For the more sensible of our citizenry, this incident may serve as a clear demonstration of what continued presence in Afghanistan is doing - this man didn't need a mountain hideout, an al-Queda training camp, or Osama Bin Laden to inspire his actions. None of the hallmarks one usually associates with terrorism played a part. All he needed was desperation, and our government's own unrelenting and dispassionate policies, to push him over the edge. Like you said, this sick shit only came about due to other, prior, sicker shit.

Not much different from the impoverished farmers and shepherd who join Taliban ranks, not out of some innate ideological impulse, but because circumstances are sordid, and the U.S. is a visible scapegoat. Terrorism is not a concrete, defeatable entity, but an idea only facilitated by misguided militaristic policies. This incident makes that clear.

I can only hope that most of my countrymen can understand that.

Comparing "anti-teabagger" sentiments to the upcoming orgy of hate against everything Islamic is just weird. The teabaggers are going to be the very people who are foaming at the mouth in their hatred of all things Islamic.