Rene Erlanger

Nope,...a lot of Merchants have given up their Sims. Owning a couple of Malls, i've gotten to know a lot of Designers over the years.. I can tell you from just that sample....many many have given up their Sims or downsize their lands......in the last year. Some have closed up shop completely...and ventured over to InWorldz or Avination Grids. Marketplace has had a huge impact on In-world traffic....most Merchants will tell you that! (and therefore sales). I have unique visitor counters in all of my Stores (26) around the Grid....and have records on Excel Spreadsheets going back more than 4 years! Bugs and bad customer service has always existed. Tier prices have not changed for Full sims since 2007, Mainland has never changed....only Homestead sims changed from their initial offering of $75 to $125 p/mth in 2009

Thanks for that info Dartagan ....very useful ballpark figures :matte-motes-smile: It's as i had suspected...that the gains fom Marketplace commissions do not compensate the loss of Tiers from Commercial Lands/ Sims.(not even close!) This tells me their current strategy of driving shopping off-world is backfiring through accelerated loss of Tier income! As pointed out by Qie, the lack of In-World traffic, also effect Clubs, Roleplay sims, Art Galleries, other social places (like Lost Gardens of Apollo) who rely on Merchants renting out Vendor spaces to subsidise their Tier/ Rent payments. I would presume a decent chunk of those 1500 sims handed back...had some sort of commercial activities on them.

I'm pretty much like Qie.....the explorer in me! :matte-motes-smile: So I enjoy the in-world shopping part and discovering new places, new sims and new gems!

Rivers Run Red have announced that they're handing back 30 sims to LL....and just keeping the Avalon sim for posperity reasons. Here we have RL 3D Content Development company that could no longer justify spending $295 per month on sim tiers....their clients (RL businesses) had long exited out of SL. The company has taken its business into another VW platform ..Kitely (a browser based VW) Charging $295 p/mth for a SIM was feasible, when Second Life was hip, and everyone was falling over themselves to buy Virtual Land or Sims and have a presence in SL......but from a business point of view, the pricing model is outdated and no longer viable in this econmic climate....nor is there the demand for SL sims...hence no growth in 3 years. So if a funded company like RRR can't justify keeping SL sims, just imagine the burden on individuals to pay those inflated Tiers.

Deltango Vale wrote: @ everyone Linden Lab should not compete with its residents. Linden Lab should not seek revenue by selling 'game items' to 'players'. SL is not a game. WoW is a game. WoW generates revenues by selling game items to players. SL is a virtual world. I believe SLM has probably helped the inworld economy. Did half the population of California leave the state when online shopping arrived? Does every resident of Bermuda spend every waking moment running a store? I repeat, SL is not a game. Residents live in SL, they socialize, they dance and chat and go to the beach and make love. They don't spend every waking moment planning their next business move. If someone buys a teapot on SLM, where is it going to end up? In her kitchen, in her house, on her land. If a person buys a dance animation on SLM, where is it going to end up? On his body in a club. If a person buys a new skirt on SLM, where's it going to end up? On the floor beside a bed in a skydeck. Folks, get with the program. Second Life is a virtual world. It has an economy based on social interaction. Hi Deltango The problem is simple...If LL continues to lose 500 sims per month like they did in January...for the remainder of the year, there won't be a Second Life for any of us to play on. I think there's an urgency for LL to create non-SL products to become additional revenue streams......as milking the SL cash cow might soon end up not being profitable!

At current monthly login levels ....everyone would have to pay around $9-10 USD p/mth to replace the current Tier system and other forms of LL income. I would be surprise if you'd be left with 50% of SL'ers.

