the USA ends up being the bad guy of the third one. Deterence? Maybe. Will it last? Probably not.A solution based on violence will not be a permanent one. History testifies to that. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union was the greatest threat America had ever faced. If the Americans had adopted your policy of pre-emptive invasion and slaughter, we would probably not be having this conversation by now. But the Americans tried containment instead.

The United States of America is a nation that I respect and admire even now despite my disagreement with its war.I am a well-wisher of the American people although I don't have much respect for their current administration. As a student of history, the most valuable lesson that I have managed to imbibe is that rarely are the events of the world black and white. Any picture which paints a "good guys versus bad guys" scenario is usually a simplistic one. A closer look at virtually any historical event will show both parties to be in the dirt. Saddam is evil. Virtually no doubts about that. But does that mean that the powers who oppose him now are doing so out of altruism? To quote Mayesvara dasa Prabhu: Supporting Saddam is one extreme. But to support a pre-emptive war that was launched in defiance of the United Nations is another extreme. Such a war sets an extremely bad precedence for the future. If the United Nations is simply a body that a powerful country can ignore at its convenience, then what does that say for the long term prospects of world peace? Mayesvara dasa Prabhu goes on to say: The "If you're not with us, you're against us" claim is much too simplistic. Look at how much hatred and anger against America the war has galvanized in the Middle East and countries all over the world. To incite hatred in huge numbers of people can't be good for the karma. Can genuine peace come about by provoking the Arabs to increasing levels of hatred and fury? Is that the Bodhisattva ethic? As the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak remarked recently, the war in Iraq will produce one hundred bin Ladens. That is probably a conservative estimate. "His purpose to save the world, his method to blow it up." Winston Churchill once observed about Lenin. It seems to me that by its unilateral display of military might, America is veering dangerously close to Churchill's description of Lenin. Violence only incites more violence and should thus be used with extreme caution. America may be a superpower now, but it is still subject to the laws of material nature. I have no doubt that the United States, with its superior firepower and technology, will win the war eventually. But at what cost? Any ideology which is based on violence and breeds hatred can never unite the world. This war has made me realize that the "we have a right to launch pre-emptive battles regardless of what the world thinks" ideology (which I used to strongly believe in) will never bring out about peace because its very motion is already inherently incompatible with genuine peace.

Srila Prabhupada is so eloquent! With a few powerful words, he demolishes the material pride of his readers.

Srila Prabhupada is so eloquent! With a few powerful words, he demolishes the material pride of his readers.

We are very proud of our two small eyes, and puffed up with vanity, we are always enthusiastic to see everything with our own eyes. But we do not know that whatever we are seeing at the present moment is covered with the darkness of nescience, and, as such, whatever we are seeing is either misperceived or only partially perceived. It is not a fact that we can see everything as it is simply by applying our ocular power to it. Every morning when the sun rises, we see this vast mass of matter as if it were just a small disc. Of course, the sun is much larger than the earth on which we live, and thus every morning of every day our self-reliant ocular vanity is put to the test and reduced to absurdity. Our eyes can gather knowledge only under certain favorable conditions. We cannot see things that are too far away from us; we cannot penetrate the darkness, nor can we see things that are very close to the eye, such as our own eyelids. Thus we can be proud of our eyes only under certain favorable conditions created by an external agency, namely the material nature. Otherwise, even though we have our wonderful eyes, we cannot see things in their true perspective. What is true for the eyes is also true for the other senses we use for gathering knowledge. (From Chapter One of Message of Godhead by His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

We are very proud of our two small eyes, and puffed up with vanity, we are always enthusiastic to see everything with our own eyes. But we do not know that whatever we are seeing at the present moment is covered with the darkness of nescience, and, as such, whatever we are seeing is either misperceived or only partially perceived. It is not a fact that we can see everything as it is simply by applying our ocular power to it. Every morning when the sun rises, we see this vast mass of matter as if it were just a small disc. Of course, the sun is much larger than the earth on which we live, and thus every morning of every day our self-reliant ocular vanity is put to the test and reduced to absurdity. Our eyes can gather knowledge only under certain favorable conditions. We cannot see things that are too far away from us; we cannot penetrate the darkness, nor can we see things that are very close to the eye, such as our own eyelids. Thus we can be proud of our eyes only under certain favorable conditions created by an external agency, namely the material nature. Otherwise, even though we have our wonderful eyes, we cannot see things in their true perspective. What is true for the eyes is also true for the other senses we use for gathering knowledge. (From Chapter One of Message of Godhead by His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

