Mark: My mother explained that people had to be taught to hate - 28 March, 2003

The Russian Federation was built on a shaky foundation and we see its support of the tyrant, Saddam Hussein, as direct evidence of this

While raising me, my mother was intent on instilling racial tolerance. She explained that people had to be taught to hate. I am excited to see that, true to your heritage of "Pravda," Americans can easily find buckets of reasons to hate and to distrust the Russians. The greatest United States President of modern times, Ronald Reagan, dubbed the USSR the "Evil Empire." It is a famous term and it was so true. He saw expansionist Soviets as God-less, evil people that had to be stopped. I think that a leopard can't really change his spots.

Citizens of the United States of America are enraged and will not soon forget that Russia worked diligently and secretly to support Iraq and to try to help them kill our brave fighting men and women. The friend of my enemy is my ENEMY! Ronald Reagans people were wise to compare the USSR to a bear foraging in the woods. This image was used in campaign ads on television leading to the largest election victory in US Presidential history. The administration warned us that "the Bear" was not sleeping and that it was on the move. I would say "the Bear" may have changed its name but it won't ever sleep UNLESS IT IS DESTROYED.

I cannot overstate how proud I am of the entire Bush Administration. Approval of military action among Americans has shot up to over 70 percent. Americans are a diverse lot and we have evil Muslims among us, yet less than 1 in 4 is opposed to military action. Your good work at Pravda online can only help to solidify American resolve. Timothy, I hope that the stupidity of your pieces on Rumsfeld, Rummie as we affectionately call him, isn't recognized. I hope that Russia, the Arabs, the French, the North Koreans--EVERYBODY--gets the message loud and clear. Might is Right! The United States of America is the only Super Power on the world stage. If it was left to me, we would drop tactical nuclear warheads on Iraq yet tonight. I don't give a damn if we have to kill 10,000 Iraquis to save 1 American live. I appreciate you creating an image of our Defense Secretary as a fire breathing dragon, a protective patriarch that will deal with threats to his people.

September 11, 2001 awoke a sleeping giant. We didn't ask for the evil Muslims to come and kill our innocent civilians. They are the terrorists and we will not be pushed around. Thank you for wording it the way that you do in your on-line rag. Words like "butcher" and "murder" are intentionally inflammatory, but they will assist the United States. We are such a hugely prosperous country that we grew soft and wistfully believed that the world was a happy place. Disrespect of the United Nations used to be a rare, marginal, almost whack-job attitude over here. Now it is wide-spread. As Americans, we understand now, loud and clear that our interests, our safety are not the goals of the UN. The calls for us to get out of the UN and to set it up in France, or Russia, are heard all the time in the United States. Fuck the UN is a venacular expression I am delighted to hear. Americans will no longer tolerate a President stopping off at that worthless organization when our vital interests and safety are threatened anywhere in the world.

Please continue to do your small part, along with Al Jazeera. Americans need to know that the same types that deny the Holocaust are trying to spin this so that we would be the bad guys. I hope that the lesser nations fear Bush and Rumsfeld. I know that they put my safety first! I think you get their message loud and clear. We are practically omnipotent and you had better not piss us off. We can send powerful long range bombers from the heartland of America's fruited plane to bomb the hell out of terrorist regimes. The number one fear for governments around the globe should be that they will spawn terrorists that hurt Americans. If they do, the long arm of the United States will avenge the treachery. Like that bastard Al Queda creep, asleep in his dirty night shirt in Pakistan. I am sure he was quite happy with himself, masterminding the senseless killing at the World Trade Center.

He ran for a while but the long arm of the mightiest nation on earth found him. Andthe United States in done playing nicey nicey. It is widely known that he is being held and interrogated outside the United States so that "non-conventional" techniques can be employed. We know that his own children might be used as leverage; it is unfortunate that, when dealing with sub-humans, the ends justify the means. We trust our government that Al Queda folks need to be held in Cuba for an indefinite period--nobody cares!

I don't think that we bask enough in the sheer joy of the fact that we won the "Cold War." A God fearing people who acknowledge that our greatness is due to our goodness whipped the pants of the Evil Empire. I grew up knowing that there was an "Iron Curtain," that the Soviet Union was such an awful place that they had to hold their own citizens hostage. The perception in America was that all Soviet citizens wanted to escape from their country because it was a pit of oppression and suffering. We have a huge Russian population in my community. My hair stylist works extra hours to send money home to relatives there-she says the economy there is terrible. Immigration is a constant concern over here. The United States is, and I pray will always be, the last, best home of man on earth. Those left in the ashes of defeat, like Russia, might try to tear us down and will always be hugely jealous. The Arabs hate us because many live in filth-stuck in the middle ages.

When this war is over, please run some stories about how unfair it was for us to attack such a weak country. Perhaps comparing us to a 1,000 pound guerilla swatting a little mosquito? Other nations need to understand that we have OVERWHELMING military superiority.

We see evidence of the triumph of the United States of America all over the world. Freedom and Democracy have won over the foolishness of Communism. I hope that Marx, Stalin, Lenin, Breshnev-all those evil men-are in constant motion in their graves! Or is Lenin still pickled somewhere-how disgusting is that?! What is the legacy of Communism--Cuba, China and North Korea? It is a bad idea that no people would choose for themselves and is in retreat around the globe.

I traveled to Saint Petersburg in August of 1997 and was shocked. The architecture is cold and utilitarian-huge, concrete buildings with few windows and no style. "Stalinesque" you call it? I call it an abomination. After noticing bomb and bullet damage, I asked the tour guide what it was all about. She said that construction workers were carrying out repairs "after the wars." I was puzzled, having lived in London and not knowing of similar damage, I thought I had slept through a history class. I pressed her for what war? She responded with World War II-probably thinking a was a dunce. But this exchange spoke volumes. More than 50 years after the United States of America had saved the Russkies from Hitler, they couldn't even hang it together to clean up the city. The city streets had potholes that could swallow a Yugo hole. The streetcars looked as if people had intentionally beat the hell out of them with sledge-hammers. The "sleeping houses," drab concrete apartment buildings make our low-income housing look palatial.

Sympathy for Israel and support for her is on the rise in American. September 11 gave a perfect forum for Benjamin Netenyahu and other hard-liners to gain sympathy among Americans. We see ourselves as kindred spirits. I had no interest in Israel and its affairs. I probably bordered on accepting unflattering Jewish stereotypes. Now I am an extremist that believes the Palestinians are wicked and that they are doomed to failure as a people. They will never be happy unless Israel disappears. The West Bank and the Gaza Strip are NOT "occupied territories." They are real estate that was won in battle--a battle that Israel didn't ask for. Evil Arabs struck and Israel and she triumphed-taking land from her enemies. The Palestinians should all be kicked out because they will never be happy anyway. Israel is a perfect symbol of the Reagan doctrine, "Peace through Strength." Israel thrives in a region overwhelmingly hostile to her that would love to destroy her immediately. But those Arab states can't because Israel is a mighty military power.

Keep up the good work!

Mark