"The Crusaders attacked the Jews and slaughtered them without mercy. It was the beginning of their Crusade, the Crusaders said; their duty was to kill the enemies of the Christain faith. The carnage began in Colonge. The Crusaders fell upon the Jews there, destroyed the houses and the synlogues and divided among themsleves a very large amount of money. Not one Jew survived. Then the Crusaders made their way to the city of Mainz where the Bishop had hidden the Jews in his palace. That did not stop the Crusaders. They attacked the Bishop's palace and killed about 700 Jews, inclusing the women. With their swords, the Crusaders pierced tender children of whatever age and sex. And the Crusaders took all the treasure the Jews had entrusted to the Bishop."

The Christain Crusades to take the Holy Land back from the Muslims began in the eleventh century. Albert of Axis, an eyewitness, described the event. The scene wasn't much different from the second World War. It was Hitler who was on a personal crusade then.

I wonder if Bush really is any different.

US Vice-President Dick Cheney has warned that electing the Democratic presidential ticket would make America more vulnerable to terrorist attack.Mr Cheney's comments came on a day when President George Bush increased efforts to paint Senator John Kerry as wobbly on the war in Iraq and the Democratic challenger accused the President of executing a war that has cost the US dearly.

The Vice-President's aides later said he was referring to the terrorist threat that faces any administration elected in November. But his remarks were taken as an inflammatory charge that overshadowed the day's exchanges on the campaign trail.As the number of deaths of US soldiers in Iraq reached 1000, Mr Cheney sought to question how the Democrats would handle national security.

During a question-and-answer session with supporters at a Des Moines hotel, he said it was imperative that the nation made the "right choice" in November, adding that decisions made by the next administration would have an impact over the next 30 or 40 years.

"If we make the wrong choice, then the danger is we'll get hit again and we'll be hit in a way that'll be devastating from the standpoint of the United States, and we'll fall back into the pre-9/11 mind-set that these terrorist attacks are criminal attacks and we're not really at war," Mr Cheney told about 200 people assembled in the hotel ballroom. "I think that would be a terrible mistake for us."

They really are dumb.