Barbra Streisand and Barry Gibb hadn't worked together in 25 years. But Gibb still knew the best way to express what Streisand was thinking -- especially when it came to the war in Iraq. The result was Stranger in a Strange Land, written by Gibb for Streisand's new album, Guilty Pleasures.

“I loved the first stanza, because to me this war is kind of senseless, and I don't know why we're there,” Streisand was quoted. “Just the sadness of, we're there, but don't want to have those people in harm's way, and yet we do have to support (the troops). It's kind of painful, and I had always imagined just seeing footage of the troops, it's like history repeating itself.”

Streisand and Gibb first worked together on her best-selling 1980 album Guilty, which contained hits like the title track and Woman In Love.

Their new collaboration debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard albums chart, selling more than 101,000 copies. When asked why it took so long

to reunite, Streisand had a simple answer: “Because times flies.”

While the album contains romantic duets and ballads tailor-made for the legend's soaring voice, Stranger In a Strange Land may be the most compelling track simply because of its subject matter. Though it never mentions Iraq, its message is clear from the opening verse: You may be someone else's sweetheart, fighting someone else's war, and if you suffer for the millions, then it's what you're fighting for.

While few mainstream artistes infuse current political events in their music, Streisand wasn't worried about alienating anyone. “If I believe in something, than I just say it, let it out there,” she says.

Her website is one of the few ways Streisand expresses herself in public these days. She rarely speaks to the media, and her artistic endeavours are limited: her appearance in last year's blockbuster comedy Meet the Fockers, with Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman, was the Oscar-winner's first movie since 1996.