We're asking this question because of the huge uproar over an article in the US business magazine Forbes. Anu wrote about the debate on the internet a couple of days agao.

This is just one thing that caught our eyes today. Read on for more.

Also, Iran faces a deadline to stop its uranium enrichment plans or face sanctions. It doesn't look likely that Iran will agree to the stop on its enrichment. What will the international community do now?

Also, this story caught my eye this morning. The Nobel-prize winning Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz died yesterday at the age of 94. I have to say that I've been looking for new books to read, and after getting through Philip K Dick's A Scanner Darkly after seeing the film, I might just have to go out and buy some of Mahfouz's books.

And we're also going to talk a new peace deal in Uganda after 20 years of conflict. Will it hold?

He loves the city but he also said that it has had problems since even long before the US was a nation. Crime, flooding and more hurt the city long before the storm, and John said that one man cannot be held responsible for what happened in New Orleans.

Darryl in New Orleans said that George Bush was billed as the CEO president who would delegate to able subordinates, but while he was on vacation in Texas, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency mishandled the recovery.

James in Wisconsin says that he isn't interested in attributing blame. "You can't simply wave a wand and make everything better," he said. But his father can't move back to the area because there just isn't the services.

Laura in Washington DC said that President Bush can visit the region as many time as he wants, but she wanted to know what was being done to prevent this from happening again.

Darryl agreed with a comment from James that there are parts of New Orleans that should not be resettled. But he also wondered why the US was spending so much money on "adventures in the Middle East and Central Asia" and not spend money to preserve the birthplace of the only truly American art form: Jazz.

John said that past administrations had asked for the money to improve the levees, but it either didn't come or the money was siphoned off or stolen by corrupt state and local governments.

James, an American in London, said:

If George Bush walked on water, someone would criticise him for not being able to swim

He laid the blame on Mayor Ray Nagin and other state and local politicians who didn't respond effectively. And James said that the area evacuated was actually larger than the UK and how difficult it would be to evacuate an area that large. And he said that Republican administrations in states neighbouring Lousiana have done better in rebuilding.

Greg in Florida said that President Bush must take some responsibility because he was on vacation.

Tracy in Englewood Colorado says that President Bush's visit really didn't mean much. It had to be done she said to remember the bad day in the history of the US. In terms of his initial response, everyone from the mayor, the governors and the president, "there is more than enough blame to go around".

Dave lived seven houses from the Gulf in Ocean Springs Mississippi at the time of the storm. They were hit more severely by the storm than New Orleans. He said that FEMA's response was good in his area. The flooding and destruction stopped just short of his home.

Eunice in Sierra Leone sent us this text message:

Bush has done the bare minimum with regard to the New Orleans. Does it hav anything to do with racism, ideal of moralism or what? B4 trying to solve probs of the world i guess first u hav to sort ur domestic probs.

And Kwadwo Nyamekye in Kuwait sent us this text:

Hello Am not American but al most the world was down hearted what we saw on our Tv sets My word is what hap pened was natural so I think no body should be blame but rather hands should be joined together and build the city

Peace in Uganda?

After 20 years, the Lord's Resistance Army and the Ugandan Government have struck a peace deal.

Charles in New York said that he was happy about the peace agreement, however, he thinks that this is just an initial step.

Edward said that the peace plan only came after pressure from South Africa.

And we talked about whether Joseph Kony and the fighters of the LRA should be granted amnesty?

The people in northern Uganda have been wanting peace, George said, but he wondered whether justice could come with peace.

A flood of text messages on this subject. We always get so many text messages from Africa. It's great.

Musa Bell from Nigeria sent us this text:

What is happening in sudan is just a wish of U.N if not it would have been resolved already.

Edmond in Sierra Leone sent us this text:

Let the govt and th LRA embrace this oportunity, an bring this conflict 2 an end. It is the masses who suffers from d war.

M Akpan in Nigeria

Peace for the ugandan people is more important than the so call justice. Afterall their president was a rebel

Jimoh Afolabi in Accra sent us this text:

I only pray it works so that innocent souls could be saved.

Issa Sanu from Sierra Leone

The L R A rebels do not dersve amnesty but justice most be done.

Calvin Abel in Kampala:

Let there be high profile indepth, realistic and result oriented negotiations btwn the LRA en the Gov't and not mere fabrications that fuelup hostility

We might talk about that, and we have been asking you over the last two days about who you would nominate to be an ambassador for your country.

Siraju-ul-Haq, a senior member of the MMA alliance, told the BBC the government was "following a Western agenda to secularise Pakistan".

Some other stories I'm looking at as I warm myself over the nice warm glow of my laptop. Pluto loses its place in the planets. An online campaign to save Pluto? Looks like a backlash has begun. Here are some options for the ad campaign (scroll down below the ads). Or why not just blow it up?

Well, while looking around the internet for Pluto blog posts, I found this. Is the best way to fight terror antiterror? It's a provocative idea from Bruce Schneier, who writes about security and the technology of security. Everyone is a bit jumpy. There was another bomb hoax this morning.

