As we only hear about religion in Iraq, it is important to point out that a committee for the defense of secularism has been founded by a radical communist group (not the pathetic Iraqi Communist Party which is a mere tool of the US occupation) and a feminist group. Of course, there is nothing that helps the cause of fundamentalism in the Middle East than the crimes of US and Israel, both of which had in the past conspired to promote conservative Islam to undermine leftism and Arab nationalism. The New York Times, I have noticed, has been insisting in recent days on downplaying the political significance and popularity of Muqtada As-Sadr, the radical Shi`ite cleric who has called for the establishment of a counter-government in Iraq. Pretty soon, the stupidity and ignorance of the New York Times will be revealed. But then again, the New York Times may suddenly become informative and insightful, and if that occurs, I will add yet another miracle to the body of miracles attributed to...you know who. Call the Vatican. Notice that the recent UN General Assembly vote against the Israeli war of racist separation was quite indicative: the US is now alone around the world in its endorsement of militant Zionism. Public opinion in Europe (including in formerly staunchly pro-Israel Germany) is now running markedly in favor of Palestinian rights, and yet here in the US the ratio of support for Israel over the Palestinians is still 3-1, the opposite of the ratio in UK. In the UN vote: 144 countries voted in favor, and four voted against: Israel, US, Micronesia, and Marshall Island. I in no way intend to make fun of the great political contributions of Micronesia to world peace and security, and believe that Micronesia and Marshall Islands should be invited to send representatives to stay with Bush in Crawford, Texas in his next vacation. By the way, Micronesia, which never misses an opportunity to act as a despicable subservient tool for the US, sent ONE SOLDIER to Iraq in solidarity with the US. But that soldier, from what I have read, lead most of the fighting and is now consuming a lot of Kabob in Baghdad. In other news, a new Iraqi survey, unlike the bullshit surveys of US "pollsters", show that the Shi`ite groups are quite popular in Iraq; the pro-Iranian `Abdul-`Aziz Al-Hakim received 75 percent support. My favorite part: US chief puppet, famous embezzler Ahmad Chalabi, received LESS VOTES than Saddam who won the support of 2 % (far less than the 100 % he won in the last election). And 67 % of all Iraqis (basically all Iraqis minus some of the Kurds) consider the US forces OCCUPATION FORCES. And they (in DC) still call it a war of liberation. And this morning Al-Manar TV aired footage of US soldiers beating the shit out of a young Iraqi boy; but maybe he was informed that he was being liberated while receiving the beating.