There are other points of view which have the same validity as yours, or mine. A GREAT case can be made to try Bill Clinton as a war criminal for his unprovoked bombing of civilians in Bosnia and/or his cruise missile attack on an antibiotics factory in the Sudan.

In another case, the US has forced the rest of the world to impose sanctions on Iraq. OK, no problem, EXCEPT that without harming Saddam Hussein or affecting his ability to wage war or manufacture WMD, these sanctions have resulted in the starvation deaths of 1.1 MILLION Iraqi children (British Medical Association).

Every one of those kids has a family which hates the US. Since the sanctions aren't doing anything constructive I don't blame them for hating the US. I happen to love my country, and I'm not proud of that particular episode.

GW isn't home free, either, for the bombing of civilian targets in Afghanistan. There's "collateral" damage due to errant winds, for instance, and due to negligence. A lot of innocent Afghani civilians have died because of plain negligence.

To say that one's motives are great and that excuses actions is just not enough. I remember reading something when I was a kid - "He who means well and doesn't do well is a damned fool!"

The US acts in it's own self-interest to the detriment of much of the rest of the world. That's not necessarily a crime. What is sad beyond belief is that those Americans who urge us to understand the other guy, not necessarily agree with, but just simply understand him are regarded almost as traitors.

There may be good reasons someone doesn't have the same high regard for the "genteel", benevolent US that you do.

Arf