Since when does a King legitimately represent the people of the country? So what if the King "invites" them in, he's viewed as being under Bush's thumb, or Michael Moore sees Bush as a puppet of the Saudi royal family, or whatever. Too confusing.
When the Gulf War was over, why didn't the US Army leave? Why didn't the King have the guts to tell the armed force to leave his country? Was he afraid they'd make trouble and threaten him if he tried to remove them?
And by the way, one person declaring Round Rock to be holy is worthless. Come back to me when you have 1.5 Billion followers and a message sent by God stating that the city is closed to non-believers.
Ah, I see. My mistake, I thought it was a loophole someone found in the scheme.
Official Rules - US 1. No Purchase Necessary ...
3. How To Enter. You will automatically be entered into the Promotion by: 1) downloading a song from iTunes (any free downloads will be deemed an ineligible entry); or 2) a free alternative means of sending an e-mail to Apple at itunes500@apple.com via the iTunes "Tell a Friend" feature (a song download or Tell a Friend e-mail will be deemed an "Entry(ies)"). The "Tell a Friend" feature can be easily accessed at iTunes by selecting a song, and clicking the "Tell a Friend" link that is displayed for that song. One Entry will be automatically submitted for each song downloaded or Tell a Friend e-mail sent. The Promotion begins following the downloading of the 480,000,000th iTunes song, and ends with the downloading of the 500 millionth Entry ("End Date"). Only Entries submitted in this time period will be accepted.
Ah yes, the "Islam is behind the times" idea again.
How can you judge that Muslims are in that phase? Have you seen the arguments among Muslim leaders in Iraq over secularism versus theocracy? Do you watch the Crossfire-style debates and roundtable discussions on Al Jazeerah? Have you asked the Canadian Muslim community on what the different opinions are on the topic of Islamic law? Is the American Muslim community harming others who don't practice their religion? Did you see how a Muslim country like Turkey has imposed its restrictions on religion? I think you're following the stereotype, but there's really no widespread example I can think of in reality today.
What makes you think Muslims aren't in that phase or past it? What do you think the alcohol-drinking Muslims say about people trying to stop them? Islam is against forcing people, because that wouldn't be sincere. Everyone knows you can't force people to follow, which is why Muslims in America condemn the Saudi government for trying to force attendance in mosques or whatever.
Surah 76 is Al Insaan, which means The Human, not "Time." 76:4 "We prepared for the disbelievers chains, shackles, and a blazing Hell." People who refuse to believe in God will be sent to Hell. How does this explain "why some Muslims kill their neighbors" as you put it? Besides, what does Christianity say about not believing in God?
Surah 9 is Bara'ah, which means Ultimatum, not "Immunity." You also cut off the rest of the verse.
9:5 reads as "Once the Sacred Months are past, (and they refuse to make peace) you may kill the idol worshipers when you encounter them, punish them, and resist every move they make. If they repent and observe the Contact Prayers (Salat) and give the obligatory charity (Zakat), you shall let them go. God is Forgiver, Most Merciful."
The context of this was when the idol-worshipping Meccans kept breaking the peace treaty. (Read A HREF="http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=155111&c id=13006719">yasbug's post above mine)
Surah 48 is the Victory. If you read the verse before what you quoted, it is referring to Judgement Day,
48:5 "That He may admit the men and women who believe, to Gardens beneath which rivers flow [in Paradise}, to dwell therein for aye, and remove their ills from them;- and that is, in the sight of God, the highest achievement (for man),-"
and 48:6 "And that He may punish the Hypocrites, men and women, and the Polytheists men and women, who imagine an evil opinion of God. On them is a round of Evil: the Wrath of God is on them: He has cursed them and got Hell ready for them: and evil is it for a destination."
See? You pulled out a verse talking about how some people will be punished in Hell. You removed all the context where it's referring to the Hereafter and not this life. How does this prove your point, anyway?
"Fundamentalist Mullahs and Imams use this dogma to teach the gullible that jihad, killing infidels, is the only sure way into Paradise."