I disagree with you 16.....I can't speak for the general views or opinions held by Americans, but I do know that generally across Europe, we're tired and grow weary of Wars being fought in some far distant part of the world. What exactly has Afghanistan yielded? ....a cost of a Trillion dollars to the U.S economy (not sure how much it's cost the remaining Nato countries), an unwinnable conflict in it's 11th year, our 1000's of dead soldiers....all for Osama Bin Laden (the initial excuse and his training camps).....and we're still there. Why? Why are we still there? Aside from committing mass genocide on the scale of the Na$is.....we'll never be able to fully supress the Taliban or any associated Tribes. Read the history of Afghanistan.......it's a totally lost adventure" Mission complete...Osama is dead! Is there an ultriamotive?.....protecting the Opium trade? the Poppy fields? From Wikipedia : "Opium production in Afghanistan has been on the rise since U.S. occupation started there . Based on UNODC data, there has been more opium poppy cultivation in each of the past four growing seasons (2004–2007) than in any one year during Taliban rule. In addition to opiates, Afghanistan is also the largest producer of hashish in the world." The Taliban had banned growth of Opium!! "However, in July 2000, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, collaborating with the United Nations to eradicate heroin production in Afghanistan, declared that growing poppies was un-Islamic, resulting in one of the world's most successful anti-drug campaigns. As a result of this ban, opium poppy cultivation was reduced by 91% from the previous year's estimate of 82,172 hectares. The ban was so effective that Helmand Province, which had accounted for more than half of this area, recorded no poppy cultivation during the 2001" Isn't the trafficking of drugs one of our biggest social problems that we have in out society? ...or is it all about Gas pipeines? You be the judge and do the research! "The pipeline will transport Caspian Sea natural gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan into Pakistan and then to India. " The roots of this project lie in the involvement of international oil companies in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan beginning of 1990s. As Russia, who controlled all export pipelines of these countries, consistently refusing to allow the use of its pipeline network, these companies needed an independent export route avoiding both Iran and Russia " http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/sardi7.html http://911review.org/brad.com/archives/oil/Pipeline.html If Ron Paul is advocating a pull out of Afghanistan.....then he gets my approval

I also completed it...was pretty painless! :matte-motes-tongue:

That's correct, as a consumer you have choices..to either shop on Marketplace or In-World, for Linden Lab it's a matter of which model provides greater profitability to the company. By promoting Marketplace instead of it being an add-on (or complimentary service) to the Merchant's in-world Stores, they've effectively de-stabilised the in-world economy by setting it into direct competition with In-world shopping. The problem is two-fold, the heavy promotion of Marketplace in their Official LL Viewers....and the way the In-World Search function button is hidden away into obscurity within their current UI. It's unfair marketing...it's not equal treatment! Most new SL'ers will be introduced to Marketplace shopping before they accidentally discover that there are large swathes of Commerical areas on the main grid. I don't care how successful a Merchant you are (with the exception of the Breedables selling food on MP).....you will never generate the same sort of Sales as a well marketed in-world Mainstore. You will not see any MP Merchants (apart from Breedables) clearing $5000+ USD worth of monthly Marketplace sales like we were able to do In-world....it's just not going to happen! In Marketplace your 100's of products are lost in a cloud of 2 million plus other products....we have to rely on the MP search engine (god forbid if you sell Jeans and are listed with 65000 other returned listings)...or purchase Enhancements with questionable results. By contrast with a good In-World Mainstore, we could control our own marketing and therefore our own destiny......from a mixed bag of tricks which include ...optimising your rankings for All Search, purchasing Classified Adverts, holding events, advertising via notices in large Consumer Groups, taking part in Hunts, setting up a home website displaying products & new releases,, attract 3rd party bloggers, holding a Store Sale, purchase advertising space in popular SL Magazines, Radio Advertising commercials, MM Boards & Lucky chairs........the list is endless ...but we are in control! What we put into our Marketing, we'll reap the benefits from. The result of this lop-sided Marketing created by Linden Lab (nothing new here, we've seen years of failed LL strategies)...means shopping traffic has been diverted from the Grid to Marketplace. Owning a Mainstore on the Grid comes at a cost......TIERS (or Rent) and all the other associated marketing expenses. It's no conicidence that large amounts of shops & malls are being closed....or land being downsized as overall sales (Sales from the Grid and MP) are not enough to justify keeping hold of SL land. It's no coincidence that LL have lost 1500 sims in last 13 mths (4 Mill USD income)...has that been compensated by the extra 5% commissions generated from MP during that time? Out of the remaining 30000 sims left on the Grid.....how much of that land are still dedicated to commericial activites? 10%?, 20%.? or 30% ? How much more lost of Land income can Linden Lab bare before alarm bells are sounded off? Historically Sim & Land tiers has been their largest income source.(70-80%) IMO Linden Lab scored an own goal....and we'll see how this pans out for the rest of the year!

leliel Mirihi wrote: Yes there are several ways to track you even with all that. If you really want to drop off the radar you're going to have to get much more restrictive, to the point where many websites break. For starters I'd suggest looking into the FireFox addons NoScript and RequestPolicy. Search the web if you want to get hard core about it. Yep I use NoScript with FireFox....it blocks out most things. It gives you an option to allow or block...can be tedious if you're jumping from one URL to another.

