[PatrickHenry]

Let me ask you this, Dieval: can other men (besides Americans) be patriots of their nation?

If a man's nation is siezed and occupied, a puppet government emplaced and the foreign armies refuse to leave, what does a patriot do?

What is terror? Death from the sky? A bullet to the head of a civilian by a soldier? Rape and torture in a prison? A videotaped beheading? Or a bomb by a man defending his nation's sovereignty? All of these or none?

Insurgents are often patriots: the revolutionaries of 1776 were sought for insurgency, but I honor them as patriots of my nation. Our capital was named for an insurgent against the authorized powers of the land he was born to.

Now there may be foreign fighters against the American and British occupation in Iraq. These would not qualify as patriots, but rather as idealogues. But terror is a tactic. So, yes those patriots of the nation of Iraq who use terror can be classified as terrorists. Does the same word apply to US citizens who use the tactic? Can a man be a patriot and a terrorist at the same time? You tell me...

I do not defend the wrongful actions of my nation as "necessities." A war of choice does not qualify as a rightful, defensive action. And I recognize patriotism as a universal concept, not the monopoly of the American right...