Very nicely and succinctly put Sir,
I too am a great exponent of HTML::Template for pretty much all the reasons you have pointed out above. Theres another chap here that waxes lyrical about it and I always read their H::T posts with glee as I learn more and useful ways to extend the possibilities that it is capable of covering.

I also agree that the other 'tools' out there have their uses in the right place (or right job) as well.

Update: Added link to referenced node