16 wrote: the rez box has to be clever, like work out what kinda house, floor plan, it is on. move and orient itself to where it should be then rez everything exactly in the right place. without the home owner having to do any mounting manually. bed in the bedroom, couch by the fireplace, mats on the floor, pot plants and pictures, kitchen and bathroom units maybe, radio stream tuner, tv even. auto texture and color changeouts as well. diff themed sets for diff style homes It would suit the new type of Facebook user we seem to be attracting to SL. have everything ready made, let them do as little possible and learn nothing! ..half the fun is the learning process, like how to place prims in correct positions using the Edit functions and rotation tool. etc etc.

Ann Otoole wrote: You are trying to force limit commerce to only you and a few others. That is not going to work. What it means is you and the others trying to limit commerce are no longer relevant and your businesses have failed. Better start working on developing a business model that works in the new age of SL. Oh, and btw, Malls are dead. I'm not trying to suggest anything.....i'm merely agreeing with Pussynap's comments, that there are far too many Merchants in relation to consumers. You have forgotten that SL has not grown in 3 years....infact it's concurrency is slowly dwindling away! Malls don't work due shopping traffic moving across to Marketplace.....which partly explains why LL have lost 1500 Estate sims in 13 mths.....or 4 Mill USD annual income. LL will have to crunch the numbers and see if those extra commissions from Marketplace will compensate that loss. We need to find out total annuals sales on Marketplace and work out what 5% of that figure is. Oh btw, Malls are not completely dead There are still those that prefer to shop in-world......you know, the 3D virtual world experience that you initially signed up for!

Pussycat Catnap wrote: ps: The SL "economy" is saturated with too many merchants at the moment anyway. Too many folks think this is a market of some kind, and not a social community. Its a community, with an added market to supply goods to use in that community. For that market to be healthy, the ratio of merchants to users needs to seriously alter to make it about half what it is now. Good and valid points!

Personally, I'd rather have 48 years, possess her god given talent and live a full life.....than 96 years of just existing!

Peggy Paperdoll wrote: Question: When did the European Union become a country? Isn't that a little like saying the Middle East is a country? How many countries make up the European Union? The United States is a single country.......so is the United Kingdom. It takes a goup of countries to edge out the United States? Typical stats.........sort of decieving to say the least. One of the countries in the European Union collaspes and the entire Union goes down (what do you think the EU is so worried about Greece, Italy and Spain for?). Country to country we are 7 times the United Kingdom's economy. Who is going to fail first? Us or you? If Ron Paul gets elected President you should rethink your smugness. You just might have to spend some of that economy on your own defense.......oops, I almost forgot you don't worry about defense because you are in a good place (like you were in the 1930's). Nice try though. I got to go watch a movie on TV......have a nice night over there on that side of the pond. EU is a union of 27 European countries, a trading block, no borders, free movement...shares a common currency. They wanted to take it a step further, but that would mean giving up sovereignty. No the Union doesn't go down...if a single country goes down, especially not a country the size of Greece. It's the other 26 countries that are trying to help her. it would be easy to sell you an Insurance policy....as easy as you swallow all the nonsense your media feeds you now. At least read up on the European Union before commenting. Technically the U.S are already a bankrupt state.....they won't be able to repay that 15 trillion debt .....well not in your lifetime! The future economic powerhouses will be China and the Far East.....you might as well get use to it!

Good choice Ceka....a beautiful song! RIP Whitney! :matte-motes-not-even:

Peggy Paperdoll wrote: You weren't worried in the 1930's either were you? __________________________________________________________________________ It's irrelevant, that was a conflict between numerous countries who mostly now all belong to the EU.

Peggy Paperdoll wrote: You weren't worried in the 1930's either were you? We have a very friendly neighbor north of us an ocean on both the east and west of us and a somewhat friendly neighbor to the south. So I guess my worry is unwarranted.......oh wait we don't have someone to call if our world suddenly goes upside down. It would be nice to not have to worry..........and to not have to pay for for that luxury of a care free life. Utopia is only an imaginary place. Sad but true. I said I was done............I lied You guys are paranoid over nothing....no country militarily are in a position to attack US Mainland.(isolated Terrorist acts don't count!) Well done Mr Bush in feeding off people's insecurities and selling them the Patriot's Act -lol.