What about the Salonica dynamiters who threw dynamite into coffee shops and the like? They were atheist, but focused more on being revolutionaries. They even let the Cops kill them, does that make them suicide attackers?
Nationalism can often take the place of religious fervor. Think of how many nationalist terrorist groups there are. People die for their country, and consider it martyrdom the same way a person dies for their religion.
1993 WTC Bombing. Was Ramzi Yusuf an Al Qaeda member? As you said, Al Qaeda may not have existed in 1993 Did we ever find out his motive? February 26, the date of the bombing, was the 2 year anniversary of the day the first Gulf War was won. Terrorists like to strike on anniversaries; that seems the most likely conclusion. The Gulf war left a lot of disgruntled people, sanctions, civilian casualties, etc. and I imagine they wanted to get revenge. Who knows what made them do it, maybe they thought they could play Robin Hood.
NYC Landmark bomb plot - Well, an Israeli ambassador was targeted, along with a Jewish senator. Sounds like they had a specific goal.
Operation Bojinka- Attacking the Pope was both a diversion and probably some sort of attack on the "Crusaders" as ludicrous as that sounds. Blowing up planes, that appears to be aimed at making the US stop intervening in the Phillipines. Targeting the CIA headquarters, does that even need explanation? The CIA has been blamed for and admitted to overthrowing the PM of Iran, giving Saddam Hussein money and weapons, giving Iran money and weapons, aiding in the Gulf War (and reinstating the dictator of Kuwait). Any one of those things could be their cause for retaliation (and this is a short list, it goes on even longer for South America). In fact, the CIA is widely feared in much of the globe.
Khobar towers bombing- A No Brainer. Bin Laden wanted the US military out of the Holy Land, away from Mecca and Medina, and to stop propping up the Saudi monarchy. This and the recent series of attacks in Saudi Arabia is targeted at the Saudi government and foreigners, with the goal of driving the foreigners out and making it easy to topple the Saudi rulers.
African US Embassy Bombings- In a CNN interview, Bin Laden denied participating, but supported them. By this time, he had made his infamous fatwa declaring war on America (though Taliban leader and Bin Laden's higher-up Mullah Omar said that Bin Laden was unqualified to make fatwas). The embassies are seen by these people as a CIA tool and base to operate in each country, so they went after it as a strategic target.
Millenium Attack plots- Targeting Israeli and US tourists, a US airport, and a US military vessel. It seems they were trying to fight both America and Israel all at once, maybe pressure America to cut support of Israel
USS Cole bombing- Al Qaeda considered itself at war with the US. Having US military in their country was an act of aggression in their eyes, like having an Iraqi battleship parked in the US harbor. Many Yemenis didn't like the US loitering around like that in their country, they didn't trust them and felt concerned. Why was that boat there anyway? Was it sending a message to the Yemeni government to stay in line or something?
Al Qaeda's main purpose is supposedly to fight back at American aggession, as they see it. If you read Bin Laden's speeches, his core grievances are clear, he wants the US out of Saudi Arabia, he wants the US to stop supporting Israel, he wants Israel to stop oppressing the Palestinians (though he hasn't helped them), and he wants the US to stand aside and let the Muslims make their own political changes without US intervention or input (this includes toppling dictatorships and creating Islamic law, and doesn't want the US to get in the way)
Yes, throwing money at the problem isn't particularly going to succeed. You could make the case that giving Israel 10x the money made them a bit more arrogant and aggressive. Why not be more strategic with the money, threaten to withhold it unless Israel actually stops funding the Settlers? The years of pledges to Bush are worthless unless it actually happens. On the other side of the token, threaten to withhold money to the Palestinian government unless they monitor and crack down on anti-Semitism (and that threat has now been written into law)
Your right, it is political - but the politics are based primarily on religion.
All politics have religion somehow in the mixture. Why are Americans raising millions at the moment and preparing for a election-level fight over a Supreme Court nominee? Abortion is a politically-charged topic because of religion in America. What about the debate in America over displaying the Ten Commandments in government buildings?
How many Isrealies want to see Americans dead?
