The invasion of Iraq now seems an unwise adventure, that went badly wrong. It took us many centuries to evolve our democracy, attempts to impose it in a few months seem unlikely to work. Especially when a culture manifestly different to our own is involved.

Assuming that we now even believe our governments' expressed motives for the invasion. "Weapons of mass destruction" was either a cynical ploy or a remarkable level of incompetence shown by our Intelligence Services.

Regardless of the true motives, after the current anarchy, bordering on civil war, a new reality will probably emerge. It seems likely that Iraq will become a hardline Shi'ite theocracy, similar to that in neighbouring Iran. With dramatically curtailed freedoms for women, hardly what President George Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair had in mind.

The country may divide along ethnic & religious lines. Into Sunni, Shia & Kurdish states. If so the most likely prognosis is ongoing conflict, with opposing minorities trapped in each of those states. Out of the frying pan, into the fire.

A long overdue ceasefire came into operation at 6:A.M. today. Hopefully it will be honoured by both sides in the conflict. Now the battle for hearts and minds must begin in earnest.

We like to believe that when Israel killed innocent civilians, it was unintentional. When Hizb' Allah killed innocent civilians, it was a deliberate act of terror. How is it seen in Lebanon?

The facts are chilling, the majority killed by Hizb' Allah are Israeli soldiers. The majority killed by the Israeli Defence Force are innocent civilians, over one third being children.

There are reasons for this discrepancy. but injured victims & the bereaved will not be interested or listening. They will not want to know that Katyusha rockets are wildly innacurate & that their 'freedom fighters' cynically hid amongst civilians.

They will only know they they are maimed or their loved ones are dead. That their beautiful, newly independent, country is in ruins. Israel has been losing the battle for hearts & minds. Hizb' Allah, the aggressor, may have done better, seen as martyrs or heroes by many.

That is why Israel should now start helping Lebanon in any acceptable way they can. In rebuilding the infra-structure and facilities they have destroyed. Providing unfettered financial aid to rebuild the country's shattered prosperity etc.

Only living as good neighbours can bring lasting peace.

As they were leaving, the Israeli Air Force fired an American Hellfire missile into the last vehicle of the convoy. Three civilians dead and thirteen injured.

On the other side of the border, Israelis and Arabs alike have been killed by Hizb' Allah's Katyusha rockets. Young or old. Families or individuals. The missiles didn't differentiate.

It appears that both sides have neglected the right to safety of innocent people. Hizb' Allah being dedicated to the destruction of Israel, Israel naturally prefering the destruction of Hizb' Allah. Children on both sides have been, as always, amongst non-combatants in the firing line.

The countries funding this humanitarian disaster are unscathed. Both Syria and Iran have remained safe from the missiles.

Did Israel allow these obscene weapons, specifically designed to maim and mutilate, to hit civilian targets? Hizb' Allah packed their missiles with ball bearings, for the same purpose. Machine parts, designed for engines of production, used for engines of destruction.

30-7-6, The conflict's worst atrocity? The apparent massacre of women & children in Qana shocked civilised people. Condemnation was international, such deaths strike at the heart of what makes us human. But there are many credible allegations, including at least one from a Lebanese site, that Hizb' Allah 'stage managed' this tragedy. Libanoscopie (in French)

Why did our Government not do something independently constructive? Even if we lack World class power, we still have a voice. Our Prime Minister should have used that voice. Urging Israel to ensure their response to Hizb' Allah was accurately targeted, at combatants only.

Nazareth. This news item highlights the indiscriminate nature of Hizb' Allah's rocket barrage. Again the tragic deaths of children evinces the cruelty of terrorist attacks on civilians.

August the 10th, more murders. Another indiscriminate terrorist attack by Hizb' Allah on an Arab village. This time an innocent Israeli Arab mother and her baby were the victims.

