Yeah, clearly obvious. Big, bad America deserves everything it gets. We painted them into a corner--how would you expect them to react? I totally understand them flying planes into skyscrapers in New York.

This guy is ridiculous. Give me a break.

We were attacked on 9/11 because of religious zealots who hate our free society. They hate our influence on the world. That's it.

I guess I didn't realize when it became fashionable to blame America for being attacked...must have missed that memo.
 

Okay, this has been up here forever, so I feel like someone needs to say something. Here's my take. (No offense, GA, just my opinion).

I think we do the country a great disservice when our reaction to a nuanced, historical perspective is histaria and fist-pumping. Guiliani's response in the debate is unconsciounable, both as would-be president and someone in power during the event (everybody got that? Guiliani was mayor during 9/11. America's mayor, remember? Have I mentioned it enough? September 11th). I mean, it's one thing to use 9/11 to try to get elected, it's quite another to use it as fiat for any argument (or to, say, start a war). Ron Paul--who's a lightweight granted--wasn't even nearly suggesting that this was America's fault. No one is suggesting that, of course, except maybe Pat Robertson and the late Jerry Falwell when they blamed it on gays and feminists and the like. I guess blaming Americans--especially marginalized ones--is okay, but suggesting that violence generally and this attack specifically are not created in a vaccuum is somehow treasonous.

The truth is, by choosing ignorance over knowledge and fealty over democracy, we're only positioning ourselves for this to happen again (or happen daily on a smaller level in Iraq). And you know, that won't be our fault either. But that doesn't mean it had to happen or we should start throwing epithets at any one who thinks we should ask why it did.
 

AP, I agree to an extent. And as a subscriber to Liberty Magazine, I understand Paul's libertarian response. I just think it is flat wrong. Of course actions we have taken in the past affect why they attack us; they use events in the past as justification for their violence. The problem is that any small "event" sends radical Islamists over the edge (see political cartoons, the filmmaker Van Gogh, etc.). No matter how you slice it, they hate everything about the West, and will attack over just about anything.