I don't know about American leftists, not being one nor residing in the US.
But let me say that many of us out here can say that the crashing into the WTC was barbaric. We would distinguish that from the suicide bombings in Israel/Palestine without condoning them. Are such distinctions hard to understand?
But we are still waiting to hear from the US majority about the barbarities that have been visited upon the rest of the world. I particularly 'love' Peter K's rationalising away of Washingtonian 'collateral damage'. I'm afraid that Peter K's faith in Washingtonian humanitarian-inspired bombing is not much shared out here other than by those whose major nourishment is with the likes of Townhall.org or are adherents of evangelical denominations of US origin. I'd rather have an honest, "That's the price" view -- sort of like a Hobsbawmian view that the 20-30 million (or whatever the figure) or so dead of World War II was a price worth paying; but at least in those days, there wasn't quite the same thing about American body bags and it wasn't a price that referred primarily to the lives of others.
Is it then so incomprehensible that "yes...but"? Do we live in another planet, or are we creatures of lesser gods, lesser cultures, a lesser humanity? [No, this is not directed at you; but I do note the injection of the note of the superiority of US culture into other posts here -- at which point one is sorely tempted to ask, So why not celebrate the defeat of communism? Why not assume the mantle of didactic imperialism? For one suspects that in fact they would probably find US culture superior to all existing cultures.]
Let me say that over the past year, I've seen attitudes out here mutate from the initial horror to a plain shrug of the shoulders as we watch the unfolding of US strategy and policy -- knowing only too well how that strategy and policy is feeding into extremist Islamism, something that was already on the defensive pre WTC, but has since acquired new adherents; a strategy and policy that has opponents of such views in a fix as we struggle to articulate positions and views that strike out at the extremists while distancing ourselves from Washingtonian positions. I'm sorry if people find it hard to accept that many of us see the war on Afghanistan as part of a piece, and hence find it difficult to accept the argument for a case-by-case assessment.
kj khoo