I wasn't refering to Al Qaeda or Ba'athists, but to Islam in general. Do you really think that all the attacks on US interests in Iraq are being done by these factions? Do you have any proof of this assertation? And how far do guerillas get if there isn't at least some level of popular support. "Nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide". My analogy was imperfect (as all analogies are) - but the US is undeniably an invading, foreign force to all Iraqis.

And where did I say that "the way Al Qaeda and the Baathists do things" was a way of life. I wasn't even talking about them. I believe you (and if not you, then many on the right) have said that Islam as a whole finds the western way of life distasteful if not repugnant or mortally sinful. In any case, Islam is very different than US/western society... if they didn't believe that their way was the right way, they would all convert.

So the US is the only country in the world that is democratic, tolerant and progressive? You contradict yourself. I used Iceland and Lichtenstein as off-the-cuff extreme examples, but do you view Canada as undemocratic, intolerant and backwards? Has Canada "done nothing and accomplished nothing"? See how many reports of terrorist attacks on Canada you can find.

And yes, violence has settled many issues. But I didn't say settled, I said solved. Maybe the fact that you changed that says something about the "view from the right".