American filmmaker Spike Lee was greeted by anti-war protesters holding cue cards reading "Talk About Iraq" when he arrived at the airport yesterday afternoon.

And at the much anticipated "Spike Lee Live" event last night at the Fairmont Southampton Princess, most of his talk centred around his career as a filmmaker, his concerns about changing values of the African-American community, responsibility of black filmmakers and the entertainment industry - but Mr. Lee, 46, did add his voice to the millions around the world who question his country's war footing.

After being introduced by comedian Bootsie, Mr. Lee acknowledged Premier Jennifer Smith with an exaggerated bow and thanked her for coming saying she could well be having a chat with British Prime Minister Tony Blair instead.

"You know, him and Mr. Bush are in cahoots. They want to start another war... But, the people of Bermuda, are they going to go?" he said.

Ms Smith said that Bermudians had participated in the world wars. "What about the last one Britain was in?... The Falklands. Did you go to that? No ? They didn't need you for that...?" Towards the end of the evening, at question time, he picked up the theme again.

"Now we have this spectre of war, you know, and its all about oil. My thing is what happened to bin Laden ?" he asked, provoking more laughter from the audience. September 12th - he was on the front page of every newspaper in the world, the most hunted person on earth. You don't just vanish into thin air. So after supposedly crushing the Taliban, they can't find bin Laden what you gonna do ? Let's get the next boogeyman. Let's get Saddam... So it's rigged."

His overriding message, in the end, was about the value of a good education and the need for the black community to think critically about their society.

"If you're getting everything from BET, you're getting the wrong thing," he said. "You're getting music videos 21 out of 24 hours... and look at the content of those music videos.... Parents, you just can't sit your child in front of the television, unsupervised. You can't do that. That stuff is dangerous. You can't do that... It's a media onslaught, you have to be really vigilant."

Later he lamented how values had turned "topsy turvy" among black people in America. "Amongst a lot of black youth today it's not cool to be intelligent, it's not cool to be smart...It's got so crazy they equated intelligence with being white," he said.

"So if you speak correct English and trying to get your grades, you're acting white. But if you're on the corner... smoking a blunt, holding your privates, selling drugs, then you're black. So we have to really think about what has happened to us as a people so that the whole value system has been turned upside down. As you know our ancestors risked their lives to learn how to read and write."

But many of those in attendance who had shelled out $40 each to be there, already knew that, judging from the applause and murmurs of approval.

Fifteen year old Whitney Institute student Siobhan Brangman said that Mr. Lee's talk was "very encouraging" but should have been given in a school setting because students will listen to him, a view backed by her mother Sherma Clarke.

"He's very direct and I appreciate that. He doesn't tell you what he thinks you want to hear," she added.