The only thing I take offense to, my friend (and I call you all "friend" because I consider any one intelligent and reasonable to be an Asylumite a friend), is fallacy. I do not like it when things that are not true are prevaded as definites and realities. That bothers me, because that is exactly what causes the misunderstandings of the modern world to occur in the first place.
Stinger, were I to continue to respond to what has unfortunately become a flame war, you would have support from me...though, I do not believe I could oblige some of your harshness.
Most of the arguments I’ve seen on this topic are either unsupportable opinions presented as absolute fact, or merely contrived and completely false information, equally displayed as truth. And this is exactly the fault, a fallacious and grievous sin, that leads to such misconstruency of reality.
I very much stand behind my opinions and my facts. This is because I've had the benefit of meeting an talking with dozens of people from other nations, especially Europe, having been to Europe. But far more importantly, I have taken to research, every single day, everything I can on international politics. Irony, falsity, contradiction, and oxymoron abound. It's really starting to break my heart that people are so ignorant.
Ignorant indeed: deliberately uninformed of the facts.
I consider myself a very deeply sensitive person, one who can empathize and at least attempt to understand many people, individual or collective. This made seeing Ground Zero in person one of the most horrific experiences of my life. I saw the tortured, eviscerated looks of people who had lost their husbands, their wives, their daughters, their sons, and their friends, all for what? How many of you actually saw those towers and all the two thousand people not yet burned to death inside fall to earth and be crushed by innummerable tons of pulverized concrete and jaggèd metal...LIVE? and then know in your heart that such was the fate of every civilized human being if there was not a stop put to such barbarism?
And I know well the opinions of the Germans, the French, the Dutch, the Italians, the British; I often found myself agreeing with their points while I was with them. But actually taking time to research the backgrounds of these opinions led me to the same conclusion as I have about many of the people who so willingly and baselessly go bashing the United States, and make moral relativism to things they are unware of: they are not informed on some very foundational, very essential facts. Call that opinion if you must (it is certainly euphamism); I do not intend to stir up more trouble by citing each fallacy made here and elsewhere to prove it.
What I will do is offer this extremely important and momentous speech by President Bush on September 12th to the United Nations:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/cta/events02/world/amer/bush_speech/iraq/un12sep.ram
Finally, I implore you all to find your own truth. Find it in your heart, above all, and let it be guided by virtue and humanity. Don't let your interpretation of events come soley from sources that you have only trusted because they're "there", as is the case with most people. Rise above ignorance. Prove yourselves to be true Asylumites, and carry out what has been our quest since the very beginning: Seek out the Truth.