Bruce says:

The point of terrorism is to cause terror, sometimes to further a political goal and sometimes out of sheer hatred. The people terrorists kill are not the targets; they are collateral damage. And blowing up planes, trains, markets or buses is not the goal; those are just tactics. The real targets of terrorism are the rest of us: the billions of us who are not killed but are terrorized because of the killing. The real point of terrorism is not the act itself, but our reaction to the act. And we're doing exactly what the terrorists want.

We started off speaking to Cliff Van Zandt, a former FBI specialist in kidnapping, and Thomas Clayton of Thomas Clayton Consultants in California, which compiles a list of kidnappings around the world. Thomas called kidnapping the "crime du jour".

Hatem lives in Gaza, and he called on the kidnappers to release the two journalists. They had come to tell the story of the Palestinians, he said. They are journalists, not people who have come to fight the Palestinians, he said.

We also talked to Dan Murphy, with the Christian Science Monitor, who worked tirelessly to free his colleague Jill Carroll, who was abducted in Iraq.
She was living her dream of being a foreign correspondent. But her life descended into a horrible nightmare after she was abducted in Baghdad on 7 January this year. She was held for 82 days.

Dan said that there is not a one-size fits all solution. Jill was called a model captive by the US military, complying with their demands as possible to buy time. When you are in a captive situation, confrontation is not the way, he said. But the situation was difficult. She contemplated suicide at times, he said.

But Jill knew that her captors had killed hostages, and she had determined that if she felt that things were going that way, she would try to escape, Dan said. He and his colleagues also walked a fine line with mounting a public media campaign trying to humanise her. In the end, Jill's life was probably spared because her captors had killed other high profile women in the past and "taken a propaganda bath" because of it.

Although Dan didn't mention her by name, he was probably referring to Margaret Hassan, the director of CARE International in Iraq. Despite pleas from her Iraqi husband, her captors shot her in the head.

Gracia Burnham and her husband, Martin, spent a year captive by Abu Sayyaf fighters in Philippines. Her husband was a jungle pilot for a mission group.The fighters kept them on the run for a year from the military. Her husband was killed in gun battle that secured her release.

She wondered if she would ever see her family again. She prepared to "meet her maker". She tried to let their captives know that they were human, but they thought about trying to escape often.

Do what your told, but also personalise yourself, Thomas and Cliff said. Remind them of your humanity. In the worse case scenario, if they are trying to figure out if they are going to take action, they will have more difficulty is they see you as a person.

To negotiate or not to negotiate

Guido, an Italian journalist, told us about Italian tourists who had just been taken hostage in the Niger Delta. The Italian government tries to do whatever it can to secure the release of kidnapped citizens, but he said there has been no contact with the captors in Nigeria.

Cliff Van Zandt looked back to the Bible to prove that kidnapping is nothing new. Early in its history, the US paid what was equivalent to half of its treasury to secure the release of its sailors. He said it was an early lesson. But he said that negotiators had to deal with kidnappings on a case-by-case basis.

Gracia said that a ransom had been paid about a year after she and her husband were kidnapped. Her captors thought it wasn't enough. She said that rules don't apply to these groups.

Christopher in Port Harcourt said that the rash of abductions in the Niger Delta had to deal with inequalities in the distribution of wealth from the region's oil riches and also with pollution there. Groups also felt that the government was not representing them.

Nancy in Luton worked in Cambodia for an NGO in the early 1990s. She was kidnapped by the Khmer Rouge when they were kidnapping foreign workers. The NGOs agreed not to pay ransoms but instead offered to dig wells. She said that what was happening in Iraq right now felt a lot different.

Kiru in Jamaica sent us this text message:

A good rule of thumb for me is 'talking is always better than staying silent' So I think negotiations are always a positive step.

Political demands

Nancy felt very worried about the captured journalists in Gaza. A video was released of the two journalists yesterday. Olaf Wiig, 36, and Steve Centanni, 60, of US channel Fox News, were shown telling their families they were in "fairly good health".A fax from the "Holy Jihad Brigades" to news agencies demanded the US release "Muslim prisoners" within 72 hours.

Thomas said that political demands are made of governments, and he said that it was very difficult to accede to these demands. In many occasions, quiet negotiations happen in the background.

Then, we'll talk about Iran. Should Iran be allowed to sell its oil on the world market if it doesn't stop its uranium enrichment programme?

And we'll talk about whether Tom Cruise's star is merely tarnished or extinguished. It is one of the most read stories on the BBC News website today, and we had more than 100 e-mails about it. But there is still time to have your say.

Timothy in Bukavu in the DRC says that there is still a culture of solving problems through fighting.

Godwin lives in a town near the Rwandan border, and he says there is no fighting where he is. He only hears about the fighting in Kinshasa on the radio. The people are sick of the fighting, he said.

Here are some e-mails that you sent on the conflict in the Congo

Joseph from London, UK

The International community must now understand that the only solution to solve the crisis is to consider the will of congolese people.

Mireille, Ottawa

I have a message for every Congolese around the world to put aside our differences for the moment and pray for our country.

Aurelien, Manchester

Let us make Africa proud and dismantle Congo into more manageable states as the country is too big.

Assumani, Wolverhampton, UK

I would like to congratulate congolese people for taking part in an historical election. As a son of congo,I pray to God to help my country get out of the current situation .

