Baburam says to Kishore Nepal: "अमेरकिाले इराकमा गएर हमला गर्छ । उसले विस्तारै त्यहाँका निर्माणहरू ध्वंस पारििदएपछि अनि आफ्नो हिसाबले बनाउँछ ।" What are we to make of this? That the Maoists attacks in the Nepali hinterland are like, well, American attacks in Iraq? That the Maoists will start constructing things आफ्नो हिसाबले just like the Americans might do in Iraq? If so, then, is Babu Ram implying that just as America appears to invoke its right to attack countries it finds to be a member of the axis of evil, Babu Ram & company too find it to be their right to attack Nepalis they define to be a part of some axis of evil? If so, then, is BRB saying that his party has much in common with the country he despises? American attacks in Iraq, whatever one thinks of them, were sanctioned by the majority of Americans' political representatives in the Congress. But from whom did the Maoist war ever derive its legitimacy? Didn't know that the American attacks in Iraq had these two similarities with the Maoists' violence in Nepal. The truth, I suspect, might be pretty boring: Babu Ram is clever enough to use America-in-Iraq as an example to DIVERT attention away from discussing the sheer illegitimacy violence-drenched Nepali Maoist movement. He uses America when it suits his purposes; he abuses America when he suits his purposes, just like most leftist Nepali intellectuals who don't blink twice to denoounce America while doing everything to send their kids to study and wor work in that country. oohi ashu