What the hell is wrong with you people? The British and American alleged that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in order to justify attacking that country - presumably to control its oil. People claim they are angry that they were manipulated into supporting the invasion. Yet, once again, here you are ready to believe another set of assertions made by the same people. A set of assertion which seem to have the same purpose - to attack a sovereign middle eastern country. It is so obviously a case of disinformation - 'a secret terrorist cell,' yet they know the name of it, its purpose, its source of funding, where it is trained, etc. Big Brother lied to me yesterday, but today he's telling me the truth.

Captain Canada, Victoria, Canada

Welcome to left-wing Britain, i support the USA, but from some reason, the powers that be, the still up and running looney left, want to be friends with the other guys, we should have attacked certain targets when the sailors where held, we should have done something nasty to the mahdi army, when the 5 UK citizens where taken, but we did'nt this is left wing Britain, surely anyone with a hint of common sense knew there was something wrong here when red ken got the Lord Mayor's job in London, it will get worse

R McAllister, Glasgow,

What I find despicable is Iran captures your sailors and marines, humiliates them on TV, holds them for over two weeks under false pretenses and you still would rather cheer for Iran than for the United States. Nice allies that.

Brian, Syracuse, US

why on earth are these people defending Iran!? A place, ruled by hardline religious fanatics, in which women have no rights who wants to build a nuclear weapon in order to destabilise the entire Middle East?Britain and the US are by no means perfect but try living in Iran like I have guys and then we'll see if you are so quick to defend their killing of OUR troops.

Gerry, Belfast,

Everone needs to cool down a bit.

Under Bush the aggressive rhetoric has done no one at all any good.

Start acting like the leader of the world Sir!

K. Urban, London, UK

Dear Todd, Whilst desiring to agree the main moral thrust of your points, I am reminded by history that 'extremism' has always been the answer to 'extremism'. The extremism of Hitler was not answered by the appeasement of Chamberlain.
The regrettable reality appears to be that such extremism
must be met with equal force - or at least equal moral resistance.
To talk of our own failings and not recognise the failings of those we morally oppose is not an equality of moral argument. In this 'propaganda war' let us not be blind to either's failings, but rather try to project a new vision of mutual respect and tolerance.
Extremist doctrine and idealogy have exacted an horrific toll on humanity - mainly innocent humanity - throughout history. I do not seek to defend the failings of western policies, nor do I seek to obscure the failings of those we 'oppose'.

Keith, Dalsland, Sweden

ah so you have finally opened your eyes?or you knew all this time about the brutalty of the mullas but chose to close your eyes to themas long as it didn,t happen to us.
well done me jack straw for your brillant policy of appeasment the mullas have paid you back well didn,t they?how stupid how very stupid

dedesertman, london, england

Looks like the Buckwalters/Alderwoods group business is going to be booming. Again.

m reid, winnipeg,

"The Iranians don't need to back any "terrorists". The British and Americans are doing it for them..." -- Alfred, r, Isle of Wight, UK

This is the most accurate comment, i've read on here. Sir you need to run for Prime Minister.

Stanzler, New York, USA

Keith, if I understand your argument, the actions of "western democrat" leaders should be measured against the standards of "repressive religious extremists". It's all OK as long as we're not quite as diabolical as the most lunatic of the lunatic fringe. Outsourcing torture and murder is fine, a pointless war, the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians, the use of weapons banned under the Geneva Convention, multiple human rights abuses... All fine because the other guy is bad.

Except it isn't. Nobody condones the extremists, but I think many of us would prefer that our leaders do not try to emulate them. Extremism cannot be our response to extremism. If our values are to mean anything, then we have to uphold them.

Todd White, London,

The funny thing about all of these claims is that it was SIIC (Formerly SCIRI) who spent 17 years in Iran, were openly trained by them, and who run the Badr corp, who are the Iranian stooges. Contrast them to Al-Sadr who has repeatedly mocked them for running away to Iran during the Saddam years, who is putting out feelers to the Sunnis and who is an Iraqi nationalist through and through. These two groups are in open war in Basra.

