"m_mFuxsNEG_-_" <+***@cox.net> wrote in message news:zn14d.339917$***@fed1read06...
: There is nothing you've written here that I'd disagree with Boyd.
:
: Perhaps it's a bit more important than the amps, guitars, etc. too.
:
: The closing however-- I think Bush gambled that he could fudge through
: the bin Laden in Afghanistan = Saddam in Iraq bit, marshalling the
: tremendous "strike back" need of the U.S. public into a higher throne
: for himself, politically. He almost did it, given the uneducated
: ignorance of vast swaths of his constituency. Iraq is now a massive
: failure breeding global terrorism on a scale bin Laden could only have
: dreamed of w/ the Taliban in Afghanistan. Today, the angry sons of Islam
: are pouring into Iraq from all surrounding nations filled with hatred,
: righteous indignation and murderous desire to humiliate the U.S. Dept.
: of Defense. "When at first you try to deceive, oh, what a tangled web of
: lies you weave", George.
This Republican guy I know has a sig he attaches to his email, reads
something like this;
"Find out who your enemy would vote for, then vote for the other guy"
I emailed him and told him, "considering how the debacle in Iraq is driving
more people to Al-Qaeda than ever before, I guess Osama would vote for
Bush.
=^^=
:
:
: Boyd Williamson wrote:
:
: >
: >>"Dave Moore" <***@Crudspamdatasync.com> wrote in message
: >>news:<ciop87$663$***@news.datasync.com>...
: >>
: >>>Nope, it isn't real.
: >>>They are not representatives of Islam anymore
: >>>than Bush is representative of Christianity.
: >>
: >>"The militant on the video called President Bush "a dog" and addressed
: >>him, saying, "Now, you have people who love death just like you love
: >>life. Killing for the sake of God is their best wish, getting to your
: >>soldiers and allies are their happiest moments, and cutting the heads
: >>of the criminal infidels is implementing the orders of our lord."
: >>
: >>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6015597/?GT1=5100
: >
: >
: > Compared to ours, theirs is an ancient culture. They don't see the passage
: > of time quite like we do, with our tendency to embrace what's "in" this
: > year, and dismiss what was "cool" last year. As a culture, they remember
: > things like the Crusades and the Jews mercilessly slaughtering their way to
: > the promised land like it was yesterday, and things haven't changed much for
: > them since.
: >
: > I've never read the Koran, but I have read the Bible, and would like to call
: > parts of the Old Testament, namely Deuteronomy and that period of time, to
: > the attention of anyone who isn't aware of how the Arabs see the Jews. They
: > likely view our support of Israel, as being very comparable to anyone there
: > supporting the terrorists.
: >
: > They likely look at Jesus' teachings, and see how hypocritical it was for us
: > to have slaughtered their people during the Crusades, just to own and
: > worship the ground Jesus walked on.
: >
: > They see their land and culture as sacred, and disrespectful westerners as
: > sacrilegious infidels. And if they value human life, which they do, then
: > they can't ignore the fact that the Iraq war has killed ten times more of
: > them, innocent civilians included, than our soldiers. Videotaped beheadings
: > may be brutal, but it is only one innocent life at a time that they are
: > trying to make their point with. Dead is dead, whether by bullets, bombs, or
: > beheading.
: >
: > I'm not trying to justify it. But I do feel that we need to understand their
: > point of view, rather than simply call all towelheads evil and try to
: > exterminate them. Believe it or not, they're people, too. It is when
: > individuals think their interests, or their god's, are more important than
: > human life on the other side, that people get killed, and wars start.
: >
: > Extremists there think the world is so screwed up, that it can only be
: > redeemed with a "cleansing fire." Extremists here are trying to fulfill the
: > Bible's prophesy of Armageddon and the Last Judgment with their support of
: > Israel. The overwhelming majority of Americans and Moslems are considerably
: > more moderate than that, but where is our leadership taking us?
: >
: > It should be obvious to all that religious extremism on either side is
: > contrary to everyone's good health and future on Planet Earth. The key is to
: > get them to respect our point of view, and that simply won't happen until we
: > respect theirs. Calling them all evil and trying to exterminate them is not
: > the answer; it's the problem. We will never win the peace that way.
: >
: > We are so full of ourselves, we think we can win the whole world over to our
: > ideals and culture by turning them on to bagels, barbie dolls, barbecue, "I
: > Dream of Jeannie" on TV, and our so-called "democracy." We just can't seem
: > to fathom that George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are unknown and
: > irrelevant to them. Do we really have the right to bomb them if they don't
: > understand?
: >
: > Their culture and history is predicated on the baddest-assed man around
: > becoming king, dictator, president, or whatever. It may be brutal at times,
: > but they understand that, and expect it. Everyone in Iraq knew better than
: > to mess with Saddam. It was simple: you mess with Saddam, you die.
: >
: > Brutal as he was, he held Iraq together. You didn't see the threat of civil
: > war as it is now. To keep the peace in that country, he used a brutality
: > that we will never be able to employ. We're too civilized, and the result is
: > chaos for them. Saddam kept the government secular; democracy can only hand
: > it over to a religious majority, allied with those in Iran. Religious
: > extremists there will have more say now, not less.
: >
: > Saddam may have been a murderous thug, but he was THEIR murderous thug,
: > their champion, ugly as he was, and a lot of Iraqis did not approve of a
: > foreign power invading and taking him out, whatever his faults. No matter
: > how unpopular an American president would ever become, we would not tolerate
: > a foreign power invading us to take him out, either.
: >
: > This administration apparently expected to be cheered by the Iraqis for
: > their "liberation." But this wasn't like the liberation of France in WWII.
: > France was already occupied by a foreign power, and we freed them from that,
: > allowing them to determine their own government. In this instance, we're
: > more like the occupying Germans than the liberating Allies in WWII, and like
: > the Germans, are suffering perpetual resistance.
: >
: > This war didn't start over religious extremism. It didn't start because Iraq
: > was a threat to the United States. It was started because Saddam threatened
: > to undercut OPEC's monopoly; everything else was an excuse, or tacked on.
: > But it is quickly and inexorably gravitating toward a conflict of religious
: > interests, and that is about the worst thing that could happen, given the
: > extremism on both sides.
: >
: > Zoid
: >