Does freedom of speech excuse preaching hate?

How could a country that cherishes such freedom be so willing to support dictators all too eager to deny that same freedom to their people? Even President Barack Obama, who spoke so eloquently about dignity and freedom in his 2009 Cairo speech, disappointingly dragged his feet when it was time to decide between Mubarak and the people rising up for that very same freedom and dignity.

Anti-US sentiment has been born out of many grievances – support and weapons for such dictators as Mubarak

unquestionable support for Israel in its occupation of Palestine

the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq

and drone attacks in Pakistan and Yemen that kill more civilians than intended targets. ...

I don't "approve" or condone the use of violence by one group against another... be it wars & occupations of other countries by stronger ones, the 9/11 attacks, drone attacks that kill more civilians than supposed "terrorists", etc ....

The only circumstances in which I'd "approve" of fighting is in self defence, if a country is attacked by others. (Almost a thorough a pacifist, not 100%)

My views about the ongoing wars in the middle east, etc, are not because I support one "side" over another. It has much more to do with a total abhorrence to war mongering & the impact it has on the lives of ordinary people.
You can choose to believe that or not.

And yet you won't wager on the outcome of the election.

I do not believe you,

It does seem that your perception of what constitutes terrorism does vary considerably depending on who is the perpetrator and who is the victim.

If you prefer to be thought a liar instead of having some fairly flexible perceptions, you are free to do so.

Last time I looked, oralloy, those particular people in the far reaches of Pakistan & Yemen had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11.

Most of those who have been killed by the drone attacks have been civilians.

Some of the poorest people in those two countries.
And they don't like the US because of these attacks. Is that at all surprising?

What harm can those civilians actually do to you, with nothing like the might of the US?

Can you not see that the attacks on them are disproportionate to the threat they could actually pose to you?

I don't accept that the reason they don't like us is because we defend ourselves from them.

If they were not attacking us, we wouldn't be defending ourselves against them.

A teenager has been found guilty of posting an offensive Facebook message following the deaths of six British soldiers in Afghanistan.

Azhar Ahmed, 19, of Ravensthorpe, West Yorkshire, was charged with sending a grossly offensive communication.

He told Huddersfield Magistrates Court he accepted the message had been "unacceptable" but had denied it was "grossly offensive".

The judge said his comments were "derogatory" and "inflammatory".

On 18 July, B'tselem issued a detailed report explaining some of the reasons behind the unusually draconian approach taken against Palestinian children, many of whom have not reached 13 years of age.

"The nearly 100 per cent conviction rate stems from, among other things, the willingness of the detainees to plead guilty as part of a plea bargain agreement. The pressure to plead guilty is great because minors charged with throwing stones are held in custody until the end of legal proceedings and a regular trial could keep the detained for longer than the sentence they receive after pleading guilty, which is usually no more than a few months," the report said.

Nidal Harb, a lawyer from the Hebron region, said that the detained Palestinian children are incarcerated in "sub-human conditions." As a result, Harb said, "It is quite natural that these kids would confess to anything to rid themselves of the miserable and unbearable detention conditions."

Of the arrested, 18 were aged between 12 and 13; and 255 were between 14 and 15. Sixty per cent of the 12-13 year group received prison terms ranging from a few days to up to two months. Fifteen per cent of all the children served terms of more than six months and 1 per cent served longer than a year.

The report did not detail the cases of dozens of other children and minors who were shot dead or seriously injured during the designated period.

An Israeli military judge quoted in the report admitted that "it is a very problematic situation. Nearly all minors are convicted of stone-throwing because they have no choice but to sign a plea bargain agreement, for which the punishment is usually between one and two months in jail, and if they insist on evidence, they'll stay longer."

"Of course, it is terrible that they arrest them in the middle of the night and question them without their lawyers," the Israeli judge said.

Jewish settler children convicted of stone-throwing or even graver charges usually receive little more than a slap on the wrist, and the kid-glove treatment given to them stands in sharp contrast to the harsh and vindictive treatment meted out to the Palestinians.

I assume there are better minds than yours in the UK...