Teribus:

"The conflict will continue for generations Riginslinger for as long as a bunch of idiots.

1. Seek to impose not only their religion, but their particular version and systems of belief associated with that religion on the rest of the world;

2. Regard all others as infidels, kaffirs and non-believers and believe that they are perfectly at liberty and fully justified in killing everyone of them man, woman and child.

Swap "Religion" for "Economic Imperialism", and you could be talking about the Anglo-America neo-con pact.

Al Qaeda's immediate wishes are pretty simple - fuck off out of the Middle East, stop arming lunatic despotic religious cranks to subjugate their people (the house of Saud) and leave us alone.

The war in Afghanistan / Pakistan is the real deal for freedom and the safety of ordinary, innocent people. The Taliban must be stopped. But to replace them with Karzai - WTF is that about? And just look at how we have failed our troops there.

Iraq / Iran / Sordid Arabia - oil and gas. There's nothing else to it. And the slaughter that we have caused in Iraq is beyond shameful. Compared to that carnage, 9/11 and 7/7 barely register.

Civilised world? Really?

I find it hard at times to differentiate the two sides on this terror war - very apt name for it.

In answer to the OP, some things are black and white and must be so. If all this fighting is for a world where the rights of the individual are sacred, then there can never be a reason for breaching the rights of any individual. It really is as simple as that. No ifs, no buts. No negotiations.

The alternative is that you decide rights are limited, the limits are arbitrary and can be set at the whim of more powerful individuals who only need justify their acts to themselves.

And then we are the same as the people we claim to be opposed to.