To: Don Hurst who wrote (28682 ) 8/18/2004 11:04:56 AM From: Ron Respond to of 93284 Typical fall out from crusade-like military ventures.. displacement of large numbers of members of certain religions.. History repeats itself. We need to get rid of George the ChickenHawk-Hearted ------ Reports are coming in that some 40,000 Christians have fled Iraq in the past few days, as violence sweeps the country and Islamic fundamentalist forces pressure Christians into abandoning the country. Both Jews and Christians have had a long history in Iraq, dating back thousands of years. Pascale Isho Warda, the only Christian in the current Iraqi interim government cabinet said that 40,000 Christians have left Iraq in the past two weeks, since the bombing of five different churches by Islamic militants. As Iraqi government officials left Najaf without meeting radical Shi'ite leader Moqtada al-Sadr, the Vatican said that it was prepared to mediate an end to the fighting in the Shi'ite holy city, provided both sides requested the mediation. Vatican spokesman Ciro Benedettini said late yesterday that, "the Holy See, obviously, is always disposed to help the parties talk to each other and have a dialogue, on condition there exists a real will to commit to a peaceful solution to the crisis." TheOilTrader.com is a publisher. None of the contributors or their affiliates will provide you with personally tailored advice concerning the nature, potential, value or suitability of any particular instrument, portfolio of instruments, transaction, investment strategy or other matter. From time to time, any or all of the contributors or their affiliates may hold positions in instruments mentioned and they may trade for their own accounts. In cases where the position is held at the time of publication, appropriate disclosure is made.