Peggy Paperdoll wrote: "... You say fix our economy?....that coming from someone who resides in the largest Debtor nation in the world with 15 Trillion dollars.....courtesy of printing your own money, only because Oil is priced in Dollars! If it weren't for that.....you'd be screwed big time!" ------------------------------------ Actually the biggest draw for my attention to Ron Paul is exactly that point. That, is the one thing that makes me hesitant instead of out and out against Ron Paul as my President. The 10 year projection for the national debt of this country is likely to grow much above that $15 tiillion that this President has embraced as how to deal with the economy.......it's insane and unsustainable (it will, if not reversed, crush this country economically). It's a huge number.........but compared to Europe's debt is peanuts. Our economy is much bigger than yours. Your Euro is almost worthless (what a shame because just a few years ago the British pound was almost twice the value of the US dollar). The US has a much better chance of survival should it all go to crap than any European country (even if all your countries united to fend economic collasp off). You can fail and we could survive..............you won't and you know it. Same thing with your defense......you can't defend yourselves from a nuclear attack without our help. You can't even be assured of a sucessful defense against a conventional attack. You're militaries are much too small........and you make up the difference with our military to fill the gap. I don't think you would survive.......so maybe you should rethink your support for Ron Paul. He's going to force you to take care of yourselves without our help. Good luck with that...you ain't got the money. Hell, we don't have the money either because a lot of out money is supporting your security (not to mention our trade deficites in your favor.....which costs me money for goods in my country where you save money)..........level the playing field and see how well you do. If the price of a loaf of bread tripled would you be eating much bread? I'm still hesitant about Ron Paul for my president........but I have not ruled him out at all. You seem think it about world domination (the US)........it's not. It's about my personal security in the world. You see, there's no country out there who's going to help me be secure.....it's all on my country. Your country will be a great cheer leader.....that helps a little but when the ball is on my own 1 yard line and it's 4th down that really doesn't help much, does it? You're not very well informed are you ? The biggest trading economy in the World is the EU --->http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29 The total debts of the EU and US are pretty similarl, but your comparing 500 million Union vs 300 Million pop.country....per capita, you have a higher debt burden per person! Until last year, Germany was the world's largest exporting Nation now superseded by China....compare the size of Germany to the U.S....and you say we have no chance of surviving???? I'm not woried if the Euro currency collapses....I'm sure the Germans would re-joice having their old D-Mark back! Britain wisely never ever joined the Euro currency. For Greece (and a few other troubled countries) might be better if they were not part of the Euro and returned to a devalued Drachma. You highlight the difference in mentality....you think in terms of military might, paranoia about being attacked, asserting yourself militarily.....we don't.! We've had our history of colonialism, we have no desire to invade countries or exert our influence in that manner. Why should we be worried about someone attacking us......who would? We have North Africa to the south of Europe and a non-Communist Russia to the East......neither pose a threat.! This is just a dumber than dumb quote ----.".you can't defend yourselves from a nuclear attack without our help." .............Once nuclear warheads are launched, there's not much chance of defending against it......and you can more or less kiss the world as we know it goodbye!! It's been a deterrent for a reason!

Peggy Paperdoll wrote: So you are concerned about American body bags? Why do I not believe that? You are concerned about the United States being the only superpower in the world (oddly enough my President is also concerned about that). I happen to feel somewhat safer because of the "superpower" label. I know Iran (or any other country would not openly attack my country as long as my country carries that label........CS terrorists exempt). Your country depends on my country's power for their peace of mind. I actually say let you (your country) fend for itself. Provide your own missle defense, defend your own access to oil, pay your for your unexpected natural disasters, negotiate your own peace with adversaries without my country's solid backing. Fix your economy from total failure (like Greece). Do it yourself.....that would make me happy because then I don't have to pay for your well being. What have you (your country) done to help me (my country)? Diss me? What "well being" are you paying for in the UK.....are you talking about the lion's share of Nato alliance contributions? . I'd be happy if Europe formed its own military defence independent of the U.S....then we wouldn't have to be dragged into all the Wars/ Conflicts that the U.S starts around the globe. You say fix our economy?....that coming from someone who resides in the largest Debtor nation in the world with 15 Trillion dollars.....courtesy of printing your own money, only because Oil is priced in Dollars! If it weren't for that.....you'd be screwed big time!

Peggy Paperdoll wrote: Someone implied I was a racist because I happen to be a registered Republican (the link was that Republicans are full of racists so, therefore, I was one too). But isn't your venom a little Anti Semite? That's about as close to being as racist as one can get without being an actual racist. Think about it. The problems are not the native Jews who have resided in that part of the world for centuries, and lived in peace with the Palestinians and fellow Muslims......its the the Zionists who emmigrated from Eastern Europe after WW2 that have enforced their doctrine on the state of Israel. They're largely behind this slow form of ethnic cleansing and responsible for destablilised that region after WW2! Again read the history of Palestine.

