[josefresco]

"Them" Who is them exactly? Iran? Saudi Arabia? Syria? FSA? ISIL? Al Qaeda? the dozens of tribal militia funded by both (all) sides ... the list could literally go on forever and so can the casualty count - speaking of...

5K is a ridiculously low number considering the documented casualties on all sides in the last (roughly) two decades of warfare (although it shouldn't be limited to this timeframe).

[jjoonathan]

I was counting U.S. civilian casualties from Al Quaeda on 9/11 against civilian casualties in Iraq + Afghanistan with all figures coming from my highly imperfect memory. There are a number of obvious reasons why this comparison isn't entirely appropriate, I can think of a number of more appropriate comparisons, and you can probably do a better job than I. But before you rise to the occasion, let's re-focus on the core argument.

My claim: We (the US) are unmatched in our ability to "export our agenda" by "using technology to slaughter civilians." Terrorists do the same thing just on a much smaller scale. A direct comparison is appropriate, as is dismissing their relative contribution to the civilian death toll by calling them "pesky hut-dwellers."

[josefresco]

This isn't going to a good place so I'm disengaging, but I wanted to just say when I read "But before you rise to the occasion" I chuckled.