A 22-year old Israeli man named Menachem Rubinowits was arrested a few years back in the public gallery of the US House of Representatives for trying to detonate a bomb he had carried into the bulding. US News & World Report stated that the bomb "could have destroyed most of the gallery and crowded chamber."
America isn't giving support or money to people that hate them. How much American aid goes to the Islamic party in Pakistan, for example? The American money goes to bribe governments to crack down on people America doesn't like. Mubarak represses groups in Egypt that are too anti-American, Saudi officials fire and arrest mosque leaders who go criticize America too much, Musharraf cracked down on people that support Bin Laden. America gives aid to these countries to get the governments on their side.
Really, I think if Iraq becomes a free country, so that Iraqis can become rich through trade with the US - the world will be a much better place in 20-40 years.
Maybe, and I hope so, but I'd blame Bush's Iraq war for destabilizing the region for the next decade. Maybe it will be great in 40 years, but until then, we're in for a lot more violence until things right themselves. If you don't believe me, look at how the Lebanon Civil War turned out, and how long it took for the region to calm down.
I never said Syria was that much in the right. Syria plays the realpolitik game pretty well. They invaded Lebanon mainly to crush the Palestinians, people supposedly on their side, because President Asad was worried they would start a war with Israel and drag Syria in as well. It's like the US supporting terrorist organizations like the Mujahideen-E-Khalq which attacks Iran and civillians, while blasting Iran for supporting other terrorist groups that do the same.
Bin Laden's speech in October 2004 focused on fighting for "liberty" (hurriyyah) for the Muslim collective Muslim nation (Ummah)
Bin Laden doesn't care about if Europe has Islamic law or joins the caliphate or not, because Europe mostly isn't Muslim, so it's not a part of the Ummah. You pegged him incorrectly, he hasn't said to kill all the non-believers, that's why he brought up Sweden. He's ticked off that Bush is making him out to be some sort of freedom-hating nihilist, when he sees himself as a freedom fighter.
The US government gave over USD$10 Billion to Israel last year, which is one third of the entire US Foreign Aid Budget. That surprises me, since Israel is the 16th wealthiest country in the world, and its per capita income is higher than Spain or any country in the Middle East (even Saudi Arabia). There's more; US$1 Billion in private tax-deductible donations and $500 million in Israeli bonds. The tax-deductable status does not exist when donating to any other country. Source
How much does the US give to Egypt? USD$1.3 Billion in military aid, and an average of $815 Million a year in economic assistance. That's the Lion's share of aid to the rest of the middle east.
How can you bring religion into this? The Israeli-Palestinian issue is a political struggle, though it has religious overtones. If you're going to start pointing fingers, have you read any right-wing Israeli press? There are Jewish extremists who claim that since they are the "chosen people of God" that they have the right to do as they wish. That's not "looking down on us," as you claim? Some settlers are saying it's OK to kill as many non-Jews as necessary if it protects even one Jew.
What provoked it? The US was giving Billions in weapons and money to Israel, with Bush calling Sharon "a man of peace" while refusing to work with the Palestinian government, which was at the time dealing with malnutrition in its population. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed tried to move the 9/11 attack to earlier so that people would see how it was in response to that. Bin Laden has stated numerous times that America was the enemy because it stationed military and troops in bases in Saudi Arabia that are close to the holy city of Mecca. He also griped that the US was propping up the Saudi monarchy which was repressing dissent.
The US is disliked by much of the world for things like that. I believe an opinion poll in the Middle East found that people felt Bin Laden was fighting America for the right reasons (to end what I said above), but doing it in an entirely wrong way (by resorting to terrorism).
I believe you're correct. I can't think of any Muslim country that didn't back US action in Afghanistan. Nobody was surprised, everyone saw it coming. Muslims had candlelight vigils worldwide after 9/11, and wanted justice. Later on, the US moved to Iraq, that really got people riled up, all over the world. If the US public realized that, we'd perhaps be a little better off.