Sanctions for Iran?

Paul in Virginia in the US supports sanctions. He sees this as maybe the only way to avoid military conflict. However, he said that world must agree on sanctions, otherwise they will not be effective.

Nadir in Iran doesn't see the need for sanctions because he believes that the Iranian government is not pursuing a nuclear weapons programme. He said that highly enriched uranium is imported, not produced locally.

But Paul countered that the Iranian president is saying that they are installing more centrifuges to produce highly enriched uranium. Uranium enriched for nuclear power does not need to be enriched to the level necessary to produce nuclear weapons. Here is a little more discussion about the difference between enriching uranium for fuel and for weapons.

Nadir felt that there was a double standard and pointed to Israel's nuclear weapons programme, but Paul said that Iran was the only nation that had threatened to wipe out another country, Israel, with nuclear weapons.

But our Iranian callers said that they might agree to a suspension of uranium enrichment for a time as an act of good faith until a negotiated agreement can be reached. Paul thought that might be a good gesture, but he also expressed a lot of mistrust as to whether the Iranians would keep to the agreement.

We just got these text messages. Vivian in Spain says:

Why sanction IRAN and not ISRAEL? ISRAEL has VIOLATED + OCCUPIED Land of all its neighbours.

Kiru in Jamaica says:

Sanctions should not be imposed on Iran. If so, Israel should also get sanctions for having nuclear weapons. The western bias is revolting.

We heard comments from around the world on this topic. Paul in Wales wrote:

Iran should be allowed to sell it's oil because they are a fast becoming a global force.

But Eid in Ottawa, Canada said:

There are a handful of pariah regimes in the world which cause most of the trouble to their own people and the civilized world. Iran is one of these regiemes

Nazanin Mazhari from the BBC Persian service says that there is almost universal support for the development of a nuclear energy programme as a point of national pride and sovereignty with very little thought given to the impact of sanctions.

Bhaman, an Iranian on business in Riyadh, said that the country has become accustomed to sanctions. The country has faced sanctions from the US since the early 1980s, when he was in school. And a Nazanin said, he supports the right of Iran to develop a civilian nuclear programme.

Jerry Pryde in Stoney Creek Ontario Canada just sent us this e-mail:

If Iran is permitted to sell oil while supporting Hizbollah, this could open the way to a similar scandal to that of the U.N.'s oil for food corruption in Iraq.If sanctions are imosed, strong international support would be the only way it could work. Then, there's the legitimate question as to the UN's ability to enforce any sanctions in a meaningful way.

What does everyone think about rewarding iran for stoping their program instead of punishing them, like maybe recognizing iran as an islamic state, or so me other type of incentive. I would like to see the world embrace radical islam as opposed to alienating all of islam and pouring fuel on the radical fire. This coming from an american jewish student.

Just a little background, the US and the EU have offered Iran a package of incentives, including it is believed support for a civilian nuclear programme. It is not known what the incentive package is, but there is a belief that the US would relax long-standing sanctions. Here is the background on the BBC News website.

Steve Strait just sent us this e-mail:

The question has not been answered from those in favor of Iran's nuclear program: Iran has publicly threatened other nations with military action. Any comparison to other nuclear nations, is irrelevant. As long as Iran threatens the security of the world, they should not be permitted to produce weapons of mass destruction.

Tom Cruise out of control

We received calls throughout the programme about the next item: Tom Cruise. Over the past year, his public behaviour has become more erratic, with strange appearances on the US talk show Oprah and continuing rumours over whether he is gay.

Brendon, who writes the blog 'film ick', said that possibly his change in publicists over the last year might have led him to some unguarded behaviour. He believes that Cruise's star is only 'tarnished, not extinguished'. He thinks that Paramount has made a collosal financial mistake, saying that Tom Cruise's production company has netted the film studio 15% of its profit over the last 10 years.

People are only enjoying this because of an apparent fall from grace

Rick in Washington is just fed up with celebrity culture. He believes that his celebrity should not give him a platform for his personal views.

Nishand in Ohio in the US says that people should leave Tom Cruise for some mistakes over the past few years.

Kidnapping culture?

As the programme started, we heard that a video had been released of two kidnapped US journalists in Gaza. Kidnapping has become common in Gaza, Iraq and in countries like Colombia and Mexico. We were thinking about doing a programme about kidnapping. Has it become frighteningly commonplace?

Mark wonders if we have lost trust with professional sports. It seems like pro sports is more about scandals than results. Tour de France. Italian football match fixing. Professional baseball and steroids. The list goes on and on.

And it's a subject we've talked about before: Honour killings. In Italy, the police are searching "yesterday for a man suspected of involvement in the killing of a Pakistani woman after her father and uncle were charged with slitting her throat because she dated an Italian man and refused to conform to an Islamic lifestyle".

Also, in an early morning editorial meeting, we talked about the revaluation of currency in Zimbabwe. Hey, who wouldn't love to add three zeroes to your income? But just adding zeroes to a currency really doesn't make much difference, except, now $50,000 Zimbabwean dollars will be worth what Z$500 used to be worth: about 50 pence, or just about US$1. And it all means hyperinflation and a country that is significantly less prosperous than it was just a few years ago. Zimbabwe still has a long way to go to join the worst episodes of hyperinflation in history, but it's not a club that a country or its people want to join. Blogger Zimpundit worries about market failure.

