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Barnacle writes: "Propaganda is not necessarily lies. It can be quite factual, as I believe the story about the nun is." True. Although I have a few difficulties about the story of Sister's death, because too many different versions have appeared - even in this forum. It was an individual, it was a group, it was a mob, she had her throat cut, no she was beheaded - in the street, or in the convent, or in the chapel, or in a house she visited etc.

The Chaldean church reported that the Iraqi police had already arrested her killer. Does anyone want to contemplate the possibility that he was some thug or robber who may have broken into the church buildings? Such deaths are all too common, especially if the killer is a drug user.

Or he may have been someone in her own community - a violent feud. In the Maronite community in Lebanon, families such as the Franjeihs and the Gemayels settled their differences with slaughters in churches. Suleiman Franjeih had the tactic of hiding behind the curtain of the sanctuary, then popping out with a machine gun when everyone stood up for the Readings. A Muslim wouldn't have the inside knowledge for that tactic!

About Sinkspur's comment that Iraq is surely not a secular state, on the basis of this murder. I do think you need to argue that. Iraq is quite secular. Thousands of clergy have been slaughtered in Iraq - but they are Muslim clergy. This is part of Sadaam Hussein's war against the Shia in the south of that country. One of the Ayatollahs in Najaf was so certain of his impending death that he went to the mosque to give his last sermon dressed in a shroud. According to the US State Dept's human rights reports, the persecutions have been so extensive that there is a lack of Shia clergy to take over the jobs of the old ones - huge numbers are dead or have fled. Women, also, in the Shia clerical community have been killed - officially executed by the Baathist regime.

And I agree with Aliska's point, rushing in to slaughter a whole lot of people will solve nothing, and is not justified.