The Penan are the last tribe of nomadic hunter-gatherers remaining in Asia. For millennia they have lived a life of harmony with nature in the huge ten milllion year old Sarawak rain forest. Gathering wild plants and hunting wild animals for food.

Many of us will remember reading about the mysterious tribes, deep in Borneo's inpenetrable jungle, from our school days. Now these people, famous for hunting with blow-pipes and poison darts, face extinction.

That vast inpenetrable jungle is no more, the worst aspects of modern technology has seen to that. In the last 45 years 90 percent of the rain forest has been wiped out by mechanised industrial logging companies. Due to the destruction of their habitat, the majority of the Penan have already been forced to give up their nomadic life.

They are, however, still affected by logging operations and the resultant pollution. The remainder are under threat, together with other tribal communities. Rivers are polluted, due to logging activities, eliminating the only source of clean water. Plants are destroyed, along with the forest. Animals die of starvation, are killed by loggers or driven away by loss of habitat.

Samling Timber, a gigantic Malaysian industrial logging company, are the main perpetrators. The timber is used by the building industies of 'developed' countries. Japan is a major customer, rain forest timber is turned into plywood, used in shuttering for concrete pouring. Some years ago a Japanese offficial was tackled on this subject, during a TV broadcast.

When asked what his company would do when the rain forest was completely destroyed, he replied, "We will find another source". This is the corporate mentality the World is faced with. Australia is also a major customer for Malaysian timber. There is an active movement to persuade their Government to stop these imports, some people care.

As a species, we are busy sawing off the branch we are collectively sitting on.

Jewsons, a French owned British timber company, was apparently the first overseas customer for timber from the land of the Penan. They claim to be "The U.K.'s leading supplier of building materials", their claimed credentials as leaders in environmental concerns are seemingly lacking in substance.

We have written to the company, asking them to cease import of rain forest timber. We will let everyone know what response, if any, we receive. We also plan writimg to our Government, asking them to ban such imports. We hope you will do the same, or E-Mail us for forwarding.

Samling, having almost wiped out Borneo's rain forests, have got their cruel claws into other countries' rain forests. Also into the forests of impoverished countries from the former Soviet Union. Such is the relentless unfeeling, unthinking drive for corporate profits.

The mudslide this year, that wiped out a Philippines farming village, together with its inhabitants, was caused by deforestation of a mountain. Another disaster caused by corporate greed and irresponsibility. Similar mudslide calamities, caused in the same way, have struck European communities in the past few years.

The site is available in English, Deutsch and Français.

In the last couple of centuries, our "civilised" industrial society has swarmed over this planet like a plague of locusts, devouring everything in its path.

The devastation increased at a geometric rate, once mobile industrial machinery and fast transport became widely available.

A small army of men, armed with bulldozers and chainsaws, wipe out thousands of square miles of rain forest in a few years.

Our machines of destruction resemble giant insects, they strip bigger plants over far greater areas, faster than natural marauders.

In place of millions of years of bio-diversity they leave smoking desolation and pollution.

In place of life breathing, oxygen producing forest, they leave millions of tons of carbon dioxide and other atmospheric poisoning on a vast scale.

In place of millennia of human cultural diversity they leave genocide, starving and homeless groups of indigenous peoples.

The damage we have already caused to our planet, the damage we are still causing, is beyond our current knowledge, abilities, resources and technology to put right.

When we no longer have that technology, when the resources it uses are finally exhausted, we will have no chance of doing much about it. Our numbers will dwindle, from the projected nine thousand million to perhaps a few million. Possibly even to a few hundred thousand.

Living a nomadic life, walking from place to place, to fit in with wildly changing weather patterns. In a far more inhospitable World, with far less available resources, than our remote ancestors had to cope with.

Computers will be long gone, as will current medicine. There will be no written language, no books. What paper was not burnt for fuel will have rotted away, due to high humidity. Our distant descendents will have little knowledge of the cause of their plight.

Other images & text are the copyright of Ron Lebar, unless otherwise stated.