It could also mean an extended occupation of a large and historically violent country.

Some have confidence in the government's ability to crack down; others say they have simply become inured to living in a violent country.

"The Philippines is written about as a violent country where killings are common," he said.

Russia is one of the most racist and violent countries on earth where life is cheap.

Still, it is important to point out that Britain is not a violent country compared with almost every other western European country.

It was a brutal killing, even by the standards of this violent country.

"We're not going to get rid of violence, but we don't have to be the most violent country in the world."

And yet what we had seen in those glass cases was England too: a violent country with a record of centuries of war.

And Iraq is the most violent country in the region, not only in terms of war casualties but of criminal murders as well.

His private army has killed thousands of people in the past decade, making him perhaps the most feared man in this violent country.