While I have to grant you that there is some truth in your first sentence Rich, I think it is equally naive to assume that the CIA, FBI and other Western "intelligence" agencies are exclusively defenders of freedom and democracy. Anyone with first hand experience of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, The Official Secrets act and The Criminal Justice Act in Britain is unlikely to be convinced that arbitrary imprisonment is the exclusive tool of Middle East dictatorships. While I will concede that retribution for opposition to a government is less dangerous (usually) in the US or Britain, does not that very fact impose more of a responsibility upon us to try and prevent a bloody, cruel, dangerous and unjust war?