And just to show you that we don't live in a pop-culture free zone, Dicky and Ben have fallen under the spell of Snakes on a Plane, the blog-driven blockbuster in the US. And Rabiya has just found a SoaP rap video. It might just inspire World Have Your Say, the sock puppet edition.

These are just a few stories that we've seen this morning. What do you want to talk about?

Click here to listen now. And be sure to leave your comments, and we'll read out as many as we can during the programme.

Unlike the herd of security experts, I have had the highest security clearance; I have done a huge amount of professional intelligence analysis; and I have been inside the spin machine. And I am very sceptical about the story that has been spun.

We also have the extraordinary question of Bush and Blair discussing arrests the weekend before they were made. Why? Both in domestic trouble, they longed for a chance to change the story.

He said that this was more propaganda than plot, and he pointed to other raids that the government has carried out, including the recent erroneous raid in Forest Gate. And after the 'lies told about weapons of mass destruction that have left 100,000 people dead', he asked what people could believe from the government.

Dominic Lawson, a columnist with the Independent newspaper, questioned this 'conspiracy theory' and asked Mr Murray what access he had to the information that authorities had.

He said that the authorities are under great pressure, and he pointed to the bombings in London last July. One of the bombers had been under surveillance. It is the worst nightmare of the authorities that they might have done something more to prevent the attacks.

Emma, a flight attendent, said that she thought the reports of the terror plot were legitimate. The UK would not be put on highest alert without just cause. To some extent, she felt the questions posed by Craig were legitimate to ask after the US response to the 11 September 2001 attacks and actions in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Passenger vigilance is the best defence to attacks, she said.

But a caller Ashley felt that people were just being kept scared, and he questioned whether the plot was even possible as described. He said that it was terrible to hand over our liberties and running around like headless chickens.

But Mr Lawson said that it was inconceivable to most before the attacks of 9/11 for people to hijack planes and fly them into buildings.

Tim sent us this message:

It's very sad to hear Mr Murrary arguing that there was no terror plot. Are we seriously to believe that the Government would allow massive disruption to the travelling public just for a divertion?

James in Abuja Nigeria sent us this e-mail:

I am very disappointed about skepticism of some contributors.Let it be known the Middle East have agenda of Islamising the whole world, and the only forces that stand their way is America and UK. The strategy is bring down USA & UK so as to make things easy for global islamisation.

Todd in San Francisco said:

By talking about any "ALLEGED" plot you miss what John Reid and his U.S. counterpart, Alberto Gonzales are really trying to do:
Use the alleged threat of terrorism to limit personal freedoms in the name of "protection." Make no mistake this is a road that will ultimately lead to a U.S., U.K., and Israeli Government imposed Martial Law and suspension of elections and the general processes of democracy. In the updated words of Paul Revere, "The oligarchies are coming, the oligarchies are coming!"

Mr Murray said that people are using this alleged plot and trying to maximise the propaganda value. "This is being hyped up beyond reason," he said. "This is about gaming political points."

Mr Lawson said that the British did not want to push the button on this. The Pakistani authorities arrested the ring leader in this.

There is a tremendous amount of cynicism because there have been terrible errors in the dossier for war in Iraq, the Forest Gate raid and the wrongful shooting of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes, but Mr Lawson rejected the idea that the announcement surrounding this alleged plot was to score political points.

P. A. Skantze sent us this e-mail:

The premise of this show seems to suggest that everyone has the same expertise and can offer an opinion about world events as valid as the next. What then ensues is discussion in which a former member of the foreign service is treated as if he has no special knowledge gleaned from years of work. I am not a medical doctor, why should I diagnose.
What I will say from an everyday standpoint is that I would rather have freedom and risk. The dangerous fantasy Dominic Larsen and John Reid create is that we can always be protected. But life is a risk, increased when others want to kill indiscriminately, but at all points a risk.
Violence hasn't worked in any of the recent actions against terrorism, so what makes us thing we can escape the consequence of illegal wars and occupations?

Patrick in Washington DC sent us this e-mail:

As the American elections approach over the next few years we will find that the two parties will tear each other apart with criticisms about readiness while the only affect for the people will be a great amount of fear about security.

Is Hezbollah winning the war for hearts and minds?

The BBC's Martin Asser wrote about Hezbollah's battle for popular opinion now that the fighting has stopped:

It's a ritual established over many years of conflict in this country - and Hezbollah is poised to elicit the maximum propaganda value from people's reaction to the massive destruction.

Then we moved on to the question of whether Hezbollah had emerged the winner because they quickly went about offering help to those left homeless by the last month of fighting.

Toufic Derbass, a Lebanese man in Dubai, said the he supports Hezbollah when they fought the Israelis, but he did believe that they were now doing the bidding of Syrian and Iran. And he called on them to join the Lebanese Army. There can be only one authority, he said, adding:

What a price we paid for a small victory on the ground?

Toufic is against Hezbollah because they affecting the sovereignty of his country, but he was also angry with Israel.

