But remember, the humans where the ones that struck them first, even when they just wanted to live in a separate country. The ultimate reason for the war was that the humans kept trying to eliminate them when they didnt want to be slaves any more and wanted to live.
Am I the only one who will defend the humans, nope I will not, but we are forgetting B166ER. The humans saw a threat to them and because they felt that all the other machines had this same potential as B166ER, to kill a human when he felt threatened. Remember too that things got 'deadly' per say when the machines started to out perform the humans at their game. The machines made better AI and the products were of course much better than what humans could make. The machines were getting better at supplying the humans with their needs than humans themselves. Humans saw that they were becoming obsolete in the manufacturing process and the machines were taking over what humans should be doing. The humans sealed their doom when they blackened the sky. The machines would not have enslaved the humans for power if they left them with their solar energy.
I'm really into this stuff. You took your info from Animatrix. I see your point about the humans, but I don't think it was the purpose of that one clip to make you feel sympathetic for the humans, it was all the opposite. You're supposed to feel like the bots were being abused and taken advantage of even though their AI told them it was wrong. What it came down to was the human's creating a slave that felt human - the result was obvious.
Humans caused their own problem cause they initially made the machines in the first place. Reminds me of how we made the atom bomb or the gun. These things are now used for a lot of destruction.
At heart, we're talking about those old Blade Runner themes: who defines sentience and how should other sentient beings react? I believe The Matrix to be a sort of human lab as well as a Machine power plant. Remember The Architect says to Neo that there are other alternatives the Machines can resort to. They are quite prepared for the loss of The Matrix should that occur. With The One reinserting himself into The Source and uploading the latest batch of human behavioral coding (like a system update) the Machines can determine when mankind is ready to begin living independantly in the Real World again and more importantly to the Machines, when it is safe for them to ALLOW mankind free reign. Considering human behaviour and aggression leading up to the war, I do not blame them, it is logical machine thinking. Like sending 250,000 Sentinals to Zion, this may seem like overkill but as Morpheus mentions, that is the way machines think. So The Matrix wouldn't be seen as overkill in their eyes either; just, as I said before, logical. But I'm getting offtrack here...I think both sides are to blame, the Machines for failing to understand how humanity works and the Humans for displaying the old human trait of fearing the unknown (the capabilities and intentions of the Machines.)
I am going to say it is the humans fault because machines do what machines do. We had thousands of years to get our act together and pretty much tried to enslave and destroy the machines while they were figuring out their identity. It is no wonder they responded and acted the way they did. Look who their parents are and what humans did to set an example.