You're strawmanning them. They're not mad because the US and UK bombed the training camps there, they probably saw that as martyrdom. They're mad because the Afghanistan bombings had a high civilian toll. I'm sure the US flushing Qurans and Blair supporting Guantanamo Bay didn't help either.
What Islamists have said they want world Domination? They don't care if you go and eat bacon while drinking beer with prostitutes at a casino, generally all they want is to do their own thing in their own countries. Heck, the Islamist party won in Algeria's democratic elections fair and square and by a wide margin, but France and the US couldn't tolerate such a thing happening, and backed the coup. Algeria went from democracy to violent civil war.
Obviously, the US is not oppressing the entire middle east, but the issue of Palestine and Iraq is resonating everywhere. It's in every media you look.
As for the nuclear bomb, American lives were saved, yes, but at the cost of Japanese civilians, including women and children. That I don't think I can support. My grandfather fought in WWII, but I would choose to have the war go on a few more months if it spared the lives of civilians. It's like Iraq, do you want to save the lives of American soldiers by taking action that places civilians at risk? You could say that the US military is all volunteer, while the Iraqi civilians aren't. If you could end a war by killing a bunch of innocent civilians, would you? How many would it take before it was wrong?
" I don't recall anything in particular the US was doing, other than being a world economic leader."
That's because most Americans weren't paying attention at the time. The US was giving massive amounts of aid and weapons to Israel, ticking people off. The US backed the Saudi government, which brutally represses dissent. People were pissed that the US backed the coup that overthrew the democratically elected government of Algeria. I'm sure the extremists were unhappy with the first Gulf War. Whatever it was, something set them off.
I say glaze the whole fucking middle east over with some tactical nukes.
You see, when people make this sort of generalization, then all of the US allies, Qatar, Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, etc. all get really uncomfortable and may just decide to stop helping us. Where do you think the US got all their intelligence on Al Qaeda from? Syria had been actively fighting them for years, and turned over huge amounts of information on them, including names and detainees, as a gesture of goodwill and assistance towards the US. Too bad the US immediately sanctioned them afterwards on behalf of Israel.
Yes, I actually did listen to their speeches, and guess what? They don't hate you for not being a part of their religion, they hate you for meddling in their country. From Bin Laden's speech prior to the US election:
...This is contrary to Bush's claim that we hate freedom. Let him tell us why we did not strike Sweden, for example..... We fought you because we are free and do not accept injustice. We want to restore freedom to our nation. (Emphasis mine)
Here's a cool exercise. Zoom all the way out to the world map in Satellite map view, then zoom in and try and find your house without displaying street names.
Slashdot Mirror
Apple doesn't have 3%. Show me where you see such a statistic. Apple's hardware sales have been going up, they're at least double that I'm sure.
Since when does a King legitimately represent the people of the country? So what if the King "invites" them in, he's viewed as being under Bush's thumb, or Michael Moore sees Bush as a puppet of the Saudi royal family, or whatever. Too confusing.
When the Gulf War was over, why didn't the US Army leave? Why didn't the King have the guts to tell the armed force to leave his country? Was he afraid they'd make trouble and threaten him if he tried to remove them?
And by the way, one person declaring Round Rock to be holy is worthless. Come back to me when you have 1.5 Billion followers and a message sent by God stating that the city is closed to non-believers.
Official Rules - US
...
1. No Purchase Necessary
3. How To Enter. You will automatically be entered into the Promotion by: 1) downloading a song from iTunes (any free downloads will be deemed an ineligible entry); or 2) a free alternative means of sending an e-mail to Apple at itunes500@apple.com via the iTunes "Tell a Friend" feature (a song download or Tell a Friend e-mail will be deemed an "Entry(ies)"). The "Tell a Friend" feature can be easily accessed at iTunes by selecting a song, and clicking the "Tell a Friend" link that is displayed for that song. One Entry will be automatically submitted for each song downloaded or Tell a Friend e-mail sent. The Promotion begins following the downloading of the 480,000,000th iTunes song, and ends with the downloading of the 500 millionth Entry ("End Date"). Only Entries submitted in this time period will be accepted.