Now, which group sounds like the Iranian stooges? Yet, SIIC are our friends and Al-Sadr is our "iranian backed" enemy.

Listening to this is like hearing someone call Saudi Arabia a force for moderation (oh no, they say that too...)

(NB, JAM may well be involved with this kidnapping and are not a nice bunch at all, but they aren't Iranian backed)

Phil, Essex,

Are the four security guards correctly identified as "civilians?".

If they were armed, not members of regular military forces, and
present in a theatre of war then do not they qualify as mercenaries?

jan Jansen, amsterdam, netherlands

Brendan,
The answer is no. The ones you refer to were legally captured as they were not covered by diplomatic immunity.

Brian, Syracuse, US

what makes me sick is when the us or the brits kill innocent civilians in iraq, they claim it's 'friendy fire'....

Jaberwokie, Bern, Switzerland.

Neither American or British soliders should be in Iraq to begin with. Iraqi people are not terrorists but they are fighting occupying forces who are the real terrorists. UK and US shouldn't complaint about what is the direct consequence of their poor decision making.

Cyrus, Londin, UK

ah! so the businessmen and women who call themselves politicians and are running the affairs of the world have finally half opened their eyes and realised although doing business with the mullas might have short time profits but it is not a viable long term plans?
remember the bombing in paris?remember the killings of iranian kurdish opposition leaders in berlin?remember the stoning to death of women in public?remember the sale of iranian childern to neighbouring countries?remember the hostage taking of the american diplomats? remember.........
open your eyes

dedesertman, london, england

While spreading propaganda about Iran would General David Petraeus like to tell the public how many people of other nationalities the US has trained !!!!

Eoin Hanley, Prague, Cz

The Iranians don't need to back any "terrorists". The British and Americans are doing it for them. Everyone knows that it is a matter of a few years before all foreign troops will be home from Iraq and Afghanistan - so why all this bluster?

Alfred, r, Isle of Wight, UK

Expect a "sexed up" dossier on Iran anytime now!

Tom, Plymouth,

Can't find the prisoners, can't catch the kidnappers but they know who did it. Yeah, right.

steerpike, Auckland,

Haven't the American's been holding 5 illegally kidnapped Iranians for months now?

The hypocrisy of the western invaders is nauseating.

Brendan, London,

It is quite normal in geo-politics for one country, in this case Iran to try and create instability for there enemy, as was the case when the USA backed Bin Laden when he was fighting the Soviet Union. Iran feels (with good reason that it is being threatened) and is doing what is in its best intrests.

chris, aberdeen,

During World War two plenty of people said there was no evidence of Jews being burned in ovens in German concentration camps either - then US forces entered Auschwitz, Dachau etc.

And plenty of people believe in God but there ain't much proof of his existence either! Yet some extreme Muslims (backed by fanatical Iranians) are prepared to blow up Americans and even innocent children in the name of Islam! Stanzler - get a reality check - the US coalition are trying to do the right thing in stabilising Iraq while the Iranians are stirring trouble - only fools and cranks can gain pleasure in mocking their efforts.

M Graham, Penang, Malaysia

In the propaganda 'war' between western democratic values and repressive religious extremism, it seems clear from Stanzler's,comments that the latter is winning.
Remember WMD? Yes, we remember that even SH's generals believed he had them!
There is quite enough solid evidence of extremist activities
if you care to look.Remember the Iran embassy seige? Remember the 'outrage' at knighthood's to authors - hey, but forget the abused starving kids in the orphanage, or the beheaded innocents, or Sayid Qutb!!

Keith, Dalsland, Sweden

"General Petraeus said British hostages held by ‘Iran-backed’ killers.."

They've blamed Iran many times in the past without success.
Once they produce solid evidence, then we could take them seriously.
Remember Iraq's weapons of mass destructions?

Stanzler, New York, USA