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Matrix - Let's say for the sake of argument all those geopolitical issues are true and the US has been in the wrong multiple times.

Given that I'd like to opine that regardless of that the current events were probably going to happen anyway. Simply an opinion, I can't prove it, but bear with me.

Why? Our founding document, radical 225 years ago, is no less radical today. What makes it special is it's promise of the "unalienable rights" of every person including "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." American's are not _obligated_ to give themselves to a higher purpose.

What seems to drive others crazy is that we don't see those persuits as a right, we take them for granted. IMO others see this as us being selfish and shallow. This is nothing new, this has been going on for decades. Ditto what appears to them as our lust for wealth (and perhaps the reason the WTC was a target). Money is still considered the root of all evil in many cultures.

It's not limited to those outside of the US. Yesterday or the day before I read a column (can't remember where) that we have lost the "safe and coddled life" we have enjoyed. "Coddled"? To persue what our founders considered our God given right? To be safe from insanity?

Our freedom is a threat to those that wish to control and nothing inflames them more than our model. It was bad enough when it was limited to the US but now millions and millions see us as the shining city on the hill. Nothing threatens tyrants and terrorists more than a concept that will destroy everything they wish to maintain.

Mix in some religious beliefs (don't take my word for it, check out the Koran, Jihad and infidels) and you have a pretty strong brew.

Again, I can't prove this, just like we can't prove that if the events you mention hadn't happened this wouldn't have happened, but I know absolutely that there are people that created events that I don't understand through a very, very long historical lens; Stalin and Hitler for two, other than the filter of wanting power and wanting to destroy.

I appreciate your consideration of these ideas.

Texan,

I completely agree that radical Islam is part of the mix. I am not a fan of Islam, at all, having seen first hand the results in Bosnia and Kosovo. It's interesting that Serbs, Columbians and Macedonians are not now, nor were they ever on the "short list" of suspects put out by the media. They're Christians, or agnostic / aetheists, like much of the west. Either way, the suicide bomber is a foreign concept outside of Islam, or Japan. Although now that they've been westernized, I don't see to many kamakazi's protesting our bases in Okinawa or Japan. So, yes, Islam, at least in the radical form found in poorer Islamic countries, is part of the problem. There is something else in the mix, and we have a good "control" to validate our thought experiment.

None of the "stan" former Soviet Islamic countries have given us any problems. They are poor, largley Muslim, and have suicide bombers (viz. - Chechnya). Could it be that since we never dared bomb them during their time in the Soviet Union, they have no motivation to suicide bomb us? Agree or not, I appreciate you taking the time to make a fact based argument.

"Our freedom is a threat to those that wish to control and nothing inflames them more than our model. It was bad enough when it was limited to the US but now millions and millions see us as the shining city on the hill."

Excellent.

Under the circumstances, however, we should closely examine the manner and degree of our zeal for liberty. If we are going to be hated simply for what we believe in civil affairs, then we ought not meddle in world affairs without the utmost caution, discretion, and even respect for the fact that some people would rather be slaves than free; some would rather be uncivilized altogether.

I beg to differ with those who immediately brand the above words of Moody as treasonous. When all is said and done, our foreign policy will require more than a little examination and tweaking. We would do ourselves and our country a disservice by acting out of pure emotion.