I understand the sentiment. And I have to agree, there is absolutely no excuse for killing innocents. But that's not what we are talking about here. We aren't trying to make excuses for them, and we aren't trying to pardon their crimes against us, we are simply trying to understand why. And as much as we as Americans don't want to admit it, there is a reason. We have created these monsters. We have forged the hatred in those people. And thats not some arbitrary belief, it's a well known and accepted fact. The C.I.A. says so, the F.B.I. says so, even the 9/11 Commission came to the same conclusion. Everyone who has studied the matter understands that our foreign policy is responsible for what the C.I.A. has dubbed as "blowback". It is only the 'citizens' of America, informed by mass media who's information is more based on biased opinion than actual fact, that have spurred this egregious myth of terrorism being caused simply by the faith of Islam.

Fair enough. Be prepared for a tad of perplexity when people from cultures with memories longer than 30 years behave in ways inexplicable in the context of what happened yesterday. There is much comfort in the simple view. . .as the current US Administration has found.

Which brings me to "Hilarious Moments in the War on Terror". Ok it's two weeks after 9/11 and that famous gasbag Armitage goes to the Pakistani ambassador with a cool $2Billion with instructions to fix a problem [terrorism] they [Pakistan] doesn't have. The ambassador mentions that execution will be difficult because there is a "history" of difficult factions in Pakistan. Armitage then turns to the ambassador and says, "History begins today!". Let me s'plain why that's funny. When our man Alexander [the Great] climbed the Hindu Kush back in the 300BCs to bring the charm of western culture to the East, they already had a 2000 year old history.

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“In government, the way you know your friends is they’ll stab you in the front.”
- National Public Radio, Unattributed

It has all been asked before:

The Oblivious Empire, Mark Hertsgaard

http://books.google.com/books?id=w6m...cd-XI#PPA66,M1

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"We've been blowin up, we're the issue, we're ammunition" Switchfoot

The thing is that with this whole "democracy thing" we have going the bourgeois citizens are viewed as actively implicit in everything their leader does and the way things are set up makes it almost impossible for people's voices to be heard that disagree. Take us, for example. If we don't agree, how do we talk about it? We go to some marginalized internet forum to whine about it. The president is viewed by both Americans and foreigners as the voice of the people unless we are crying out against him, but really it isn't audible anymore when people try to be heard. It used to be that when there were riots, the government would come out and be violent, and so martyrs existed and all that. But now, the government just says "you can say what you want," but in doing so decides where and how we protest and in so doing can make our protests seem less important. In short, the people of a democratic nation are viewed as accomplices in all of a country's actions when in this country we really have no clue what the man we are about to elect is going to do with the presidency and can't even have our displeasure heard when we don't agree with what he is doing.

But about the whole "down the toilet" bit... Don't lose hope. America has the potential to crumble, but I don't think it will. At least, I'm trying to do everything I can to stop it, as are many, many other people.

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"...for the time being I gave up writing- there is already too much truth in the world- an overproduction which cannot be consumed!" ~Otto Rank

I don't give a flying crap why they hate us, I just want them dead.

Then join the army.

You think that will suddenly make me give a flying crap why they hate us?

And people wonder why they flew planes into their buildings. Keep up this attitude and many more will come with pretty packages that go boom.

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America's Enemies Are Not Mine

All wars represent a failure of diplomacy

“I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.” - Stephen Roberts.

Right, blame Americans for islamofacist terrorism.....brilliant!

The only way I would blame Americans is for voting for morons that continue a foreign policy of intervention that insights hatred around the world and some extreme hatred in the form of terrorists.

That being said, terrorist blame is given, so you look deeper thereafter and you blame the Republicans and Democrats and past Presidents and Congresses and American people for electing them (or not getting them the heck out once they did something stupid).