Again another failed argument. I guess you and the others advocating your position obviously understand the culture... You understand the culture to make your argument. It doesn't work that way.
right. well what we have on our hands is a war between islam and the mostly christian west. has been going on forever. when was the time when islam was a peaceful religion? when were muslims not desperate to kill? i will agree that there were times when they mostly kept their killing confined to near where they live, but that was when everyone on earth was mostly confined to their one place. it would be nice if we could blame our own policies. we would seem thoughtful if we blamed ourselves, and used the word "blowback" in conversation. it simply isnt true. there has never been a time when the major religion of the world, and the countries filled with followers of those religions were not opposed. the difference is that now we have skyscrapers and jetliners and bombs small enough to strap to your leg.
Look, don't misunderstand me. I'm not an advocate of the term raghead, never have been, and I agree with you - that word is certainly not the Christian thing to say. I have, however, spent a little time in that part of the country. There were so many aspects of their culture I knew so little about until I was immersed in it. It's not an attempt to bash you or anything of that nature, but it is true most Americans have no clue about the culture or how they view the world - again, not your fault. Things turned in Iraq once folks began to half-way figure it out. Yes, the surge worked in Iraq to a certain extent, but it's taken for granted most of the guys down on the ground were going through their 2nd or 3rd deployment with many lessons learned.
The religion IS the hate Rex, that is what you are not grasping. Look at it this way, here in the U.S. we have a constitution (or at least we used to), we have a set of laws and a system that establishes certain punishments for violating those laws. Here is the difference, while adultery is a sin by the bible and still on the books in many courthouses across our great land it is almost never prosecuted. In an arabic country there are no constitutions, they have police but they are just monkeys in a suit, they have no real power because there are no laws. Everything they do is governed by the quaran. Habib can have his little covey of wives, 4 I think it is. (I can't for the life of me figure out why any man would want more than 1) but let one of those skanks get caught with Achmeds hand up her skirt and you will find her head in a ditch the following morning. No one will say a word, they will just walk on by and it is business as usual. Sure they will hammana hammmana under their breath but Habib will go on with life with not so much as an iquiry as to why wife no. 2 is now headless. Because of the way they see things and by the very conviction in which they hold it to be THE ONLY way they despise us for all that we are. We do whatever the hell we want to do, we have cinemax and we can see tits on the screen at the push of a button. We swill alcohol like nobodys business, we take everything we can possibly think of for granted and of course we are arrogant. It contradicts everything, absolutely everything they hold dear and they hate us for it. They have this crazy fear that we are trying to turn them into us. Personally I don't think that but that is why they feel so threatened. I hope this clears it up for you but I fear I just typed all this for nothing.
Just to throw my two cents in here: The muslims do not hate us because we are "western". They hate us because we support Israel. We are the only country that supports Israel. Israel would have had numerous condemnations from the UN but the US vetos them all. As far as hating us because we have "freedoms"....that is pure propaganda. The Muslims are not anti-Swedish or anti-Swiss or anti-Brazilian and they have just as much alcohol, sex or freedom of press and economic prosperity. The US is paying the price for being the foreign policy lackey of Israel against the Palestinians and we will continue to have problems with the Muslims until this issue is addressed.
Oh contrair, I will give you that our alliance with Isreal is a major sticking point, it is not the only one. Do they have alcohol, of course they do. In fact they have a lot more of it now that saddam is gone. I was able to reap the benefits of that little gem while I was there. As for the sex, let me tell you what my observations were (iraq only, can't speak for other places) the women there are for baby making only. If they are horny they will seek it out from another man or worse. I have seen more video through an LRAS of iraqis molesting goats, sheep, donkeys and other assorted farm animals than I can count. They are a sick sick people.
yes, they do. this is one quote i just read in a book 5 minutes ago. (there are dozens of others, but i dont have time to look for them now.) it is in a book that interviews primarily women in the middle east, along with some clerics. the person quoted is one of the very few women permitted (yet very highly placed) in the organization "muslim world league"..... "We already have too much exposure to things in the West through traveling abroad, dish satellites, and foreign media. Its hard to control society once you get all these Western Things. We need to educate society, instill proper Islamic values." that one is very very tame. there are other quotes if i can find where they are in the book that make the dislike of the western ways and westerners much more clear. but the above seems real clear that the western ways that has already been mentioned in this thread are something they are very very afraid of invading their society, and turning upside down their ways that are based on a strict and often warped view of islam.
Certainly they think western values and culture is warped or evil....my point is that they are simply trying to defend our encroachment on their society. And they have every right to. Democratic capitalism is not for everybody. Maybe not even for us but that does not mean Muslims want to make Nebraska Islamic. They want us out of their backyard and I do not blame them. It's none of our business who the hell is running Iraq...the Shiites or the Shias. Look, I am not saying I agree with their culture and I am happy I was not born there. But you can't run around saying you approve of this culture but not that one like you are judge of the world. We don't judge the Chinese this way, or the Thais or the Haitians or the Japanese. Have you ever spent any time over there to take a first hand look at what they do? Nations and cultures are free to do what they want as long as it does not impose on US citizens and territory. If you think they want to kill us "because we are free" then you have swallowed the propaganda. Every state at war will use propaganda and this is no different. It would be hard to rally the country around the slogan, "Because Israels freedom isn't free!!" because we are plainly not all Israeli. So they tweek it a bit for public consumption.
You got me all wrong hoss. While I do not agree with what they do there, I really don't give two chits. What I do care about is their willingness to express their disapproval of OUR way of life in the form of terrorism. If you will note that in a previous post I stated that the war in iraq was bungled from the start. IMO we went about it the wrong way. We will eventually get out of their backyard after staying longer than we should have. Again, my solution to the whole ordeal ends in mega ton.
