Obama's speech in Cairo, June 04 2009

I'd like to address briefly one thing from Obama's speech in Cairo (you can find all but the very beginning here). In part 2 he says:
"Violence is a dead end. It is a sign of neither courage nor power to shoot rockets at sleeping children, or to blow up old women on a bus. That's not how moral authority is claimed; that's how it is surrendered."

A NY Times article addresses this:

"Many ... would not agree with Mr. Obama’s categorical comments about the futility of violence, noting that American revolutionaries had used violence in their struggle for independence against Britain." Violence happens to be an integral part in many moral struggles that we laud in retrospect. Yes, even in the U.S. civil rights struggle. Also, in the part 1, we find Obama justifying the U.S. troop presence in other countries. "Necessary", he calls it. I can't really blame him for not at least acknowledging this apparent hypocrisy, as the fact of it is antithetical to the rest of his point. But he's too intelligent to not recognize it.