Why do we have the false perception that the extremists hate us for our freedoms?

Ron Paul, Michael Scheuer (ex-CIA agent in charge of capturing Osama bin Laden) and Cindy Sheehan have made it clear: extremists do NOT hate us for our freedoms. They hate us for our foreign policies of invading other Muslim countries. And right now, I feel they cannot be more true.





I felt really sad that the media has jumped on and disgraced the person who's been speaking the truth. Ron Paul is a true patriot, who abides by the constitution; and ACTUALLY understands what the problem is. The problem with us and the government is that we don't actually follow the constitution that our fathers wrote.





Michael Scheuer has mentioned numerous times that the CIA informed both the Clinton and Bush adminstration EXACTLY where Osama bin Laden was, but they refused to do anything about it. According to Micheal, Bill Clinton could have killed Osama bin Laden at least 10 times. So why do we support everything our government says?





Obama is no different from McCain. He is the muppet of the politics, who wants to please the general audience. There are very few people out there like Ron Paul, who take a firm stand for the betterment of our country. It is extremely sad he has been treated harshly for speaking the truth.Why do we have the false perception that the extremists hate us for our freedoms?
They don't hate us for our freedoms, that is a stupid lie spread by people who live their lives in fear.





They definitely are very angry that we are interfering with matters in the Middle East, however.





We'd be very angry if they were interfering with matters in the West also.





I agree with most of what you say, but you have a very warped impression of President-Elect Obama.





Let's give the man a chance, people!Why do we have the false perception that the extremists hate us for our freedoms?
Typed in an edit to answer your edit and deleted this whole post accidently.


Grrr. Not typing it again= Sorry!
To me, the ';freedom'; they're referring to is the freedom to do what we want. Muslim countries under extreme oppression are very limited in what they want to do. So what do they care that we aren't that way? Probably because our non-Muslim lifestyle is an affront to what they believe. That's how I've always taken it...not that they hate free countries for being free in and of itself, but that they aren't extreme Muslims themselves.





However, yes, it would only stand to reason that they would hate us because we invade other Muslim countries. I'm not 100% on which Muslim country we were invading on September 11, though. Maybe Paul, Scheuer, and Sheehan said something to touch on that?





As for targeting extremists specifically, you need to remember why we went into Iraq. Bush, backed by the UN, gave Saddam an ultimatum: allow UN weapons inspectors to do full inspections as he signed in the treaty, or it'll be taken as an act of war. Remember, it was US *and* British intelligence reports that claimed WMD's were there, and regardless of their validity, Saddam was violating his treaty. The UN backed us on this until we decided to go through with the threat...big surprise. Britain stayed with us, which was nice to know. Anyway, that's what we were doing in Iraq. It had nothing to do with Muslim extremists (Saddam ran an atheist regime, actually) and everything to do with treaty violations. Just an FYI.
You, and so many people have forgotten Sept. ll,2001. I'll try to put it simply - I wonder how many people thought we should not punish those responsible for the worst day in our recent history. We had to punish those responsible in their own region, lest they bring it back on our shores. I suppose Cindy would have preferred us to do nothing, and turn the other cheek, thus allowing us to be hit again. What kind of message that would send, I could not imagine. September 11, 2001 - never forget!
While it's true that the west's foreign policy toward the rest of the world can be very invasive and annoying (to say the least), we can't forget the lessons taught through history in regard to extremism. There are people who are fed up with our constant presence in their countries and politics. There are others who just want to force their own way on everyone else. This second group is the extremist faction. They hide behind the justifiable argument that we (the west) need to get our noses out of their countries, but they won't stop even if we leave. They'll always find a reason to ';justify'; their continued attacks.


We need to leave other sovereign nations alone, but we must NEVER turn a blind eye to the extremists.