I can't help wondering today how many of the innocents slaughtered in Haditha took the opportunity to vote in the Iraqi elections -- before their "li… - Robert Fisk

And history`s fingers never relax their grip, never leave us unmolested, can touch us even when we would never imagine their presence.

If you stand up to people, they'll respect you for it. I had an e-mail from a Cambridge University American law student, and he said, 'You are an evil f------ man,' so I called him up - he put his telephone number on it - and I said, 'I'm going to call the police if I have any more messages like this from you. This is an abusive, threatening letter.' And he invited me to give a lecture. I couldn't do it, but I would have done it if I'd had the time.

War is primarily not about victory or defeat but about death and the infliction of death. It represents the total failure of the human spirit.