Michael in Florida said that Israel stopped too soon and should have gone further to disarm Hezbollah. UN resolution 1559 called on Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah, but they failed to do that, Michael said.

Marya in Beirut said that Hezbollah are not terrorists. They do not conduct suicide bombings, she said. But she said that Israel destroying an entire country for two soldiers made them terrorists.

Mozaya said that only the Lebanese Army should fight, and that there should be no militia. He said that there should not be a state within a state. He called on Hezbollah to lay down its arms and focus on politics.

Joe in Minneapolis in the US said that his country's support of Israel and its refusal to call for a ceasefire was wrong. But he also said that Hezbollah was at fault for kidnapping the Israeli soldiers and firing into Israel.

Yigal in Rehovot, Israel said:

We lost media war - despite Hizballa fighting on blood of Lebanon in interest of Iran - we were considered to be the terrorists.

That is just one story that caught our eyes this morning. What are you talking about today? What do you want to talk about? Read on for some more ideas.

Distasteful? Harmful to the addicts?

The battle for hearts and minds

I've been reading a lot over the last few days about Hezbollah's pledges to rebuild homes and rehouse those left homeless by the month-long battle with Israel. We asked on Monday who won: Hezbollah or Israel. Was the 34-days of bombing and missile barrages just the beginning and now the battle shifts to a battle for public opinion?

Meanwhile, Tom Regan at the Christian Science Monitor has a great roundup of national security stories and highlights a Pentagon study of errors in Iraq and Afghanistan. "The author of one of the reports says the results 'won't be pretty'," Tom writes.

The Nobel Foundation has rejected calls to revoke Guenter Grass' prize for literature despite his admission that he served in the Waffen SS in World War II.

Cleanliness was next to godliness there, and the infantry troops were appalled by the dirt, the lice and rats in the trenches. The filthy conditions were awful for the soldiers, she said.

There were so many men coming down with shell shock, she added.

Nora High is the niece of Private William "Billy" Nelson, who was executed in August 1916. After two years of trench warfare, he suffered shell shock.

Her mother hid the facts from the family for years. She fought in World War II and witnessed the decapitation of man. After she came back shaken, her mother revealed how her uncle died.

What does this mean for her family? "It's wonderful, wonderful. I want to thank the newspapers and all the media. We couldn't have done it without the help of the media," she said. But she said it was too late for many families whose closest family members have died before these pardons.

Lyn said that pardons were such a gray area. "They weren't all for cowardice and desertion," she said. Many were executed for murder and rape, which at the time were capital offences.

We then moved on to the US where Callie McCune, a student in the US, has helped to clear the name of Clyde Kennard. In the late 1950s, Mr Kennard tried to transfer to the University of Southern Mississippi, but segregationists there wanted to prevent a black man from going to the university. Campaigners say that Mr Kennard was framed for a crime and sent to prison. He has now been cleared.

We then discussed the case of Derek Bentley. He was executed in 1953 in the murder of a policeman. Following his death his family campaigned to get his name cleared. He was given an partial pardon by then Home Secretary Michael Howard in 1993. But unhappy with that his family continued campaigning to clear his name and in 1998 the Appeal Court quashed Bentley's conviction on the grounds the original trial judge was biased against the defendants and misdirected the jury on points of law.

His niece, Maria, said the framily fought so long because Derek had not actually killed the policeman but had reportedly said: "Let him have it". And he repeatedly denied ever having shouted that.

Helge Dietrich sent us this text from Sweden:

What should be condemned is not the individual but more a system that condemns him to death for n o t killing other individuals

Shannon in Berlin wrote this comment:

If anything these pardons serve as a sign post to our development as a society and cast a critical eye over the ignominy of the past, allowing us to learn from forgotten mistakes and reflect on how we may react today in similar situations.

Should Guenter Grass be stripped of his Nobel Prize?

Hellmut Karasek said that Guenter Grass should not be condemned for what he did during the war but for his hypocritical condemnation of others who had Nazi ties.

Stephen called from Washington in the United States. Guenter Grass came to his attention after seeing the film of the Tin Drum. He said it was a public service to write the novel, and he said that it was important to realise because of the novel how bad it was during the war under the Nazis.

Stephen's wife says that no one knows more about the horror of alcoholism than an alcoholic.

Hellmut took the analogy one step further and said that Guenter Grass was like someone who condemned drunkards and said that he never touched a drop an alcohol but then turned out to be an alcoholic himself.

Stephen said that he is 65 now, and he says, "I would not have seen issues now the same way that I would have seen when I was 17." His wife is German, and his family has discussed this at length.

But Hellmut believes that by not admitting his involvement with the Waffen SS, the he has ceded some moral authority. Guenter Grass asked others not to be silent about their youth.

Karlos in Germany sent us this e-mail:

We have to distinguish between the actual SS and the Waffen SS in wich Gras served. The Waffen SS had nothing of the eliterien Spirit of the actual SS. It was a oart of the army, not more. And it is impossible to live a life in wich in hindsight After 70-80 years one finds nothing to Look down on.

Dante Mazzari sent us this e-mail:

That Grass was in the SS does not make him a bad author. It is possible the Nobel committee would not have given him the prize had they known of his past, but that would have been wrong. We should judge authors by their contribution to literature alone.

