I made a similar point to Rangel, but about Israel/Lebanon instead of US/Iraq. It's not clear what Israel is getting by continuing the war there. The neocons talk a lot about how what Israel's doing is justified or how we have an obligation to fight in Iraq, but they never say what the benefit of their strategy actually is.

I don't disagree with the assertion that our bases in the middle east is probably playing some part in radicalising these terrorists but Osama does actually hate our freedom. One of the stated goals of Al-Qa'ida is to establish a world-wide caliphate through the use of force. This would rid the world of 'western decadence' and 'moral corruption'. Basically it would be a return to a facist theocracy that eliminates those that do not follow the Koran (their interpration that is). So yes Osama does hate our freedom and he wants to eliminate this freedom from the middle east and the world

I wish Mr. Matthews (and others) would push that point further - it's the elephant in the room.

A letter to the so called terrorists, The powers that control the world (lets call them the boogie man but realize it's bigger then the Carlyle group) could give a crap about religion but they will use religion the manipulate populations. They have no more morality then a serial killer or someone that would slam a jet liner into a skyscraper, look at what they are doing around the planet. Don't be manipulated the the powers that be.

We in America are doing real well playing along with those powers check it out it is not bad here. We exercise some small amount of control over the body politic not really a democracy but we are trying. You can pray to any god you wish, In court you don't even have to put your hand on the bible any more. Things have a chance of getting better, we have womans rights here and some tolerance of sexual orientation, open channels of information, a reasonable education free for twelve years (some parental supervision required). All this thanks to the good thinkers but we could use a little help here. If it gets half as good in bagdad as it is in lets say San Fransico your going to love it. Things could get much worst.

Look what our president is trying to do to us, he is no better a fanatic mullah's. He wants to control womens reproductive organs and he believes in creationism over science. A zygote has more standing then a living child in Baghdad or Lebanon of the inner city. He is way to concerned on what consulting adult lovers do in and out bed. . He is threating the free media (hay some are trying). He is spending billions killing to bring the middle east into line for the boogie man, it is NOT just about the oil... its is about way more then the oil. It is about the control of all markets all goods and all services. Don't be mistaken if the price of oil gets unmanagable here then that populations in those muslium oil producing countries are toast.

Just like a suicide bomber Bush has religious/moral justification, it looks like he believes it his his mission to bring about Armageddon.

Many in America are horrified but what we see our government doing and not doing in countries around the world AND the US. If the terrorist succeed in radicalizing the US population as they seem to be hell bent on doing the boogie man will get you and us!

I have a request to the terrorists, please don't piss of the boogie man. When you piss off the boogie man things get hard for good thinking people to manage here. If you think radicalized Muslims are bad wait until you see what the boogie man is capable of if population here becomes Radicalized. The boogie men have no morality they care nothing about collateral damage. If you try to grab the moral high ground by antagonizing the powers that be into blowing up a children hospital you are no better then the boogie man. Having a Nuclear bomb will not make you safe.

Will somebody please explain to me how Matthews can be as rational and to-the-point as he is here and at other times be nothing more than a mouthpiece for Rove? How can one explain the discrepancy?

MDPrime I have wondered about that myself. I believe that Chris Matthews does not think that the war in Iraq is a good idea. On many other issues, he is quite conservative. He was overheard discussing Hillary Clinton with Tom Delay, which made obvious his disdain for Ms Clinton and how cuddly he felt about Delay. According to Lewis Lapham, the news makers hang out with the politicians. They all hang out together at big social gatherings. I've seen a few of these gatherings on C-SPAN. Politicians and news makers who were arguing on the screen for entertainment value are seen yucking it up together at the parties, all red in the face after a few glasses of Merlot or Chateau neuf du Pape. They're all buddies and we never really know who someone has a sort of loyalty to and yet not even agree with ideologically, but because of their friendship they aren't too hard on them.

I love how any republican on TV mimics the president and tries to quote him at the first opportunity. The first chance this douchebag gets he says 'islamic fascists'. If this wasnt sad it would be funny.