Americans have never sought to justify Mai Lai on the the basis of patriotism. The two atomic strikes against Japan were both on militarily very significant targets. (One can admit that the collateral civilian losses were tragic, but the strikes were seen as necessary to save an enormous number of American lives which would have been lost in establishing a beachhead on the Japanese homeland.) The blows were not, in any event, considered a celebration of our national pride but a wartime necessity. We were trying to actually save lives.
I will not try to defend or justify the fire-bombing of Dresden. In it, we descended to the Nazi level of depravity. On both moral and patriotic grounds, it was a terrible mistake. But whether or not a totally hate filled act, it was never celebrated as an act of patriotism
The teacher is also off the mark, when he describes these terrorists as patriots. Patriotism refers to the love of one's country, to a sense of duty to one's country. The terrorists whom we fight today, are not men loyal to any country. They are Internationalists in the truest sense of the word--men who show no respect for their own or other people's countries. Their method of operation--like that of International Communism, before them, and the International Anarchy that flourished about a century ago--is a war on the very existence of Nations.
But the really essential point is this: You cannot really equate our patriotism with that of other people's without yourself opting out of the allegiance you should be according to your own native land. I have no fault to find with those who acknowledge the bravery, moral character and decency of other peoples--when they are brave, moral and decent. I wish all mankind well. But that does not excuse me from rallying to the defense of my homeland, when it needs defending. And that duty to rally to the defense of my homeland does not depend upon the depravity of the enemy. (Certainly those who attacked the World Trade Center were depraved. But had the target been a military installation, and the motive not terror but simply to conquer us, that duty to respond would be no less.) It isn't even the idea of "My Country Right or Wrong." When it needs defending, the responsibility of the citizen is to defend it. We can sort out our internal differences, after the threat is over.
William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site