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By the way, on a completely unrelated note (or is it?) - regarding The Bush Doctrine? The Iroquois used to have that doctrine, too - "You are either allied with us, or you are against us" - no middle ground, no neutrality. Period. It's a great policy, and am glad to see President Bush going back to historical ideas in the modern world ;0)

Not true. The Iroquois had a neutral relationship with the "Neutral" tribe for a long time. Indeed, the great Neutral confederacy was named such by the French because of the strict neutrality they practiced in the decades long wars between their neighbors, the Iroquois and the Huron confederacies. Of couse, that all broke down in the late 1650s when the Iroquois totally overran and destroyed the Neutrals, killing, torturing, and enslaving thousands and casting the rest out of their ancestral lands--the same thing they did to the Hurons a few years prior and would do to the Eries, Algonquins, Montagnais, Susquehannocks, and many others.

As long as we're pointing out flaws...

It was just prior to the time it broke down the the Iroquoian policy of "You are with us or against us" came about - it was a power play designed to get the French Allies to join the Iroquois against the French, who the Iroquois disliked with a passion.

The destruction of the Neutrals was the result of that policy... The bottom line is, the Neutrals brought it all on themselves - When the (French allies) Huron were being destroyed by their Iroquois bretheren, the supposed "Neutrals" allowed the surviving Hurons to move into their villages. Stupid mistake, and even more stupid was when the Iroquois basically said "Turn them over, or else" the Neutrals chose the "or else" part... They found out exactly what "or else" meant. Sorta like the Taliban did ;0)

And it should be pointed out that enslavement was NOT something the Iroquois were known for. Instead, they practiced "mass adoptions" of captured enemies (which led to the other policy, the "Great Pursuit policy that would eliminate the threat of rebellion internally by those adopted) which meant that while other indian populations were dwindling, the Iroquois population was booming...

However, adopted indians were not enslaved. They, too, were protected by the Great Law of Peace...