Don't put words in my mouth. I never excused them for anything. In fact, I specifically said the opposite. I said that I don't agree with their tactics, but that I try to understand their motivations. The Israelis haven't exactly been saints, and we shouldn't treat them like they are. We love to suck up to the powerful and treat the oppressed like barbarians - rather than calling them barbarians, how about words like, "uneducated". "Desperate".
It may be an unpopular attitude, but when the WTC was attacked, first I condemned their actions. THEN I tried to understand what would motivate them to do such a thing. Sure, it's 80% brainwashing. The other 20% is legitimate resentment toward the U.S. If even 1% of that resentment is legitimate, then where is the problem in a little change? What's wrong with swallowing some pride and revising foreign policy in order to save some lives? I guess it's much easier to just to throw some bombs at them, though. If we miss a few times and kill some innocent children... well, that's just the price of a war.
Anyway, I agree with the rest. Religion is at the root of it all, and the sooner we realize that dogmatic faith in ancient books and scrolls is limiting our ability to expand our knowledge of truth, and keeping us at war with one another (and of course, killing gays, etc), the better.
Anyway, I'm out of this thread... I'm gonna get in trouble.