Peggy Paperdoll wrote: I'm really having a hard time trying to figure out exactly what you have against my hesitation about voting for Ron Paul (that is the subject of this thread, isn't it?). I stated my reasons why and you are talking about how bad my country is to the world. I don't care what you think really. You're a European and the only thing that matters to me about Europeans is that it's my heritage some 200 years ago and that, for the most part, Europeans are a political and military ally of my country. I know that Europeans have major differences of opinions over what is best for the world.........but just like me those opinions are based on what is best for me (personally). I never said that the war in Iraq was good, I never said we had any rights to Middle Eastern oil, I never said Israel is innocent of any complicity in the Middle East. I did say Iran has been an aggressor in the past 40 years.......terror support, threatening another country with oblivion (Israel), aiding Syria, Libya, Afganistan, and recently Iraqi opposition to our war efforts (right or wrong we and, assuming you are British, your country were there at war). Iran has threatened the world with the closing of the Striat of Hormuz. Iran captured and held many of my country's citizens for a year (actually the very man who is "in charge" of Iran was the leader of that hostage stand off). Your BS is wasted on me. I merely said I would hesitate to vote for a Presidential candidate and the reason why (entirely my opinion based my life's experiences in my country). And you want to fight about that? Why the chip on your shoulder? What's it to you how I vote or why I vote? You can not vote and you have no interest in my President so why are you arguing with me? If you have an interest then I wonder what personal gain can you obtain? More amunition to fire my way? Envy? Or are you so full of hatred for my country that you feel you must voice your opinion about my opinion (and why I think the way I do). You don't live in this country and have no say about what I do. The United Kingdom has elected some real dopes recently and I'm not slamming you or your country for such stupid choices. But I'm fair game? Get over your opinion......the doesn't matter even a little bit here on this side of the pond. By the way, Ron Paul would push for ending foriegn aid to many countries in Europe.........GB being one of them. You don't need our aid. You do need our defenses though..........but my thought is you need to stand on your two feet. Defend yourself and stop taking our money. My economy would be much better if I didn't have to pay for something you should be doing for yourself. And that part of Ron Paul's stance I whole heartedly support. You don't bother reading anyone elses opinions on this thread. Myself and another poster explained the 2005 speech by President Ahmadinejad that was grossly exaggerated and taken out of context....yet you're still parroting the same old tunes. Likewise the "Straits of Hormuz" quote from the UN Iranian Ambassador which you totally ignored. I can't believe the bareface hyporcracy you come out with....after decades U.S & CIA activities in Central America and South Amercia you have the front to point fingers Omg......"IRAN HAS THREATENED THE WORLD."!!!!......Typical American paranoia....best left as a storyline for Hollywood! I can't believe you fall for all that nonsense! It seems like the Media brainwashing machine is doing it's job successfully! I would vote for Ron Paul...as his foreign policy is likely to slow down the amount of body bags returning back to Amercian soil! The U.S has 134 bases around the world, some of which are in Europe.....maybe you didn't see all the Greenham Common riots during the Thatcher years......the people didn't want American missiles here. Unfortunately, the Politicians don't listen to the people.....as most British citizens were against military intervention in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

PudgyPaddy wrote: Rene Erlanger wrote: Why would Iran attack Europe militarily or with nukes?...makes no sense at all! Have you looked at the world map and their relative locations? What significance is Europe to Iran? Because they said they would?! Just for clarity--an atttack on Isreal is an attack against the world. yeah....maybe in those Claude van Damme movies -rofl Israel is a p!ss pot small little strip of land off the Meditterranean Sea.....has very little significance, other than it's a strong ally to the U.S. I don't think too many countries around the world would be shedding too many tears.....although as U.S allies in Nato, we'd be obliged to condem any atttacks on her.