M.M. Matthews in the UK had this to say in an e-mail:

If Grass had admitted to being a Nazi earlier, his books may never have been well received by the international community, and their impact might have been much smaller than it was. I think he's more than made amends for what he did as a child.

And we had this text message from Krzysztof Wasilewski in Gorzow Poland,

Pope was a member of Hitlerjugend and a Whermacht soldier and nobody cares so why Grass should be judged.

Playwright Parv Bancil said that he has a problem with multiculturalism as it has developed. He said that many times community leaders wanted to keep 'to keep them into boxes'. This was years before the idea of a British Asian identity was common.

Hiba Jamal, who is Lebanese and studying in Glasgow, said the media plays a big role. She pointed to President Bush's comment recently about Islamic Fascism and how that might lead to upset amongst Muslims.

Patrick called from the US. He said that also he is Indian but grew up in the US. There, he said that you grow up thinking that you are American first and Indian second. Everyone is made to feel proud to be American, he added. And he said that society needs to do more to make people feel proud of the country that they live in

Parv said that everyone buys into the idea of American culture. In Britain, we were brough in as a work force, he said. And when they moved into a neighbourhood, the whites moved out. White Flight, he said.

Hamid Senni in Paris is a third generation Morroccan. In France, when we look at England, Muslims can dress as they want, he said. In France, if a girl walks around and wears a head scarf, she is made to feel a little out of place.

But Hamid said that he feels that he feels French first.

But Lakhdar Belaid said that the issue of secularism is under debate in France. Last year, there was a law that banned the head scarf in schools, and a number of girls were evicted from schools. Many said that the law represented a new form of racism in France.

Ten years ago, there was action against head scarfs, but this led to a protest movement, and from that there was a terrorist movement that developed.

We just got this text message from Mwende in Eastbourne in the UK:

Am kenyan by birth but british first b'se this is my home and my life.

Yara has just called. She's a Lebanese, but she also is French. "I can live with those two things." She would say that she is Lebanese but got French nationality.

Ted joined us from Texas in the US. Rabiya asked him if the US was a model of multiculturalism?

He said no. Traditionally, the US is seen as a melting pot. Multiculturalism is one of holding onto your culture to the exclusion of your own culture, but he liked the more the traditional view of the melting pot where a person accepts the American culture, adding in their own culture.

Bashir came from Somalia to the US in 1999. He says that he feels very much a part of his community. When he first arrived in the US, there were only 2,000 Somalis but now there are 50,000.

Leyla asked Bashir how it was there in the US. Bashir said that the US is a nation of immigrants. The US has a lot of diversity, he said.

Leyla said that in the UK Somalis had strong links back to Somalia. Bashir said some people look at Somali women who wear the hijab oddly.

George called from Boston. He said the city is very 'sectionalised'. There is an Italian part of Boston, an Irish part of Boston and a Chinse part of Boston, all part of the city. He said that the Muslim population seemed to want to stay apart. "That is where you start to see the problems," he said.

Parv asked Ted what it meant to be an American. George said it was apple pie, the flag, being American. He was born in Sweden. In American, you're not defined by your religion.

Ted said: "Certainly religion is important, but democracy is important. And being accepting of other cultures is important." But he said that it is a problem when people want to do violence and 'declare jihad on us'.

Ray Kune grew up in Yorkshire, but he is Chinese and grew up in Mauritius. He agreed with the US or the French model where respect for the country you live in comes first.

Some of your e-mails

We received a lot of e-mails on this topic. Here is just a sample of a few.

Steve in Dammeron Valley, Utah, USA

When I lived in Western Sydney in Australia, many of the ethnic groups who came as waves of refugees were clumped together in groups. While they were able to maintain areas of ethnic and national flair throughout the suburbs, this enabled them to live in the country while not assimilating into Australian mainstream life. Many of the first generation migrants could barely speak English -- if any at all. They need to bring their unique cultures with them, but allowing them to evade the common culture of the country is a mistake that hurts all.

Speaking of Sydney Steve, we got this e-mail from Gavin Oughton in Sydney Australia:

State enforced multiculturalism is dangerous and devisive. I wonder why it was ever invented! Why was it ever implimented ? It doesn't work!

There are many factors that contribute to the disaffection of young Muslim males and I am hard put to see what the relationship between multiculturalism and Muslim extremism is. This is far too simplistic as an analysis. Extremism is never a just response to feeling alienated—second generation immigrants do struggle with identity issues regardless of how open and tolerant the society is in which they live. It is a common problem, but what other second generation immigrants have turned to outright treason? Muslim extremists are biting the hand that feeds them, wielding the tools of modernity in order to destroy it. This action is parasitic. Britain is a democracy and the energy spent in destroying it could be better put to finding more creative means of expression.
Multiculturalism, if anything, in Britain, is guilty of being too tolerant and relativistic. Whilst diversity is important and enriches our lives and cultures, there have to be a set of commonly agreed to values and a sense of what it means to be British. Whilst it is important to understand what fuels extremism and address some of the frustrations minorities in this country experience, I do get fed up with the notion that somehow these frustrations warrant violence.

