Shame the letter doesn't mention the Congo, Rwanda, Zimbabwe etc.
those well know areas of sweetness and light.
Perhaps the Balkans could be referenced too as NATO still has troops there after a decade and a half.
Chetnia also has some issues.
The world can be a nasty place were situations have to be dealt with on a case by case basis with the best information to hand and best intentions in heart.
Non action only allows people like Saddam Hussein or Robert Mugabe to flourish.
If you don't like what the current Government is doing re foreign affairs, use the vote that this country has given you as a citizen, unlike so many other countries, to vote them out.

Kellie RTranter asks, "Open letter to Stephen Smith: All Australians deserve to know the true picture in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Well Kellie, how much time have you got.

Let's see Mahomet started a religion, sort of cross between Judism, Christianity & local religions around Medina.
Then he set about making War on everybody who refused to join his religion.
Then he was murdered.
Then his two uncle's fought over who was going to be the leader.
They have been fighting one another ever since.
Then they set about making war & conquering & converting by force the rest of the world.
They were, early on, a very enlightened people, but then the religious leaders upsurped power from the rulers. They became Theocracies & those countries under the rule of Mullars have remained in the 11th century ever since.
Since they control the majority of the worlds Oil, they hold the West to ransom. They want & insist that the West accept & convert to their religion & accept them as the world rulers. Nothing has changed from the very first steps of Mahomet.

Sorry, I couldn't maker any briefer than that.

It would be good to find out how many civilians have been killed in Iraq. The likely outcome is that 90% plus of deaths were due to the hatred that one tribe has for the other. No doubt Kelly would be happy for one of the hotbed's of terrorism to be left to Saddam Hussein. It is sickening to see so many self righteous commentators trying to make political points when so many Americans have lost their lives liberating many (albeit ungrateful) people.

Iraq is a creation of the West (UK), and like all colonial greed they keep making a mess of it!

www.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/iraq

Kellie Tranter

War: Not in your name but in the name of Mohammad, founder of Islam.

9/11 was the first shot at the non-Muslim world, USA representing liberal democracies. The Mumbai massacre was the second attack against non-Muslims, the target was not aimed at Indians but intentional in character and non-Muslims,

"The breakdown of the foreigners was as follows: four Americans, two Australians, three Germans, two Israeli-Americans, two Israelis, two Canadians, two French, two Italians, one British-Cypriot, one Dutch, one Japanese, one Jordanian, one Malaysian, one Mauritian, one Mexican, one Singaporean and one Thai" (wikipedia)

The war in Iraq is questionable but the Muslims are taking advantage of the situation to murder Christians now that secular leader Saddam Hussien is gone.

"Christians On the Run in Iraq"
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,587345,00.html

In every country of the West the Islamists have already infiltrated the town, cities and suburbs. The Islamic religious schools and mosques are their training ground. Each Friday mosques blurt out hate speeches of non-Muslims, and their life-style are constantly denigrated. The sedition of subverting the rule-of-law in liberal democracies by the shariah law has already been launched by Muslims.

As a qualified Adult Age qualified historian, I agree with you so much, Kellie.

But a study of history shows it has usually always been the same with Western Payback as even the CIA has admitted, often multipled by ten or more.

Certainly we must discount the eternal horror of the Nazis and their death camps filled with tortured Jewish bodies over the above, even though we cannot deny that that it was a Western race which gave support.

Thus we become involved in that intriguing question once again about us modern Westerners offering to share the blame
for our global troubles.

But - No Way, No Way, say most of our OLO's, a couple of comments even suggesting that the Sermon on the Mount should not be included in our Christian beliefs, because there is that terrible portion in it suggesting that we should try and learn to love our enemies.

Yet isn't trying to offer our enemies not so much a gift of freedom, but also the type of understanding including maybe just a little compassion