We would never been in Iraq & Afganisthan to begin with had 9/11 ever happened. We might not even be in Iraq even then, had we know the real truth about "WMD". Unfortunately, that were not the case. Don't forget, Congress gave dubya the power (although many of them later regret doing so) to conduct such war. Also, don't forget both the Iraq & Afganisthan war received majority of support from the public (have to pull Zogby, but IIRC its around 60-70%). Can you blame Americans for thinking like that after what happen in 9/11? Japs did that with Pearl Harbor and we all know how that goes.
If you want to look even further, Saddam should've been finished during the 1st gulf war. Our troops are only several hours away from Baghdad with no significant resistance in their way when the offensive were halted, since the Europeans complained. Thanks to that, hundreds of thousand of Kurds and Shiite pay the price between the 2 gulf wars.
And please, don't judge our GI on how some morons at Abu Ghraib decided to act. There're thousands other who're doing their job, trying to protect the Iraqis and make that country safer as best as they possible can. I can't see how you could equal those GIs with Nazi Germany. Do we have GIs running concentration camps like the SS used to do? Do we have GIs putting people in gas chamber? Last time I checked its the internal strife between the Shiite and Sunni that caused the most casualties (coupled with the terrorist group actions).

As for Palestinians, don't forget that they were close to achieve long lasting peace with the Oslo agreement (brokered by Americans as well, mind you) before Arafat pull them out of the negotiation table for god knows what reason (primary reason because he can't control the radical arms of HAMAS and the likes and fear for his life). How do you exactly make peace with someone whose sole stated goal is your destruction? I'm not supporting Israel nor Palestine. Personally, I don't think there's hope for that region, unless both sides can really stick toward a truce, but I can see why US sided with Israel. You mentioned the influence Jewish community as one reason. Another one is Israel have always been an ally to the USA in that region, while the same can't be said about the rest of Syria, Jordan, etc. But despite that position, did you realize that USA are also the biggest contributor to the Palestinian refugee camp/UNRWA (approx 31%)?? Nothing is as simple as black and white when it comes to these things.

The 9/11 really has nothing to do with Iraq and Afghanistan. I'm no less patriotic than you are since I've two cousins serving in Iraq. But, the Iraq War and our presence in the Middle East is all about oil and control of the region. To control oil, we need to control the region. Even until this day, there are no hard evidences that point to any particular group for that 9/11. I don't want to speculate; but don't be surprised if such tragic event was the work of some smart war freak leaders who orchestrated and masterminded it. A good example is this Iraq War. First, it was allegedly because of WMD. Then, it was Saddam. Then, what?

You won't have any objection from me that oil and regional control/influence play significant part of the Iraq War. As for 9/11, surely you haven't missed the fact that Al-Qaeda/Osama been gloating over it for the last 5 years? There're plenty of evidences for it, just like there're plenty of evidences supporting the fact that man land in the moon, yet there're still nutjobs out there that dispute it.

Look my friend, we haven't even solved the JFK assassination yet. How can we be sure that the 9/11 is really the way it's being told? Recently, the media spread the news that Osama died. Why doesn't the media talk about it again today? Is he really dead? Where is his body? Where is he buried? The problem is some media, and that's especially true of the Western Media, is that they are in cahoot with CIA and some other groups.

I think there's a difference between being critical of the media, macy, and being a conspiracy theorist. Besides, most US media has liberal tilt in them (FOX news not withstanding). Don't you think they would've done so already if its really the govt are the one thats behind 9/11?

U.S. Ambassador to Japan J. Thomas Schieffer described comfort women as the victims of rape by the Japanese military during World War II, according to the New York Times on Saturday. According to the NYT, Japan's official denial that the Japanese military directly forced women into sexual slavery during World War II has caused a furor not only in Asia but also in the U.S.

Meanwhile, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said he was "unpleasantly surprised" to hear of the Japanese cabinet's statement that there was no evidence that Japan directly forced women to serve as *** slaves. The Dutch minister said that he has instructed his foreign minister to summon the Japanese ambassador to explain Japan's position. Dutch women living in the Dutch colony of Indonesia were taken by the Japanese military to serve as comfort women during the war.

Comfort women is a euphemism for the up to 200,000 women who served in the Japanese army's brothels during World War II. Historians and researchers into the subject have stated that the majority were from Korea, China and other occupied territories and were recruited by force or deception to serve as "*** slaves."