The murder of12 peoplein ParisMUSTbe condemned. Nothing justifiesthe killing of innocent people in the name of anything: Imaginary friend, Ideology, Politics (you pick). However when the dust settles, a few questions have to be answered. We can all look at the attacks on Charlie Hebdo and be outraged that such barbarity exists.The attacksshould not,however,only be understood in the context of aretaliation for a perceived offense againstIslam. The HYPERLINK "http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001533" t "_blank" human tragedythat areIraq and Afghanistanis real and ongoing. Droneattacks in Yemen and Pakistan HYPERLINK "http://www.livingunderdrones.org/" t "_blank" killingciviliansare routine.Unconditional support for a decade long illegal military occupation has not faltered. HYPERLINK "http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/defence/9656393/David-Cameron-defends-arms-deals-with-Gulf-states.html" t "_blank" Silence on human rightabuses in Saudi Arabia for HYPERLINK "http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/10935491/BAE-restructures-its-businesses-in-Saudi-Arabia.html" t "_blank" business reasonsis official policy.The recently released CIA Torture report is ignored. These are not conspiracies. They are facts. It wouldbe hypocriticalforus to standwiththe defenders of freedom of speechandignore what else could have causeda couple ofidiots to do what they did on the day and conclude that this wasONLYabout freedom of speech. You dont wake up one day and decide to be an extremist. Freedom of speech,is also about theDUTYof the press to tell theTRUTHwhenever we are guilty of atrocities or whenever we HYPERLINK "http://www.bbc.co.uk/turkish/iraqdossier.pdf" t "_blank" are prepared to lie before or after committing atrocities. What is it about the things we do that makes so many idiots want to blowback at us? Do we only cause offense occasionally by making fun of the Prophet or are we guilty of the same sort of atrocities that we are so quick to condemn when a crazy fanatic decides he wants to take matters in his own hands? Do people hate us because we have freedom? Or is it because we routinely kill and maim without impunity, in the name ofthesame freedom? Some questions are perhaps hard to answer,but if we are honest about it, we should take a good look at ourselves! In our so-calledfree world,where we stand for the freedom to offend, we have, through our foreign policy of the last decades, been guilty of the worst atrocities against Muslims, HYPERLINK "http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001533" t "_blank" half a million dead by the most conservative estimate. This isNOT ONLYabout freedom of speech. Any condemnation of the killings at CH, should not be devoid ofcontext. Religious extremism exists. There is no denying this.While drawing offensive cartoons is not the sole cause of terrorism,killing innocent people in the Middle East certainly does not stop it. Before the righteous among you get back to me and accuse me of justifying what happened, Ill use an example that former CIA agent, Barry Eisler,used in explaining blowback: If Person X walks up to Person Y on the street and spits in his face, and Person Y then pulls out a gun and shoots Person X in the head and kills him in retaliation, one can observe that Person X's spitting was a causal factor in Person Y's behavior without remotely justifying Person Y's lethal violence. One can point out that a potential cost of walking up to people on the street and spitting in their face is that they are likely to respond with similar or worse aggression - and that this is one reason not to engage in such behavior - without justifying or legitimizing the response that is provoked and without denying (or even minimizing) the agency or blame of the person who responds. The barbarity of onedoes notjustify the other. It can however explain it. Yes, I AM for freedom to offend. But I am ALSO for the freedom to not be murdered, to not have your wives and daughters raped and your country pillaged. Freedom is not only at stake when bad things happento US. And if you think that the above should be not told because it is insensitive, I hope the irony is not lost on you. JE SUIS CHARLIE,TOO!

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Freedom, I hear you say?