This topic relates very much to one of your subjects last week where you asked which was more important, religion or nationality. Members of subcultures who put their nationalities, new and old, before their religion always seem to integrate better than those who band together as minorities and are then driven towards the extreme.There are many different religions in the West; what binds nations together is their common nationality. When you have an interconnected religion like Islam today, a religion that takes the place of nationality, you have different minorities in different countries identifying more with each other than with the people they live next door to.

Here is a late e-mail that came in from Maisam Salehi in Pennsylvania, US:

I was born in Afghanistan but was raised in NY. I believe but much of extremist ideology is formed by individuals that have been isolated and segregated from mainstream society. Teachings of parents and Muslim clerics also have profound impact on young individuals, especially in private schools. The best opportunity for integration and multiculturalism would be through educational institutions. I also agree with the gentleman from Texas in regards to the US being a cultural melting pot.

Another e-mail that just came in from Pradnya in Canada:

My experiences growing up are most similar to Patrick. I'm ethnically East Indian, born in Canada but raised in the US. I am currently living in Toronto and have many mixed feelings about the multiculturalism. Growing up in Michigan, my parents made a point to involve me in sports, attend American theater and rock concerts, while learning my parents native tongue and reading Indian literature. I feel like my friend circle is a great representation of all cultures (we are Indian, Jewish, German, Phillipino and white) and I'm very proud that I can say that. When I sit at a meeting at GM, you could go around the table and find yourself across Polish, Chinese, Indian, Greek, Italian and African names, but we all consider ourselves American first. Some of us may not even know our parents native language because it was ingrained in us that if we were not completely American, we would never get good jobs and live in the better parts of town. We were all immersed in affordable American pastimes such as county fairs, baseball, school functions and community initiatives. I noticed in Toronto, and in other big cities, when enough of your own race/culture exists, you tend not to mix with the mainstream culture. In Toronto, cultures are encouraged to stay within themselves and not forced to intermix. The wealthier Italians all live in Woodbridge, the Indians in Brampton, and the Chinese in Markham. The only true diversity occurs in the actual city where the poorest live amongst each other because at that point, it's not about race, it's about socioeconomics. Therefore, I didn't think it was surprising a terror cell was busted and several Canadian born Muslims were arrested. What was suprising was when the Muslim community attended the Police conference, and their main concern was their reputation, and not that their community didn't recognize their at-risk youth. Truthfully, it gets tiring to hear people espouse their ethnic culture all the time. Enough already! We're all humans!

Do they feel that they are paying the price in increased surveillance and suspicion for a radical few in their midst? How do they respond to calls that they should do more to root out radicalism in their ranks? This is the conversation that we will have tonight on the programme.

What questions do you have? The debate starts here.

But it's also now being widely reported that the information that initially started the investigation came from the British Muslim community after the London bombings last year.

It all began with a tip: In the aftermath of the July 7, 2005, suicide bombings on London's transit system, British authorities received a call from a worried member of the Muslim community, reporting general suspicions about an acquaintance.

We've had this anonymous complaint:

This is really obnoxious. How can you put this hate on your site.

I'm not sure if the complaint if about the post or about some of the comments. But what do you think? We've had some really strong comments on this subject. Do you think some of the comments cross the line?

So here goes a few questions:

• I used to go to the Webby awards, the so-called Oscar awards of the internet. Webby award acceptance speeches have to be only five words long. Here's last year's. My favourite was from the author of Cute Overload: Not bad for posting kittens. This is all a long-winded way of saying, what five words would you use to describe the blog?
• What do you really like about the blog?
• What doesn't work for you? And if you've seen something on another blog, or your own blog, that you think will make ours better, let us know.
• What do you think about how often we post and how long the posts are? Too often, too long, or just about right.

Thanks for letting us know. If we use your suggestion, we'll definitely give credit where credit is due.

All became clear quickly as the TVs in our office flashed: Terror plot. Some 25 people have been arrested, and it is thought the plan was to detonate explosive devices smuggled on to as many as 10 aircraft in hand luggage. This is obviously the top story. Is there anything else that you want to talk about today?

Were you trying to travel today? There are several people telling us their stories here on the BBC News website.

In Lebanon, what's happening to the childeren whose parents have died? Who and how are they being taken care of? For some reason this has not been covered by the media.

Well, Mike, this is your programme. We've got Lebanese and Israeli children to tell you how they are being taken care and how the violence is affecting them. We've got three Lebanese girls between the ages of seven and 13.

We're also going to talk to women who are marching in South Africa to mark a groundbreaking march. If you want to listen live, click here.

Alaa, aged 7, went to Lebanon to see her family. She was very scared by the bombs. Batol, aged 12, said that the bombs were only 50 yards from their house.

Zainab, 13, told how they fled to East Beirut. They arrived on the 12 July, the day the bombing started. Batol said that they went to the airport to escape, but then it was bombed. They had to flee to the east. It was their sixth visit to Lebanon.

Eran is an Israeli father. He has two childrens, aged three and six. Michal is 17. She lives in the north of Israel. Just as the three children in Beirut, she was frightened by the bombing. Almost everyone has left northern Israel, she said.

Zainab asked Michal how is it now? How does she feel? Michal said:

Everyone is scared. We try to keep from going outside. When there is an alarm, we all have to run for a shelter.