Peggy Paperdoll wrote: "... They need to stay out of that region...which has already witnessed 4 wars in the last 20 years. ..." -------------------------------------------------------------- I can agree with that in principal. But the problem is we can't. We import more oil from Saudi Arabia than anyone else in the world (yeah, I've heard and understand that age old argument......... but I'm not wanting another derail on this thread). We can't get out of the region because we need that oil for our survival (just as Europe needs that oil.......you can't live without it anymore than we can). It's a shame that we (the United States) put ourselves in that position by shutting off our domestic supply.........it should have never happened but it did and here we are. That was not the fault of the Republican party......but, yes, the party was complicite with it's do nothing for the past 40 years. Ron Paul is not being realistic when his advocacy of letting the Middle East settle their problems among themselves........they haven't been able to so for several hundred years so what makes Ron Paul think they can now? If the Middle East wasn't so oil rich the Middle East could have all the wars among themselves the want and it would not threaten the rest of the world......the facts make it very different. The US, Europe, Asia, and most of the rest of the world have a very vested interest in keeping the oil safe for each other (like it or not, for the forseeable future oil is going to be the engine for the economies of the entire world......it must be protected). Iran certainly has been an agressor since the fall of the Shaw some 40 years ago......the region has been on constant turmoil since. The excuse is Israel........it's a religious thing and it won't change anytime soon. Agreeing with Ron Paul in principal is one thing......his determination to withdraw completely from the region (whether or not we should have been there in the first place is irrelevant now (we are in a corner that I believe we never should have gotten ourselves intod). It's a real world that must be faced. Ideally the live and let live philosphy is wonderful........too bad the human race is incapable of doing such a thing. We (the US) is doomed if the Middle East sinks to nuclear war......and if you think Europe or the rest of the world is safe you really need to start thinking on your own. The US presence in the Middle East does cause resentment.......but we have no choice. If we leave and Iran gets their nukes do you think Europe is safe? If you do, I heard you can buy a raffle ticket for the Queen Mary docked down on Long Beach for a buck. Yeah....but it's not your Oil, it's belongs to the Middle Eastern countries. They can sell the Oil to whom ever they please....and the U.S has no rights or claims on Iranian Oil. The only problem with instability of those Arabian countries, is that it hikes up the Oil prices (e.g recent Libyan civil war).....which has a knock on effect on the world's economies. Iran has not been an aggressor state at all....they were fed up with the U.S meddling in their internal affairs, like propping up the Shah for the sake of Oil contracts,...so the Ayatollahs when they came into power stopped that exploitation of their natural resources.The only war they were involved in recent years was started by Saddam in 1980. Know your history, Jews and Arabs (and later Muslims), lived in harmony for 100's if not 1000's of years! The problems started in that region when the Jews after WW2 migrated and then created a state in that region and pushed a lot of the native population (the Palestinians) out of their homelands. There's not much sympathy worldwide for Israel.....hence why Iran detests Israel so much! Why would Iran attack Europe militarily or with nukes?...makes no sense at all! Have you looked at the world map and their relative locations? What significance is Europe to Iran? I'm not sure what sort of local media you're exposed to day in and day out! It's like Fantasy stories....best left for Hollywood movie directors!

PudgyPaddy wrote: Rene Erlanger wrote: Nice twist....Iran has nothing to gain by closing the Straits of Hormuz.....sorry i'm not inclined to believe the State Dept propaganda machine.....it's as credible as the WMD stories used to attack Iraq the 2nd time around. Europe buy their Oil from a variety different Oil Producing countries including a lot from war-torn Libya. We're not paranoid over Iran as the Republicans are. Again, Iran is not an aggressor State.... I see the U.S more of a threat to world peace, by throwing it's weight around in the Middle East when it really isn't needed. They need to stay out of that region...which has already witnessed 4 wars in the last 20 years. Saddam Hussein told an FBI interviewer before he was hanged that he allowed the world to believe he had weapons of mass destruction because he was worried about appearing weak to Iran. Hussein, in fact, said he felt so vulnerable to the perceived threat from "fanatic" leaders in Tehran that he would have been prepared to seek a "security agreement with the United States to protect [iraq] from threats in the region." So much for US State Department propaganda, huh? The US is throwing its weight around cleaning up the mess left by the British and French after their attempts at colonization failed subsequent to the fall of the Ottoman Empire. I'm not inclined to believe anything that your State Dept releases. For years and right up to the build up of the Iraqi Invasion, Saddam's regime denied having WMD. Now when Saddam is about to meet the hangman...he confesses to a FBI agent regarding false WMD claims due to Iran's threat! Yeah right.....how convenient!! I think you watch too much Fox News! Saddam was afraid of Iran?.......yet not afraid enough to start a 8-year war with Iran in the 80's, which ended in a stalemate. I do concede that the Brits & French re-drawing the post-WW2 map created many issues in the Middle East......Iraq and Libya being good examples.