Let me give a better opening for this article: "He's not a terrorist, he's a very naughty boy."

Tess, do you believe that militant Islamism is a genuine entity, or a great Western conspiracy?

OBL may not have been the mastermind behind every terrorist act committed for Allah, but he did become the symbolic figurehead of the New Terrorism for many of us. And the poster-boy for every wannabe martyr.

Bush may have given him more credit than he was due, but Mr bin-Laden accepted his new status and reveled in it. He directed threats and vitriol towards the West. He played a high stakes game and lost. He's certainly not deserving of any sympathy.

Just the fact that we're having a discussion such as this one with a wide variety of views I think is a good thing. Our political conversation must shift away from the mass, infantile finger-pointing that now pervades it. Many of the things that most of us were brought up to think "could never happen here," have already begun to happen -
dangerous scapegoating, violent hate crimes, small-minded intolerance for the views of others. It is important therefore that we renew dignified and respectful dialogue with those who don't agree with us than that we keep slavishly congratulating those who have the wisdom to see things our way.

Lexi you are right. The article however is full of venom which opens itself to contempt.

Leo Lane,

Yep - "misunderestimated" is a classic.

But, pray tell - are you telling me you believe that George only "pretended" to be dumb? That his scintillating ability to pretend to be less intelligent than he really is - is something we should praise.

Why would a president wish to portray himself as a word-mangling dummy?

Nope - I think if it looks like a dumb president and talks like a dumb president - then it is a dumb president.

Here's a little background picture from his Harvard Business School professor:

http://www.rawfoodinfo.com/articles/art_thedunce.html

James O'Neil we truthers seem to be growing expodentially.This is an important video for all 911 truthers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7z-FQUrfhc This building was a failed controlled demolition.We are used to seeing concrete steel re-inforced building collapsing perfectly into their own footprints.

This video reveals the strength of modern buildings.It totally rolls over and remains intact.There is no way that ordinary jet fuel fires could have produced the images of the Towers collapsing at the freefall speed of gravity into their own footprints with no evidence of layered flooring.

Greetings rexw.Good to see your comments again.

Dear runner,

You know that I respect your opinion even though we don't always agree. A vital, healthy society is not one in which we all agree. It is one in which those who disagree can do so with honour and respect for other peoples' opinions and an appreciation of our shared humanity. The point that I was trying to make was that without personal commitment to the atributes of fair play and integrity, we're in grave danger. Malice and intolerance stalk our society, staking claims to our minds, and not one corner of our social order is unaffected. But of course it's not going to be easy, however I believe we must try.