Haha, 10,000 Free songs in addition to the 10 iPods isn't enough songs for you?
Ah yes, the "Islam is behind the times" idea again.
How can you judge that Muslims are in that phase? Have you seen the arguments among Muslim leaders in Iraq over secularism versus theocracy? Do you watch the Crossfire-style debates and roundtable discussions on Al Jazeerah? Have you asked the Canadian Muslim community on what the different opinions are on the topic of Islamic law? Is the American Muslim community harming others who don't practice their religion? Did you see how a Muslim country like Turkey has imposed its restrictions on religion? I think you're following the stereotype, but there's really no widespread example I can think of in reality today.
What makes you think Muslims aren't in that phase or past it? What do you think the alcohol-drinking Muslims say about people trying to stop them? Islam is against forcing people, because that wouldn't be sincere. Everyone knows you can't force people to follow, which is why Muslims in America condemn the Saudi government for trying to force attendance in mosques or whatever.
Surah 76 is Al Insaan, which means The Human, not "Time." 76:4 "We prepared for the disbelievers chains, shackles, and a blazing Hell." People who refuse to believe in God will be sent to Hell. How does this explain "why some Muslims kill their neighbors" as you put it? Besides, what does Christianity say about not believing in God?
Surah 9 is Bara'ah, which means Ultimatum, not "Immunity." You also cut off the rest of the verse.
The context of this was when the idol-worshipping Meccans kept breaking the peace treaty. (Read A HREF="http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=155111&Surah 48 is the Victory. If you read the verse before what you quoted, it is referring to Judgement Day,
See? You pulled out a verse talking about how some people will be punished in Hell. You removed all the context where it's referring to the Hereafter and not this life. How does this prove your point, anyway?"Fundamentalist Mullahs and Imams use this dogma to teach the gullible that jihad, killing infidels, is the only sure way into Paradise."
Arab World Condemns London Blasts. That seems to be the opposite of what you're claiming.
What about the Salonica dynamiters who threw dynamite into coffee shops and the like? They were atheist, but focused more on being revolutionaries. They even let the Cops kill them, does that make them suicide attackers?
Nationalism can often take the place of religious fervor. Think of how many nationalist terrorist groups there are. People die for their country, and consider it martyrdom the same way a person dies for their religion.
-
1993 WTC Bombing. Was Ramzi Yusuf an Al Qaeda member? As you said, Al Qaeda may not have existed in 1993 Did we ever find out his motive? February 26, the date of the bombing, was the 2 year anniversary of the day the first Gulf War was won. Terrorists like to strike on anniversaries; that seems the most likely conclusion. The Gulf war left a lot of disgruntled people, sanctions, civilian casualties, etc. and I imagine they wanted to get revenge. Who knows what made them do it, maybe they thought they could play Robin Hood.
-
NYC Landmark bomb plot - Well, an Israeli ambassador was targeted, along with a Jewish senator. Sounds like they had a specific goal.
-
Operation Bojinka- Attacking the Pope was both a diversion and probably some sort of attack on the "Crusaders" as ludicrous as that sounds. Blowing up planes, that appears to be aimed at making the US stop intervening in the Phillipines. Targeting the CIA headquarters, does that even need explanation? The CIA has been blamed for and admitted to overthrowing the PM of Iran, giving Saddam Hussein money and weapons, giving Iran money and weapons, aiding in the Gulf War (and reinstating the dictator of Kuwait). Any one of those things could be their cause for retaliation (and this is a short list, it goes on even longer for South America). In fact, the CIA is widely feared in much of the globe.
-
Khobar towers bombing- A No Brainer. Bin Laden wanted the US military out of the Holy Land, away from Mecca and Medina, and to stop propping up the Saudi monarchy. This and the recent series of attacks in Saudi Arabia is targeted at the Saudi government and foreigners, with the goal of driving the foreigners out and making it easy to topple the Saudi rulers.
