I have also read that Galileo was a rather aggressive fellow who made a hobby of antagonizing authority figures, and his persecution was less a matter of rigorous doctrine than of finding an excuse to make him shut up.
I don't have a source handy for that, so take it with a grain of salt, but it's an interesting take on the story.
Well yes. Just like the USA isn't all people always doing evil things despite Abu Graib (sp?), special rendition, Guantanamo, ... Oscar Schindler was a Nazi too and some Allies committed atrocities just as some Nazis did.
I don't have a source handy for that, so take it with a grain of salt, but it's an interesting take on the story.