The US parked a destroyer off the coast of Lebanon and lobbed shells into populated areas in support of Israel. Now, I know you have “a dog in that fight.” I do not, and think Israel can take care of herself. Like it or not, we were viewed as the cowardly superpower that dares not fight face to face. When the truck bomb blasted into our base in Beirut, our first experience with suicide bombers since the Kamikaze attacks of WWII, it was a direct response to our policy. We made ourselves part of a fight that, in retrospect, we should have stayed out of.

PS, I don't give a damn what you think of Wright. I have no fondness for him, but I deplore guilt by association.

For those interested, here's the NY Times review of the quite dated film.

Caveat Emptor to Commenters: Surely nobody who reads TMV is foolish and ignorant enough to believe Robert Fisk?

In the case of Rev. Wright, it matters also what other words he spoke as he was preaching. I can't believe that in all the years at the pulpit, the snippets everyone is so offended by is all he ever said. So, which words did Obama heed and which not? Do you know , even as you judge?

As Wright is not a candidate, What matters is what beliefs Obama espouses in the wrords he, himself speaks. .Has he said or done anything anti-semtic? Has he said or done anything to indicate he hates America?

I think Obama, Wright's congregant, demonstrated his Christian beliefs in flying colors when he refused to fire the anti-gay member of his staff. (I forgot his name). He disagrees with the man's views, but he does not hate the man who holds them.. He showed he could love his 'enemy.' just as the Bible teaches.
Could Wright have taught him that?

Beyond this, I have friends who do believe some of the outrageous things that Wright said from the pulpit, including the notion that HIV is man-made, and that American foreign policy has fed hatred against us. Believe it or not, there is evidence to support both viewpoints. For example over 60 scientists back in the 1960s and 1970s urged research into the possibility of creating a virus that could attack the very cells that battle viruses. And for an unflinching view of how the USA became the enemy of Islam, check out “From Beirut to Bosnia,” a 3 hour Robert Fisk special aired in 1993. Indeed we have done much to ignite rage against us.

In any case, even if I find some of my friends' beliefs to be nutty or wrong, I don't feel the need to renounce or denounce them or throw them down the stairs. Those who know me know what I believe. I take Obama at his word that he does not believe these things Wright said, and I both understand and forgive his decision not to renounce or walk out on those who believe differently, even if one of those is his pastor, just as I disagreed with much of what my pastor said, yet did not leave the church for my own personal reasons.