the outcome of the election

[Chaerophon]

Unless you were a participant of some of the pre Iraq War protest rallies in Canada, I don't think you have a grip on the power of emotion, particularly public emotion, and its influence on policy.

I did participate in such a rally.

The anti war protests would have given you a thin glimpse of that: try imagining that level of emotion being sustained, for about 4 years. War is a significant emotional event. If you want to second guess Winston Churchill 60 years later, go ahead, but your lack of context is showing

My opinion? There are times when context is meaningless, and a thing is just plain wrong. That being said, if you would have me excuse the Brits for Dresden on the basis of psychological 'context', then I wonder how you can so automatically dismiss Iraqi insurgents and their methods. It would seem that with you, all's fair if we can defend it on contextual grounds.

Anyways, I am truly as much against lopping off the heads of innocent people as the next guy; however, I'm not prepared to consider Iraqis who resist American occupation inherently to be 'terrorists' on the basis of their anti-American stance alone, whether they use car bombs or jet fighters to advance their cause. That being said, terrorists in Iraq have committed horrific atrocities. Where the line between terrorist and insurgent can be drawn is a matter that may never be solved; however, I think it is worth remembering that resistance goes along with invasion. You cannot expect to invade without being resisted, and reducing the reasons for all resistance solely to factors outside of the invasion is both inaccurate and unwise. It paints the picture of an Iraq that would be wholly at peace under American occupation if it weren't for 'those damn terrorists'. That is simply not the case. They were invaded, and now, many of them are resisting.

My only point continues to be simply that we cannot dismiss all resisting Iraqis as terrorists, whether their war is conducted with conventional weapons or not.