Prelewd and MattyG - great posts, I really enjoyed reading them - thanks.
One of the things that concerns increasingly more people (as I've discovered through reading opinions on various forums), is a pattern of US withdrawal and/or defiance of international multi-lateral organisations which have occurred since GW Bush came to power.e.g. WTO, Kyoto Protocol, ABM Treaty, and most recently the UN.
Yet at the same time as multi-lateral co-operation is declining, The Bush administration is increasing military activity followed by the establishment and maintainence of large military installations in distant parts of the world.
As the US increasingly assumes the role of international policing, it seems incongruous that the Bush administration is at the same time opting for more unilateral decision making on international matters.
In particular, two documents have come to the fore that outline the direction the US is taking with regard to foreign policy and long term military strategy. One is the PAX Americana or "PANC" report which was produced for the current administration before they were elected and later led to another document called "Rebuilding America's Defences:Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century" . The other is the "National Security Strategy" which the Bush administration uses to describe their planned approach to defending the US.
Below is a link to an analysis on a Russian site drawing links between these two documents, the current situation in Iraq and the major players in the Bush administration - along with a link to another site on the same topic. Call it propaganda or a conspiracy theory if you like, agree or disagree as you will. Whatever you choose to believe about these documents and their intentions, several people and governments around the world view this stuff very suspiciously - and at the very least you might begin to understand a little more about the reservations much of the world has about US overseas intervention and foreign policy. These links provide more than enough information for us to make good use of the search engines on the internet.
Here's the links:
The President's Real Goal in Iraq
It is Pax Americana, stupid!
BTW, I'm not in the habit of reading Russian Press etc. before someone calls me a commy or something - I visit this site daily because I believe the daily intel reports on the war are the most accurate I have found