-
African US Embassy Bombings- In a CNN interview, Bin Laden denied participating, but supported them. By this time, he had made his infamous fatwa declaring war on America (though Taliban leader and Bin Laden's higher-up Mullah Omar said that Bin Laden was unqualified to make fatwas). The embassies are seen by these people as a CIA tool and base to operate in each country, so they went after it as a strategic target.
-
Millenium Attack plots- Targeting Israeli and US tourists, a US airport, and a US military vessel. It seems they were trying to fight both America and Israel all at once, maybe pressure America to cut support of Israel
-
USS Cole bombing- Al Qaeda considered itself at war with the US. Having US military in their country was an act of aggression in their eyes, like having an Iraqi battleship parked in the US harbor. Many Yemenis didn't like the US loitering around like that in their country, they didn't trust them and felt concerned. Why was that boat there anyway? Was it sending a message to the Yemeni government to stay in line or something?
Al Qaeda's main purpose is supposedly to fight back at American aggession, as they see it. If you read Bin Laden's speeches, his core grievances are clear, he wants the US out of Saudi Arabia, he wants the US to stop supporting Israel, he wants Israel to stop oppressing the Palestinians (though he hasn't helped them), and he wants the US to stand aside and let the Muslims make their own political changes without US intervention or input (this includes toppling dictatorships and creating Islamic law, and doesn't want the US to get in the way)Yes, throwing money at the problem isn't particularly going to succeed. You could make the case that giving Israel 10x the money made them a bit more arrogant and aggressive. Why not be more strategic with the money, threaten to withhold it unless Israel actually stops funding the Settlers? The years of pledges to Bush are worthless unless it actually happens. On the other side of the token, threaten to withhold money to the Palestinian government unless they monitor and crack down on anti-Semitism (and that threat has now been written into law)
Your right, it is political - but the politics are based primarily on religion.
All politics have religion somehow in the mixture. Why are Americans raising millions at the moment and preparing for a election-level fight over a Supreme Court nominee? Abortion is a politically-charged topic because of religion in America. What about the debate in America over displaying the Ten Commandments in government buildings?
How many Isrealies want to see Americans dead?
A 22-year old Israeli man named Menachem Rubinowits was arrested a few years back in the public gallery of the US House of Representatives for trying to detonate a bomb he had carried into the bulding. US News & World Report stated that the bomb "could have destroyed most of the gallery and crowded chamber."
America isn't giving support or money to people that hate them. How much American aid goes to the Islamic party in Pakistan, for example? The American money goes to bribe governments to crack down on people America doesn't like. Mubarak represses groups in Egypt that are too anti-American, Saudi officials fire and arrest mosque leaders who go criticize America too much, Musharraf cracked down on people that support Bin Laden. America gives aid to these countries to get the governments on their side.
Really, I think if Iraq becomes a free country, so that Iraqis can become rich through trade with the US - the world will be a much better place in 20-40 years.
Maybe, and I hope so, but I'd blame Bush's Iraq war for destabilizing the region for the next decade. Maybe it will be great in 40 years, but until then, we're in for a lot more violence until things right themselves. If you don't believe me, look at how the Lebanon Civil War turned out, and how long it took for the region to calm down.
I never said Syria was that much in the right. Syria plays the realpolitik game pretty well. They invaded Lebanon mainly to crush the Palestinians, people supposedly on their side, because President Asad was worried they would start a war with Israel and drag Syria in as well. It's like the US supporting terrorist organizations like the Mujahideen-E-Khalq which attacks Iran and civillians, while blasting Iran for supporting other terrorist groups that do the same.
Bin Laden's speech in October 2004 focused on fighting for "liberty" (hurriyyah) for the Muslim collective Muslim nation (Ummah)
Bin Laden doesn't care about if Europe has Islamic law or joins the caliphate or not, because Europe mostly isn't Muslim, so it's not a part of the Ummah. You pegged him incorrectly, he hasn't said to kill all the non-believers, that's why he brought up Sweden. He's ticked off that Bush is making him out to be some sort of freedom-hating nihilist, when he sees himself as a freedom fighter.
How much does the US give to Egypt? USD$1.3 Billion in military aid, and an average of $815 Million a year in economic assistance. That's the Lion's share of aid to the rest of the middle east.
