At such a sad time, more than enough words have been written and spoken about last weeks dreadful tragedy. Suffice then to say that me heart goes out for those who have lost loved ones. Such a death must be truly terrible, so much more so than a natural death, because family and friends have no last chance to give and receive words of fondness and affection, to express their simple love for one another before saying goodbye forever. Yestrerday, tens of thousands of people stopped what they were doing and poured out into the streets to hold a vigil of silence, remembering the unspeakable horror unleashed last week with such a devastating effect. Around the world, in America, in Bali, in Russia and here at the British embassy in Baghdad, people gathered to hold silence, to stay the thoughts of the mundane, and bend their will towards sorrow and grief instead.

And as Bush and Blair seek to conflate this tragedy with fighting the pointless 'war' in Iraq, as yet another retrospective excuse for this unecessary conflict, let us remember that their claims and those of other apologists - Â that it is better to fight terrorists in Iraq than at home - have been shown to be nothing but shallow, shrill rhetoric. For the bombers last week were all British citizens, home grown, and the war in Iraq has done nothing except create a playground for terrorists to hone their skills where there was none before. It's acted as a recruiting tool for militant Islam the world over.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, two allies of the US and Britain, continue to be the source of many jihadists and their training, while Iraq wallows in a sea of blood.

And let us not forget either, that some 600 Iraq people lose their lives in such a manner as that in London last week every month. For them there are no world wide vigils. For they musy bury their dead, cry in their hearts for the rest of their lives, and wonder who will be taken from them next.

yechydda,