Al Qaeda doesn't "seek glory," they merely want to preserve their political sovereignty and their culture. In short, they don't hate us more than the Soviets, they hate us equally, and were willing to play one against the other to get freedom from our oppression. Please understand that I am an American citizen of Irish-German decent. Now how do you explain ME? I'm honest, open-minded, and willing to understand the real reasons why our victims have suddenly found the courage to gang up and fight back. This day was always coming. And we can't defeat them all. Rather than follow Bush's extremist policy of "we'll defeat them all- North Koreans, Iranians, Iraqis, Al Queada, Solomians, Vietnamese, Cubans, and on and on, why don't we learn from our past mistakes and realize that not everyone is like us. We are exporting democracy, as much as we wish it were so. WE are in an indefensible position and digging our heals in harder. We aren't going to win this one. We can't give them our way of life whether they want it or not. It's OVER. The Soviet Union died a natural death; it's own people took care of that. How much a threat were they really? Well, blowing up the world several time over was never the answer, so perhaps no one really had the upper hand. Maybe it was a smoke screen perpetuated by both governments to keep the pressure on the populations to follow the party line. It was and always has been a matter of "national security" hasn't it, when we've brutalize others? If you want to understand how a "Climate of Fear" plays into the hands of the government to keep us all in line, I suggest you see "Bowling for Columbine," and above all, try to be open-minded, honest and slightly willing to bend a little. We don't dictate anything in the modern world. You may believe we do, but it just isn't so...