[Rhodes22-list] Terrorism vs. Radical Islam

[brad haslett]

Roger,

You forgot to mention that all those accomplishments
took place prior to the rise of Islam.  I could care
less how many times people pray, to whom, or in what
direction, I'm an agnostic, but when your religion
tells you to kill all who don't believe as you,
there's a problem.

The leaders of that area, Saudi Arabia being the
worst, could care less what happens to the millions of
their citizens.  (I used to train with the Saudi Air
pilots, Americans, and have heard all their stories
about the flights to LAX to re-whore the harem.  In
fact, I saw a Saudi 747 parked at the private terminal
in LAX last week.  Hmmm.)  Anyway, I digress.

Iraq has the best chance of any nation in the region
to join the modern world.  They have an educated
middle class, and the wealth (oil) to build a
self-governing society.  It won't be easy and it will
require our help.  The Shah of Iran, despite his
faults, oversaw rapidly improving conditions for his
population. They haven't progressed much under the
Mullahs unless you count a nuclear bomb progress.
(Another story for another day - a good friend of mine
at work was the roommate of the son of the Shah at
Reese AFB in Texas.  His return to Iran and eventual
citizenship in the USA is a heartwarming immigrant
story.  Again, I digress.)

If, and this is a huge IF, Iraq can become a stable
and peaceful nation in the region with rising
prosperity for its citizens, it will provide a
catalyst for other governments to become more moderate
and raise their own standard of living. Taking a
chance on dying and perhaps the 40 to 60 virgins
(whatever) not being there won't seem nearly as
attractive when you can enjoy some of the comforts the
21st century, running water for example.

The war was declared on us a long time ago.  We
ignored the first twenty attacks.  Now that one has
happened on our own soil and killed 3000 innocent US
citizens, what are we doing?  Debating how to fight a
more sensitive war and asking why the French aren't
returning us a favor.  Huh?  You'll notice France
isn't taking any chances with them.  Have you followed
the news on how they are treating their own
substantial Muslim population?

Brad Haslett
"CoraShen"

--- Roger Pihlaja <cen09402 at centurytel.net> wrote:

> Guys, I hear what you are saying about the attitudes
> of Muslims on the street towards the United States. 
> But, I have a hard time declaring this a war against
> Islam.
> 
> We're talking about the Fertile Crescent here, the
> cradle of civilization.  The folks in this area of
> the world were building great engineering marvels
> like the Ziggurat Pyramids, aqueducts, the Hanging
> Gardens of Babylon, & living in big cities when my
> ancestors in northern Europe were barely out of the
> stone age living in thatched huts.  These folks have
> a culture that goes back several millennia & gave us
> some of the 1st known written languages, the legal
> code of Hamurabi, as well as great literature such
> as the epic of Gilgamish.  To think that these
> people with their long tradition of engineering
> excellence, creativity, & scholarship would not be
> able to produce their own chemical & biological
> weapons given the amount of time & resources
> available is ridiculous at the very least & tends to
> smell like some sort of racial bias.  Anyone who
> discounts their capability does so at their own
> peril.
> 
> I think a lot of our problems with the Muslim world
> stem from our relationship with Israel & with a
> general frustration with the continuing bloodshed &
> chaos in the region.  Whether it's fixable is not
> clear at this point.
> 
> Roger Pihlaja
> S/V Dynamic Equilbrium
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