Lego my Eggo

or I'll blow up your trains and busses and shoot up your hotels!

Will Chapman of Redmond, WA created this toy for his BrickArms military fighters line. He has come under fire from both muslim and non-muslim groups alike, with the former likely using real firearms soon.

I think this little character is damned funny and damned realistic. The bearded middle-easterner, carrying his Kalashnikov, RPG, grenades, and pistol is named, ironically, Mr. White.

As a boy, I played with toy soldiers. The "greens" were clearly American and the "tans" were clearly German. I heard no Germans complaining. I heard no Americans saying, "That war is long over. Germans are our friends now and we ought to show them some respect."

I also played, "Cowboys and Indians" with my friends. Because I had brown skin, I was often an Indian. Our Asian Indian friends also played Indians. They didn't seem to mind the equivocation on their ethnic identity. We just had fun.

In our games, the Americans and Cowboys were the good guys. The Germans and the Indians were the bad guys. No one grew up hating Germans or American Indians. The games taught us lessons about life vs. death and good vs. evil, not country vs. country or race vs. race.

In Palestine, little muslim boys play a game one might call "Arabs and Jews". The Arabs win if they kill a Jew. The Arabs also win if they die trying to kill a Jew. Isn't that a delightful game?

These same little boys march in parades chanting, "Death to America. Death to Israel." They grow up to be murderers. They grow up hating Jews. When they are around 10 or older, they serve as lookouts and informants for real murders who are attacking Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers. The children throw rocks at the IDF. Have you ever been hit by a rock the size of a golf ball? It's a deadly weapon! I don't blame soldiers for firing back.

Terrorist groups literally use the boys as human shields. When one of these little boys is killed in a melee between Hamas/Hezbollah and IDF, their torn bodies are carried up by the hands of the crowd and are used as a rallying cry for more hatred and more attacks. Their funerals are recruiting grounds.

Palestinian parents dress up their infants like suicide bombers...and they think it's an amusing joke.

Do you now understand the difference between our childhood games and their games?

I know that most of the German people were not Nazis. I know that white Americans pushed American Indians off their lands and broke treaties with them when it was convenient. I've read Howard Zinn's version of history.

I also know that the German people elected Hilter. Many of those who opposed him were not peaceful people - they were violent communists. Many other people got caught in the middle, but they all allowed him to come to power.

I also know that American Indians were ruthless, savage warriors who waged war against other tribes long before pale-faces landed on this continent. They killed, kidnapped, and raped Indians and round-eyes alike. I'm not being a moral relativist here - I'm just saying that my childhood games weren't an argument about wars fought from 40 to 400 years before I was born. I'm in no position to declare who holds the moral highground in those battles.

"Let's not bicker and argue about who killed who." - Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

I'm concerned about the wars we're facing now and the motivations behind them. I am able to declare, here and now, who is right and who is wrong. I don't believe for one minute that any of these conflicts are based upon centuries-old disputes. From what I've learned in History, there is always a contemporary motive of money, power, or hatred. Religion, ethnicity, and age-old struggles are just excuses.

Terrorists view themselves as "freedom fighters." I find it difficult to imagine how murdering an innocent rabbi and his wife along with hundreds of others in Mumbai promoted their freedom. 9/11 didn't spark a worldwide muslim uprising and didn't topple America. All it did was lead to a vicious counterattack which has left hundreds of thousands of people dead - mostly muslims who died at the hands of other muslims.

Think about it: the total number of U.S. soldiers who died due to combat in Iraq and Afghanistan in November was six. During that time, hundreds of muslims have died, killed by muslim extremists.

Iran is developing nuclear weapons - to threaten whom? Who intends to invade Iran? Israel may be planning an attack, but only because Iran is developing nuclear weapons - otherwise, they wouldn't care if Iran existed or what they said. Any potential for the U.S. to invade Iran withered as the Iraq War grew unpopular. That prospect is now dead under our new president. So why is there an urgent need for them to pop a nuke?

Back to the toy: The BrickArms military fighters line also includes Nazi SS officers. I don't see Angela Merkel writing Mr. Chapman an outraged letter.