The US shot down a UN Resolution that condemns the Israeli assassination of Sheik Yassin, the "spiritual leader" of Hamas. The assassination, aside from the unfortunate matter of the "unintentional" civilian deaths involved in the attack (they fired fuckin' missiles at him from a helicopter), is justifiable, because Hamas is a leading terrorist organization, responsible for about 400 Israeli deaths since its inception. The assassination was condemned globally and has sparked a fervor of outrage and hatred in the Muslim world. A leading Shi'a cleric in Iraq declared Israel's assassination (is it OK to call it murder, or would that be considered anti-Semitic?) as a "'dirty crime against Islam,'" and the atrocities of September 11 "'a miracle from God.'" We should be very wary of a very likely Shiite theocracy/dictatorship that is beginning to develop in Iraq in the midst of a civil war between the Shiites and Sunnis. Our founding fathers wanted religion and political power separate for a reason. Religion, especially radical, fundamentalist religious dogma, generally tends to lead toward corruption and oppression, as the historical record shows, again and again. Exactly like Iran, we are dealing with another Islamic revolution followed by the overthrow of another corrupt, secular dictatorship. Also like Iran, we supported the corrupt, secular dictatorship in Iraq. Bush is right when he said that Islam and democracy are not incompatible; however, it should be obvious by now that Islam and American democracy in the minds of many Muslims worldwide are. If you doubt the extent of the hatred and fear exhibited toward us by an apparent majority of Muslims, just check out the latest report by the Pew Global Attitudes Project.