How can you bring religion into this? The Israeli-Palestinian issue is a political struggle, though it has religious overtones. If you're going to start pointing fingers, have you read any right-wing Israeli press? There are Jewish extremists who claim that since they are the "chosen people of God" that they have the right to do as they wish. That's not "looking down on us," as you claim? Some settlers are saying it's OK to kill as many non-Jews as necessary if it protects even one Jew.
What provoked it?
The US was giving Billions in weapons and money to Israel, with Bush calling Sharon "a man of peace" while refusing to work with the Palestinian government, which was at the time dealing with malnutrition in its population. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed tried to move the 9/11 attack to earlier so that people would see how it was in response to that. Bin Laden has stated numerous times that America was the enemy because it stationed military and troops in bases in Saudi Arabia that are close to the holy city of Mecca. He also griped that the US was propping up the Saudi monarchy which was repressing dissent.
The US is disliked by much of the world for things like that. I believe an opinion poll in the Middle East found that people felt Bin Laden was fighting America for the right reasons (to end what I said above), but doing it in an entirely wrong way (by resorting to terrorism).
I believe you're correct. I can't think of any Muslim country that didn't back US action in Afghanistan. Nobody was surprised, everyone saw it coming. Muslims had candlelight vigils worldwide after 9/11, and wanted justice. Later on, the US moved to Iraq, that really got people riled up, all over the world. If the US public realized that, we'd perhaps be a little better off.
You're strawmanning them. They're not mad because the US and UK bombed the training camps there, they probably saw that as martyrdom. They're mad because the Afghanistan bombings had a high civilian toll. I'm sure the US flushing Qurans and Blair supporting Guantanamo Bay didn't help either.
Who said to leave the terrorists alone?
What Islamists have said they want world Domination? They don't care if you go and eat bacon while drinking beer with prostitutes at a casino, generally all they want is to do their own thing in their own countries. Heck, the Islamist party won in Algeria's democratic elections fair and square and by a wide margin, but France and the US couldn't tolerate such a thing happening, and backed the coup. Algeria went from democracy to violent civil war.
Obviously, the US is not oppressing the entire middle east, but the issue of Palestine and Iraq is resonating everywhere. It's in every media you look.
As for the nuclear bomb, American lives were saved, yes, but at the cost of Japanese civilians, including women and children. That I don't think I can support. My grandfather fought in WWII, but I would choose to have the war go on a few more months if it spared the lives of civilians. It's like Iraq, do you want to save the lives of American soldiers by taking action that places civilians at risk? You could say that the US military is all volunteer, while the Iraqi civilians aren't. If you could end a war by killing a bunch of innocent civilians, would you? How many would it take before it was wrong?
An indictment is only an accusation. Nice try.
That's because most Americans weren't paying attention at the time. The US was giving massive amounts of aid and weapons to Israel, ticking people off. The US backed the Saudi government, which brutally represses dissent. People were pissed that the US backed the coup that overthrew the democratically elected government of Algeria. I'm sure the extremists were unhappy with the first Gulf War. Whatever it was, something set them off.
I say glaze the whole fucking middle east over with some tactical nukes.
You see, when people make this sort of generalization, then all of the US allies, Qatar, Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, etc. all get really uncomfortable and may just decide to stop helping us. Where do you think the US got all their intelligence on Al Qaeda from? Syria had been actively fighting them for years, and turned over huge amounts of information on them, including names and detainees, as a gesture of goodwill and assistance towards the US. Too bad the US immediately sanctioned them afterwards on behalf of Israel.
Atheist Fundamentalism eh? Like the Soviet Union?
Invading other countries? Repressing people, groups, and churches to defend their disbelief?
That's not entirely true, they patched it through Puma, and EOLed it around Jaguar time I think, whenever Safari was released.
Here's a cool exercise. Zoom all the way out to the world map in Satellite map view, then zoom in and try and find your house without displaying street names.
Ha HA! I love the SNL Old Glory reference. Don't forget, robots are powered by old people's medicine...