Picture of the day - 3 (Reprint)

It's not about a cartoon.

It's about a feeling that their religion, their interests, and their entire way of life are under threat from the West.

It's about the Iraq war, a feeling of powerlessness, and the same perceptions that lead Muslims into Al Qaeda.

So, don't paint me this simple storyline of irrational Arabs torching buildings because they didn't like a cartoon, Mr. Newsman.

Their rage is real and it is rooted in something much bigger, something far more burdensome to criticize in our "patriotic" society. They are reacting against a century of Western interference in their society, maintaining convenient despots and toppling unfriendly governments.

We, as a society, have no hope to end terrorism until we recognize this anger and deal with it.

In this decade of growing anti-Western sentiment, we are possibly witnessing a key turning point in the Great American Empire. If we attempt to respond to this growing disquiet with the brutal application of force, as so many other empires have in the past, we will fail and default our treasury as they did. This is why Iraq was/is such a major failure to the long term future of our country and its greater world interests.

The Iraq War created more "terrorists" than there were before.

Its failure can be stated no more clearly than that.