When one becomes actually learned, he does not see any enemy or any friend because in actuality “no one is my enemy, no one is my friend, no one is my father, no one is my mother, etc.” We are all simply living entities playing on a stage in the dress of father, mother, children, friend, enemy, sinner and saint, etc. It is like a great drama with so many characters playing their parts. However, on the stage a person may be an enemy or whatever, but off the stage all the actors are friends. Similarly, with these bodies we are playing on the stage of material nature, and we attach so many designations to one another. I may be thinking, “This is my son,” but in actuality I cannot beget any son. It is not possible. At the utmost I can only beget a body. It is not within any man’s power to beget a living entity. Merely by sexual intercourse a living entity cannot be begotten. The living entity must be placed in the emulsification of secretions. This is the verdict of Srimad Bhagavatam. Thus all the multifarious relationships between bodies are just so much stage play. One who is actually realized and has actually attained yoga no longer sees these bodily distinctions. (From Chapter 5 of Perfection of Yoga by His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

When one becomes actually learned, he does not see any enemy or any friend because in actuality “no one is my enemy, no one is my friend, no one is my father, no one is my mother, etc.” We are all simply living entities playing on a stage in the dress of father, mother, children, friend, enemy, sinner and saint, etc. It is like a great drama with so many characters playing their parts. However, on the stage a person may be an enemy or whatever, but off the stage all the actors are friends. Similarly, with these bodies we are playing on the stage of material nature, and we attach so many designations to one another. I may be thinking, “This is my son,” but in actuality I cannot beget any son. It is not possible. At the utmost I can only beget a body. It is not within any man’s power to beget a living entity. Merely by sexual intercourse a living entity cannot be begotten. The living entity must be placed in the emulsification of secretions. This is the verdict of Srimad Bhagavatam. Thus all the multifarious relationships between bodies are just so much stage play. One who is actually realized and has actually attained yoga no longer sees these bodily distinctions. (From Chapter 5 of Perfection of Yoga by His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Dear Prtha dd: Thank you for your words of kindness. Srila Prabhupada's words are very very potent and it is the duty of those who are trying to follow him to share the nectar of His Divine Grace as much as possible. Haribol!

Dear Prtha dd: Thank you for your words of kindness. Srila Prabhupada's words are very very potent and it is the duty of those who are trying to follow him to share the nectar of His Divine Grace as much as possible. Haribol!

Srila Prabhupada certainly quoted the Bible many times during his preaching. Srila Prabhupada is not sectarian. We are not preaching to Christian or Hindu or Muslim. We are preaching to human being. We do not see, "Here is a Christian. Here is a Muslim. Here is a Hindu. Here is a white man. Here is a black man." No. Every living being, his duty is to understand God. This is our preaching. This is our preaching, that "You are living being. You are part and parcel of Krsna. This designation, that ‘You are Hindu,' ‘You are Muslim,' ‘You are Christian,' ‘You are this' -- these are all designations. Actually you are living being, part and parcel of Krsna. Therefore your main duty is to understand Krsna." This is our preaching. We are not going to convert Hindu into Muslim, Muslim into Christian. No, that is not our... That is not our business. He may think that he is Christian, he is Hindu, he is Muslim, but we think that he is a spirit soul, part and parcel of God. (His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, 75/10/27 Nairobi, Bhagavad-gita 7.1)

""There is not a single thing in the Universe that it is not God" Yes. But God is also seperate from everything in the universe. That is the teaching of simultaneous oneness and difference --- achintya bheda bheda tattva --- which Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu preached. His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktiveanta Swami Prabhupada, the Founder-Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, once gave the example of the sun to illustrate this teaching. Without the sun there is no sunshine. But you cannot equate the sunshine with the sun.The energy and the energetic are simulatenously one and different. Similarly, without God, there can be nothing. But you cannot equate everything to be God. Krsna Himself refutes this pantheist theory in Bhagavad-gita: maya tatam idam sarvam jagad avyakta-murtina mat-sthani sarva-bhutani na caham tesv avasthitah "By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them." (Bhagavad-gita 9.4)

Glad to be of service. Much more importantly, we should thank His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who so mercifully brought Lord Caitanya's message to the whole world. All Glories to Him.

Glad to be of service. Much more importantly, we should thank His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who so mercifully brought Lord Caitanya's message to the whole world. All Glories to Him.