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Pull The Plug - Moveon.org Petition

British -> American Dictionary

A friend of mine forwarded this link to a British English - American English dictionary.  It is the most complete I have ever seen.

English2American

Not Fair, America

We are NOT facing failure in Iraq, ministers tell U.S.

Ministers went on the defensive yesterday over U.S. claims that the British effort in Iraq is on the verge of failure.

The Defence and Foreign Secretaries took the unusual step of joining forces to counter allegations in Washington that Britain's resolve in southern Iraq is weakening and that a withdrawal is imminent.

It came as President George Bush made it clear he wants Gordon Brown to keep British troops there because there is still "more work to do".

[...]

The growing U.S. attacks on its biggest and most loyal partner in the coalition have clearly rattled Downing Street, and the intervention of two senior ministers was seen as a sign of Government anxiety that relations with Washington are being undermined by U.S. carping.

That criticism has grown in recent weeks with the revelation that British troops would soon pull back from their Basra Palace HQ to the last remaining base near the airport on the outskirts of the city.

In the Post piece, Mr Browne and Mr Miliband argued: 'We pledged to help Iraqis develop a functioning state, with armed police and other institutionscapable of delivering securityfor the people.

"We also promised that, when we had done that, we would promptly hand over full responsibility for security to the legitimate, elected Iraqi authorities."

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As much as K and I love to criticize the country that we are currently living in, I do think this recent attack by the US government is not fair. And it certainly is not a good way to behave with your allies, especially in a time when there are so many people criticizing the US for its foreign policy and pretty much everything it has perpetrated since 9/11. This is not going to win the US any new friends.

Picture this: The Top Dog, the most popular, strongest kid in the schoolyard (who also happens to be the richest) has been leading a life of comfort due to his relative invincibility. This kid is pretty well-liked by most of the other kids and has a few "minions" kowtowing to his rule even though they are older than he is. One day, a kid from another far-away school comes into the schoolyard. Nobody really notices him as he casually flits around amongst the other kids, but suddenly, he has kicked the Top Dog in the shin and punched him in the nose with all his might. The strongest kid gets knocked to the ground, unconscious, and the foreign kid runs off, no one able to stop him. When the Top Dog regains consciousness, his loyal followers are there to help him up and bring him to the school nurse who bandages his broken nose.

They make a plan to get revenge in the name of peace and civility in all schoolyards across the land. The plan gets underway with the help of all the kids loyal to the Top Dog; except for a few that think there is a better way. They never actually find the kid that did it, but they beat up a lot of other kids in the process (some of which were bad, too). As their campaign continues, more people start to doubt the merits of the struggle, particularly because they've sustained a lot of injuries and hurt a lot of kids who maybe didn't deserve it. Gradually, there are less kids in the Top Dog's gang, except for a couple of long-time friends.

The campaign continues, but then even the long-time friends start to voice their concerns and doubts. The Top Dog doesn't like this, so he starts pushing one of his friends around a bit, maybe poking him in the stomach or giving him a "dead-leg". Then he starts calling him names and saying that he was useless anyway; he couldn't even get the 6-year-olds in the city playground under control. Not wanting to seem like a cry-baby, this once-loyal friend starts to stand his ground (however passively). So the Top Dog does a lot of posturing and strutting around to show how powerful and just he is. Little does he realize that most of the other kids in the schoolyard have long-ago started to think he just looks stupid and just seems to be a big, ignorant bully.

Fortunately for him, he's still the strongest kid there and still relatively popular, but he really has to be careful because the other kids won't give him many more chances. And there are rumors that there are a couple other kids at other schools that might be stronger than him or more cunning. What will happen next has a lot to do with how this teenager chooses to behave from now on. Can he put his ego aside? Can he wise up and start listening to the advice of the older kids with more experience?