Batol told of how she had to shelter in a school. They didn't have enough food, and when the electricity goes out, they couldn't find out what was happening. They couldn't get any news.

Zainab said she feels much safer. Alaa says that she is sad for all of the innocent people dying.

Liz in Detroit sent us this e-mail:

I would be interested in hearing what the children would say to the adults, the world leaders, who will decide what happens in Lebanon and Israel ?

Batol said: "Please just stop this."

Natasha, 13-years-old, lives in Lebanon. Her family came from the south to cities in the north. Natasha asked Zainab how it was to be in London. Zainab said she felt safer but was sad for those she left behind.

Natasha said that she could have left but didn't want to leave her family. They could hear the airplanes overhead. She said:

We as children want to live our lives. We are seeing our dreams melting. We want to return to our homes, but Israel has to leave.

She told our Israeli callers that she wants liberty and freedom. She told Eran that she felt that Israel wanted their land.

Eran said that he only wanted peace for his people in the north of Israel. They didn't want to control Lebanon. He said he wanted Hezbollah to stop firing missiles into Israel.

We got this e-mail from Fawzi in the US:

As a Lebanese living in America I am disgusted but what has happened to our beautiful country of Lebanon but I am equally, if not more disgusted about what has happened to the future of our nation. The inhumane killing of innocent children and adults must stop immediately. Most importantly I just want to let Lebanon and all the kids know that every Lebanese around the world is praying for you everyday and I hope that you can grow up and lead Lebanon back to the glory days.
Thank You and God bless Lebanon!

Anu asked the children what they would say to their own people. Natasha said that Hezbollah was defending them.

Michal would say to her leaders that the Israeli army should continue to fight to protect citizens and hurt terrorists.

But Anu pointed out that while they were all scared, they were all telling their forces to keep fighting.

Your comments

We had a huge response to this programme:

Hoseah Njuguna from Atlanta in the US:

After listening to the children from Lebanon, Israel and Palestine.

I am saddened to say that this violence will continue past their generation. They are all justifying their own military. They are more concerned with justification of their actions and demonizing of the other as opposed to finding a solution. The end of the conflict is not near at all.

Karim sent us this e-mail comment:

I want to ask all the children if they have ever thought of why the other side feels fear, and what they - themselves could do about that fear (without all the "it's their fault") argument.
If each child on both sides were given say a magic power to do one thing to help, on the condition it must be for the other side, what would they choose ? another rule. - it must be positive - that is they can't choose that one side NOT do something.

Carlos Vasquez sent us this e-mail:

Israel cannot justify the defense of their supposed land. They stole the land from the state of Palestine and the only way to peace is to give the land back. Its that simple.

Jessica in Hong Kong had this question:

I would like to know what all the speakers on air, would like us as listeners to do, for them?

Mary Kendrick, a Canadian living and working in Holland sent us this e-mail:

I am so impressed with the respect that the children are able to demonstrate in comparison with the discussions that I have listened to with adults. They allow each other to express their opinions and their beliefs without interrupting. You have a lot to teach us as adults. What you have to say is important and I am enjoying listening to your discussion and sharing of information

We had this anonymous e-mail:

I am listening to the online broadcast, where the Lebanese child claims that Hezbollah is not killing civillians. Some one has to explain the truth to this girl.

Kathryn in Atlanta sent us two text messages. She first sent us this message:

How can the worlds politicians justify the fright in these children? i dont understand why their lives are expendable.

But minutes later, as Anu asked them about how they were justifying their own sides and urging them to continue to fight, Kathryn followed up her message:

I changed my mind. these children r future protaganists imitating their elders.

Women march in South Africa

Fifty years ago, women marched in South Africa in an historic anti-apartheid march. Today, they remembered that march. Amina Chachala, now 76 years old, marched 50 years ago. She told us about that day.

They sung a song composed by a group of women in Durban. It said women are as strong as a rock, if you strike a woman, you will strike a rock.

Mandisa Dlamini, a reporter with YFM radio, said that women still face many challenges, especially in the work place. Women are not given enough opportunities in the work place.

The latest police data in South Africa said that in 2004, 50,000 women were raped in South Africa. One newspaper there described "a resilant culture of abuse against women".

Carrie, a spokesperson for the One in Nine campaign, said that women face a lot of violence. She saw little celebration for the march today. She thought it wouldn't confront the culture of violance there. She said that lesbians faced hate crimes in South Africa, where they were being raped just because of their sexual orientation.

Delphine who works a group fighting violence against women said that it was not only women's responsibility to fight against violence against women but everyone in society needs to take responsibility.

We've had several suggestions over the last few days on topics, and Jefferson in Zimbabwe sent us this one:

Thanks for enlightening progs. I really do enjoy the interactive nature and the research that you guys put in. I have one request. I would like you to run a programme if possible, interview the mothers,etc of soldiers that have their sons or daughters at the battlefront. I know that you guys would find a suitable angle to my suggestion.

Thanks Jefferson. Do you have a son or daughter fighting in a war? Get in touch. Leave a comment or send us an e-mail, and be sure to leave us a phone number where we can call you. Hopefully, we can do this programme soon.