This is the result of the naive liberal view that terrorism is a traditional crime problem and not an act of war. This allows the traditional liberal knee-jerk reaction to kick in -- a way must be found to exonerate or at least "understand" the criminal (or terrorist), who is merely "misguided" because America is --racist-sexist-homophobic-imperialist-is too wealthy-has too much poverty-has too many guns-has too much personal freedom-has too many SUVs-is "insensitive"-is ruining the environment-- from there it is a short step from blaming the victim to disarming the victim.