When I wrote about the US spy plane in China a few years ago, and said China was within its rights to act as it did (and that the US claimed the right to shoot down such planes off its shores), I received more than 600 hate emails, including a number of death threats. I've also received plenty of hate mail in response to articles on Iraq. But over the last year, the number of such messages has dwindled. Yesterday's article on freeing Saddam resulted in many nice emails, and only two critical ones, and those were civil. There was no hate mail at all. Of course, the warmongers may have given up on me. But I think the most fervent have lost heart, and that is all to the good, since it presages even less public support for federal killing and maiming.
